W Kong Kong
1 Austin Road West, Kowloon Station, Kowloon
Phone: (852) 3717 2222 Fax: (852) 3717 2888
Cash & Points Rate

We arrived at the W Hong Kong around midnight and no one from the hotel was there to greet our cab at the entrance. There were two staffers standing inside the door but we turned up and nobody moved. We brought our bags inside ourselves and then the bags were taken from us (not delivered to our room very quickly either, I might add).

The lobby of the hotel is a bit confusing, we came up the driveway and had to take the elevator upstairs, the checkin desk was down the hall and around the corner to the left. I was tired, and it would have been nice had one of the staff members from downstairs had escorted us to checkin. Instead they called the elevator and hit the button for the lobby and sent us on our way.

The elevator itself is pretty cool, here is the elevator floor
:

The lobby itself is nice enough.

Things got cookin’ though when we arrived at the checkin desk. They offered up the 500 point platinum amenity without prompting, already had us upgraded to a Fantastic suite, and when I mentioned my 8:30pm flight the next evening they happily suggested a 6pm checkout. (Of course the keys stopped working at 4, necessitating a visit to the front desk when we returned to the hotel before heading to the airport, but that was easily corrected.)

The hotel must have my favorite interior design of any property I have ever visited, anywhere.

Hallway to the room

Book outside the door indicates your status in the room

We walked inside the room and were immediately impressed by the design elements of the suite.

Walking down the hall, we entered the living room

Here’s another shot of the living room, from the bedroom

And of the living room during the day

The view from the suite was nice enough, we looked our over the water. But my previous hotel of choice in Hong Kong was the Sheraton (Towers section, harbor view room) and this has nothing on the Sheraton’s view, you don’t get the famous Hong Kong skyline from the W.

The bedroom was equally stylish.

Probably the most stunning part of the suite was the bathroom, here is the sink..

Walk-in shower and tub with TV.

Anotherr shot of the tub

Not bad for a cash and points stay. It’s worth noting that cash and points was never available on the Starwood website, there’s a known glitch – especially with Asian properties – where cash and points is available but doesn’t show online.

The property has developed a good reputation for upgrading platinums, it’s perhaps the most stylish hotel I’ve ever stayed in, and I much enjoyed it. Still, it’s tough to give up the Harbour skyline view and the Towers benefits at the Sheraton. But I’d likely make the same choice again.

Though we were pretty tired after all our travels, we decided to order some late room service around 1am, then finally went to bed around 2. Since we didn’t really have any plans for the next day – other than having dim sum, of course – we slept in until noon.

Then it was down to business:

And with our remaining time we just chilled down at the Harbour

Then at 6pm we grabbed a cab back to the airport.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Just a note for the records, there are many rooms and suites in the HK W with skyline facing rooms (and bathrooms with glass walls – “you don’t get the famous Hong Kong skyline from the W.”

    Love their breakfast buffet as well!

    But a little out of the way.

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