Having to spend a night in Hong-Kong before going back to Europe, I decided to stay at the W.

Booking

Hong Kong is an expensive city for hotels and W an expensive brand in the premium segment. I adopted the same method as for my stay at the Saint Regis Hong-Kong a fortnight earlier.

I booked the cheapest room in the hotel which I “paid for” with my points. In order to secure a suite upgrade and, ideally, to a higher level suite than I would have had while waiting for an upgrade at check-in I used one of my “Suite Nights Awards” which was accepted.

Bottom line: I get a Marvelous Suite which is the 3rd largest in the hotel after the “Extreme Wow” and the “Wow”. All this without paying a cent, which proves that loyalty pays off.

Location

W Hong Kong is located in Kowloon. Ideally located when arriving from the airport since if you take the Airport Express train you arrive at the Kowloon station and you reach the hotel through the shopping center where the station is located.

Arrival at the hotel

I arrive by the Airport Express and after having followed the indications through the commercial gallery I find myself in front of the door of the hotel. On the way I meet two tourists who had spent 30 min to look desperately which shuttle to take at the exit of the train to join the hotel without understanding that the hotel overhung in some way the station.

I take the elevator to get to the lobby. Many people are waiting, sitting and chatting.

I head to the check-in.

I am informed that my room is not yet ready. To make me wait I am installed at the bar with two tickets for free drinks.

The service will be quite fast, as for the vokda tonic it will be a bit sparse.

I am quickly informed that my room is ready and I am taken there.

General overview

On the way I take the opportunity to detail the place and its decoration. We are indeed at W.

Dark corridors, lights, and the omnipresent electro music. Compared to other hotels of the brand, the W Hong Kong avoids taste mistakes.

Lobby:

Elevator shaft on the floors:

And finally the corridor that leads to the room:

The Marvelous Suite

I have room 2211 on the 22nd floor.

The room opens onto a large living room.

Which has a “dining” area or at least a table to have a coffee in the morning or enjoy the room service.

The nespresso machine is not missing and the minibar is well stocked.

A large TV screen is built into the wall and the hifi equipment is top notch.

At night it looks great too.

Then comes the bedroom with, of course, its TV and its office corner.

As always at W the beds are big, comfortable, and you feel like you are sleeping in a cloud.

The view is not bad at all.

Finally the bathroom.

Single sink (but large),

And as is becoming increasingly common, especially at W, a “bath + shower” area with a view.

Not everyone is a fan of finding the two side by side in the same space but personally I don’t mind.

Of course we find the Bliss products, a must at W.

A spacious room, comfortable, a decoration without fault of taste and a glazing of the floor to the ceiling which gives a superb luminosity as well as a very beautiful sight.

We finish with the traditional visit in video.

And a 360° walk in the room.

Bar and restaurants

The W Hong Kong has many restaurants and bars. I will only have tested two of them.

To start with the WooBar which I mentioned at the beginning of this review.

It is in the purest style of the property: very “chill” the day it becomes more rhythmic and electro the evening. The music is not unpleasant, far from it, and in general W knows how to get the right animation or the right DJ.

During my visit, apart from the drink offered in the middle of the afternoon, I went back furtively during the aperitif and even more furtively in the evening.

At the aperitif the time of a drink (to use my second ” free drink ” voucher recovered because of the delay in the preparation of my room). Good cocktail, dosage still a little light for my taste, good music. But I had already had a hard time finding a seat at the bar.

After dinner: not a single inch free at the bar, full house. Too bad it will be for another time.

It’s a pity because even if it doesn’t compete with the W Bali, the place is nice and we would like to spend some time there. But I find it too small compared to the capacity of the hotel.

As for the restaurant part, I tried Sing Yin, a Cantonese restaurant that is supposed to be very popular and renowned.

At first glance, the place looks cozy and warm, rather attractive.

In fact, once past this very appealing area visible to all and in which there are a few tables, we find ourselves in much more traditional rooms.

All of a sudden it’s a little less appealing.

I trust the property’s excellent reputation and opt for the tasting menu.

I will pass on the details of the meal and the many photos. Yes, it’s good and well presented, but from there to talk about a gastronomic and gustatory discovery, there’s a step I won’t take. Some dishes are very successful, tasty, even surprising, others are relatively bland. In short, it is worth 6 or 7 out of 10 maximum.

On the other hand, the service is another story. The waiter speaks a rather rough English which in this type of hotel in Hong Kong is quite surprising. He looks mostly inexperienced.

He starts by not knowing what a Negroni is, calls the hotel bar where the cocktail will finally be made and then brought down to the restaurant. It is half his fault and half the restaurant’s fault for not being able to make a classic aperitif, but the result for the customer is that the aperitif comes after the second course!

In the meantime he will have forgotten that I asked for the wine pairing! A race against the clock ensued so that the wine service could catch up with the dishes.

You understood it, if the restaurant has qualities, it only partially expressed them in front of me that day.

The facilities

The W Hong Kong offers guests a gym, spa and pool. All 3 are on the top floors of the hotel: 72, 73 and 76th!

Let’s start with the gym.

It is quite average for the size of the hotel. The proof: although not very busy at the time I was there, I never found a place available for the machines I was interested in.

As soon as two people occupy the “free weight” area, it’s over.

But the view is very nice.

Now the pool. Unfortunately a big storm will force the hotel to close it for a part of the day and it is only in the middle of the afternoon that it will open shortly before I leave the hotel.

It is therefore located on the 76th floor and offers a breathtaking view.

It’s a pity that it looks a bit “enclosed”.

When the weather is good, it must be a real pleasure to spend time there.

It’s a pity that the architect chose the glass wall instead of being a little more creative like at the Westin Singapore or the Marina Bay Sands, also in Singapore, and giving the impression that the pool ends in the void.

Next to it is a small pool in jacuzzi mode.

Next door is a bar that must also be nice to frequent.

I still have a doubt about the adequacy between the size of the hotel and the size of the pool and its capacity… To be checked.

Let’s finish with the Spa. The hotel has a Spa with services, treatments etc that I will not try. However, I will spend some time in a “self-service” area next to the spa including jacuzzi, sauna and hammam.

The Hammam to start:

Then the Sauna

And finally the jacuzzi!

It is very large and the view from the 72th floor is breathtaking.

I would have stayed there a few more hours.

Here we are…this too short stay of just 24 hours (thanks to the “late checkout”) is over and it’s time to pack up

The service and the staff

A final word on staff. From check-in to check-out they will all be very professional, friendly and courteous. A real treat.

Two downsides:

– The waiter of the restaurant for the reasons mentioned above.

– A cleaning lady who was desperate to clean my room in the early afternoon despite the fact that I was checking out at 5pm. Quickly annoying to see her ringing every hour to explain her that ” yes but no “.

Check-Out

Benefiting from a late check out I could not check out on the Marriott app and had to go to the desk, something I avoid as much as possible. But in the end it was quick and not too much paperwork and gave me a chance to interact with the excellent staff one last time before jumping in my Uber to the airport.

Bottom line

Despite a few bugs, the experience was remarkable (remember that my room did not cost me anything, which is not a trivial fact either and can bias the final opinion).

The W Hong Kong is a nice, lively, pleasant place where I would have the pleasure to return…one day when time will allow me to enjoy its facilities more.

I remain doubtful about the size of the bar, gym and pool when the hotel is fully booked and the weather makes you want to enjoy it. But at this point it’s all guesswork.