For my recent trip to Hong Kong, I opted to stay at the Conrad Hong Kong. It was a quick weekend getaway with the girlfriend, but of course any opportunity to revisit one of my favourite destinations pre-Covid and check out another Conrad, was always welcome. The trip itself was great and totally seamless, as I’ve shared in my impressions of a reopened Hong Kong.
I was actually a little concerned going into this stay. From many reviews in recent years, the impression I got was of a an outdated hotel. Old, un-refurbished hotels, regardless of brand, tend to be not great. While my impression of the hard product was definitely right, the whole stay experience was actually really good.
The hospitality felt really warm, and the staff seemed to genuinely want to do the best for guests. The warm hospitality is something that’s felt through being there, rather than something that be easily conveyed through a review even though I’ve tried my hard here. This is the 9th Conrad I’ve stayed at, and while it isn’t the best overall, it might have the best staff. When one considers that “Hong Kong” and “good service” are perceived to rarely go together, that the Conrad Hong Kong’s outstanding feature is its great staff is even more impressive.
Booking
While hotel rates in Hong Kong have generally been depressed compared to usual, rates at the Conrad and many hotels on Hong Kong Island were a tad high, such as the nearby JW Marriott. I guess this is due to business travel recovering faster, and these travellers typically would stay on Island for proximity to the business district.
However in mid-January, the Conrad ran a flash sale on its ‘Merry Memories’ package offering 25% off the usual rate, for stays up to February 18. That nicely covered my intended stay dates, checking out on Feb 19. The ‘Merry Memories’ package included a HKD800 (SGD136) dining credit, complimentary sparkling wine and petite celebration cake, and breakfast included. All that for HKD1,800 (SGD307) per night, plus 10% service charge. The total rate for my two-night stay was HKD3,960 (SGD675) including service charge. I booked the entry-level King Deluxe Room, but the flash sale was also available on higher categories.
To be honest, I didn’t need all the inclusions in the ‘Merry Memories’ package, but it made sense since it was the cheapest rate after all. The dining credit meant sacrificing one meal slot outside, but eventually I felt using it to dine-in was worthwhile (more on that later).
72h before check-in, the automated upgrade email dropped in my mailbox. A quick check on the Hilton Honors app showed I’d been upgraded to an Executive Peak View room, and that’s what it stayed at till my arrival at the hotel.
Arrival and check-in
The Conrad Hong Kong is located in the Admiralty area on Hong Kong Island. It’s part of the Pacific Place complex, and directly connected to Admiralty MTR station via the mall That puts it only one stop away from Hong Kong Station, where the Airport Express terminates.
However for our journey from the airport, we opted to book a private car transfer through Klook. The car ride to the hotel took around 45min, via the Cross Harbour Tunnel. Going by the Western Harbour Crossing would probably have been a little faster, but the toll is much higher. We left HKIA around 12.20pm and got to the hotel just after 1pm.
When we got to the Conrad, a bellhop immediately opened the car door, then attended to our bags. He proceeded to escort us to check-in.
The Conrad Hong Kong first opened in 1990, making it almost as old as I am. The décor of the hotel shows its age. It definitely falls into the “old school luxury” style. From the rosewood panelling everywhere, to the think patterned caperting. For the most part, at least everything seemed reasonably well-maintained.
There was a queue at the front desk, and I enquired if I could check-in at the lounge instead. Unfortunately the bellhop informed me that that service was still suspended.
A note about the bellhops/doormen/concierge. I found them to be very service-oriented. When I stopped by the front desk later on to enquire on late checkout, I had to wait to speak to a front desk staff. A bellhop noticed me queueing and came over to check if there was anything he could help with instead. When we wanted to collect our stored bags to head to the airport a few hours after checking out, a bellhop sharply observed me approaching with a bag tag and quickly met me halfway to take the tag and retrieve our bags. Bellhops are usually the first staff interaction guests have at a hotel. I’m delighted to say the Conrad Hong Kong’s did their jobs extremely well, always proactively looking to assist guests.
The wait turned for a front desk agent out to be no more than a couple of minutes anyway. A friendly front desk staff warmly welcomed us to the Conrad Hong Kong and thanked me for my loyalty as an Honors Diamond. He quickly went through the formalities, confirming the rate and dining credit inclusion. He also went over the Executive lounge benefits, handing over a letter stating the same. I enquired if any further upgrade was possible. After a search, he mentioned an Executive Harbour View room was available, but wasn’t ready yet. We decided to stick with the Peak View room.
Once the formalities were completed, we turned around to the lifts behind us to head up to our room on the 57th floor.
The room
Our room – 5718 – was located not far from the lifts. While this proximity can be a problem at some hotels, we never had any issues with noise of other guests trudging past our room.
The room, much like the rest of the hotel, feels very stuck in the 1990s. That said, the room seemed fairly well-maintained. Everything was clean and functioned as they should. Of course, there were signs of age and wear and tear around. The slightly worn carpets and various scratches on the wood were the obvious evidence of this.
This room, and all other non-suite rooms here, measured 42sqm. That’s a good size for Hong Kong. There was plenty of space for our luggage. When we ordered in-room dining on our first night, the hotel staff rolled in a dining table and there was still plenty of space to move around the room (more on this later)
The bed was king size of course. The linen was from Frette, similar to the Conrad Centennial Singapore. The mattress was probably medium firmness, and there were one or two noticeable lumps, again another sign of aging furnishings. Still, we did get good sleep, so nothing to really complain about about. There’s a pillow menu, but the selection was rather limited.
Another sign of the room being from a different era is the proper desk. This is a room feature many newer or recently refurbished hotel have done away with. The desk had Type-G plug type power sockets and surprisingly, USB-A ports as well. All the power outlets in the room were Type-G. Great for us Singaporeans, but many travellers will need adapters.
The power outlets on the desk serves anyone sleeping on the side of the bed close to the desk. The other side of the bed has a bedside table with another phone, clock, lamp and complimentary bottled water when we arrived. Initially, I couldn’t find any outlets on this side of the bed. Eventually I found them mounted onto the side of the bedside table facing the bed. These were almost totally obscured form view due to the small gap between the bedside table and bed.
The wardrobes are near the room entry, typical of traditional hotel rooms. The room safe was here, as well an iron and ironing board, and an umbrella. I like when hotels provide umbrellas in the room rather than having to fight for a limited supply at the concierge. The bedroom slippers were placed here, and housekeeping actually brought in a fresh pair on our second day. Very few hotels provide brand new slippers daily, so that was very nice of housekeeping.
The minibar counter was located facing the wardrobe. There was a Nespresso machine and kettle. The minibar was unstocked, other than Nespresso capsules and TWG teas.
The room TV stood on a very old-school console cupboard, facing the bed. The TV itself was of course a more recent model. Throughout the hotel, there were several air purifiers. Our room had one as well. According to the manufacturer’s website, these are HEPA cum UV-C sterilisation air purifiers, provided to government Designated Quarantine Hotels (DQH).
While there was space for a small dining or lounging setup, the hotel opted to keep it simple with just an armchair, and a cushioned stool that could double up as a coffee table if needed. The hotel had a wooden tray on the stool for this purpose. There was a solid vase-like side table. This offered a smaller, but firmer surface as a side table.
As regular readers would know, I’m a collector of Conrad stuffed animals. For Chinese New Year, the hotel had featured a Conrad bear with rabbit ears on its social media. As we were only staying after the Chinese New Year period, I wrote to the hotel in advance to specifically request the CNY-themed bear. A member of the housekeeping team replied to assure me they would have a CNY bear in the room when we arrived. Sure enough, the bear with rabbit ears was there.
Our room faced Victoria Peak, which meant it basically just looked at the side of a hill, plus some apartments. On future stays, I did somewhat regret not waiting for the harbour view room to be ready.
The bathroom was full of marble. At least the lack of rosewood and carpeting made it look a bit more modern than the room. There were separate bathtub and shower, and his-and-hers vanities. The hotel provides a Conrad rubber duck as well. The toilet was located right in the back of the washroom, with its own door.
The bathroom amenities were Byredo in large pump bottles, as is standard in Conrad hotels nowadays. Oddly, the shampoo and shower gel had Mandarin translations, but not the conditioner. There was hair dryer in the bathroom, as well as a small TV. The presence of a hair dryer here was odd, since there was one packed away in the wardrobe as well. According to my girlfriend, the one in the wardrobe was a better model.
As I mentioned earlier in this review, the package we booked came with complimentary sparkling wine and a petite cake. These were delivered to our room while we were out in the evening on our arrival day. It was nice of the hotel to bring it only after our arrival, rather than leaving it sitting around for hours. The sparkling wine was the same prosecco that’s served in the Executive lounge during evening cocktails. It’s a rather drinkable drop from Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, with a 3.8 rating on Vivino. The cake wasn’t too bad as well.
Overall thoughts on room
There’s no doubt the room is seriously outdated. At least the hotel appears to have done a decent job in keeping the room in fairly good condition. Thus, I’d describe it as old-school luxury rather than rundown. Honestly, for the rates the hotel charges, I would definitely expect a more modern room.
However, there was nothing really wrong about the room. It had the necessary amenities, and some guests may actually prefer the traditional desk rather than the hybrid coffee table/desk many hotels favour nowadays. The room was also very clean. The armchair looked cleaner than the terrible one I encountered at the Kempinski Bali just a few weeks back. Would I prefer a modern hotel room? Definitely. Was this room bad enough that I would disregard the Conrad for future stays? No. A well-maintained room can be as comfortable as a new room, and this room was sufficiently comfortable for us.
Executive lounge
The Executive lounge is located on the 59th floor of the hotel. I got access to the lounge as an Honors Diamond. At the time of my stay, it was open for the following meal presentations:
- Breakfast 8am to 11am
- Afternoon tea 3pm to 5pm
- Evening cocktails 5pm to 7pm
The front desk agent had helpfully provided a letter stating all the Executive lounge timings and benefits.
The Executive lounge is actually one of the few spaces in the hotel that looks really modern. It’s not too big, so can get crowded during breakfast and evening cocktails. The best feature of the lounge though, is undoubtedly the great harbour view. We were lucky to get a table by the windows each time we went to the lounge, allowing us to enjoy the view whiling away the time in the lounge.
During our stay, we stopped by for afternoon tea on the first day, and evening cocktails on both evenings. We also had breakfast here on our last morning.
The lounge is split into two areas on either side of the main entrance. For the meal presentations, the bulk of the food is the area on the right side of the lounge (when walking into the lounge). The drinks fridge is located in the same area, though both sides of the lounge have coffee machines and dispensers for hot and cold water. Outside of the meal hours, non-alcoholic beverages were available.
Breakfast
Despite the compact space, the lounge delivers a full breakfast experience. It’s not as comprehensive as the Garden Café downstairs, but the spread was quite decent. At the main buffet, there was still a selection of breads and pastries, fruits, cold cuts, salad, and plenty of hot items. There was dim sum, breakfast potatoes, sausages, noodles, small ramekin of teriyaki salmon, chawanmushi and various other usual breakfast hot food.
The other side of the lounge had cheeses, soup, and congee with accompanying condiments. Cook-to-order eggs were also available, which could be ordered through the lounge staff. The staff also took orders for coffee, tea and juice.
I thought breakfast at the lounge was not bad. The congee we had at the lounge actually tasted better than that at Garden Café the day before. In terms of ambience, the view was nice, but the area-to-guest ratio seemed worse than at the main restaurant. The Sunday morning we were at the lounge, it was almost full. It’s definitely a nicer setting than Garden Café, but I wouldn’t count on peace and less crowd.
Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea at the Executive lounge was a fairly basic affair. A couple of sandwiches, couple of sweets, two types of scones and some fruits. The scones were kept warm in an oven, which was a nice touch. The taste and texture of the scones were not bad too, probably one of the better hotel lounge scones I’ve had. The jam was way too watery though. The rest of the food weren’t that great, except the lemon tart which was nice.
We gave afternoon tea a miss on our second day since the first day offerings weren’t enticing enough for us to bother heading back to the hotel just for afternoon tea.
Evening cocktails
Evening cocktails was a little more substantial, though by no means a dinner substitute. We went on both evenings, and pleasingly the hotel bothered to vary the offerings. On both evenings, there were a couple of cold hors d’oeuvres, a handful of hot snacks, crudites and nachos with dips, two desserts, and cheeses.
On the first evening, the hot snacks grilled chicken wings, fried gyoza, cheese sticks and a quiche. There was also a Chinese style corn soup. Honestly, the food felt quite low quality. Most seemed like low-effort frozen stuff. The cheese in the cheese sticks had hardened, despite being kept in the oven. The best item was probably the chicken wings which were nicely marinated.
The second evening was a little better. There were mini cheeseburgers, cream of cauliflower soup, spring rolls, some savoury pastry, a different quiche, and brownies and the nice lemon tart for sweets. The mini cheeseburger and brownies were not too bad. The nachos, crudites and cheese were available as well of course.
For lubrication, there was prosecco, a couple of red and white wines each, various spirits, plus some cocktails and mocktails. This is on top of the usual soft drinks, coffee and tea available throughout the day. The staff put up a couple of drinks menus for guests to peruse.
The wines on offer weren’t great to be honest. They were all rather cheap stuff, especially the Chilean ones. The prosecco and Italian wines from Placido were a little better.
Wine quality aside, it was nice to sip prosecco by the window and enjoy the harbour view.
Service
The lounge staff were one of the better ones I’ve encountered. They were quick to seat guests, and proactively offered to refill drinks. This wasn’t just the case for alcohol at evening cocktails, they would also offer to bring a fresh coffee or Coke even. Used plates were also cleared very promptly. At breakfast, when my girlfriend requested for apple juice, the staff helpfully pointed out it wasn’t freshly squeezed, and suggested one of the fresh juices instead. I thought that was very proactive and a nice touch.
The first evening, the group of guests at the next table requested the staff lower their blinds as one of them was getting the setting sun in his eyes. The staff indicated they would have to check with us as we shared the same window. I rejected this, as I wanted to continue enjoying the view, but the staff were quick to offer alternative seating arrangements to both us and the other group. While I felt a little bad for refusing to have the blinds down, I had equal right to the window view. The staff really handled the situation very diplomatically though, and I think neither my girlfriend and I, nor the other group (also Singaporeans or resident in Singapore) felt put off by each other or the staff.
Beyond the service aspect, I felt the staff were all just really warm and welcoming. Another observation was that they seemed to not get flustered or let service standards drop when the lounge was busy. I have seen some lounge staff struggle under the pressure of evening crowds, but I didn’t see any sign of that here. They still went about their duties with a professional friendliness and efficiency.
Food & Beverage
The Conrad Hong Kong has variety of restaurants, from the all-day Garden Café, to Cantonese Golden Leaf, French Brasserie on Eighth (currently open only for weekend brunch) and Italian Nicholini’s. More info on the Conrad Hong Kong’s F&B options, including menus for the different venues, can be found here.
During this stay, we only had breakfast once at Garden Cafe. We had HKD800 dining credit as part of our rate, which could be used at any of the F&B outlets, but we opted to use it for in-room dining.
Garden Cafe breakfast
Breakfast is served at Garden Café from 6.30am to 11am daily. This timing is definitely better for those making an early start to the day, compared to the Executive lounge.While breakfast was included in our rate, I would have received complimentary breakfast here as a Diamond benefit anyway. The buffet spread here is more extensive than the lounge, with the notable addition of a noodle station.
When we got to Garden Cafe around 10.15am on Saturday morning, there was a queue but we were seated in a few minutes. A staff member showed us to our table, and took our orders for coffee/tea.
The rest of the food was largely similar to the lounge, just additional varieties. For example the hot western breakfast items here had meatloaf, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, just to name a few. There was also one or two more dim sum varieties, and other small items like waffles and egg tarts. Of course, there was an egg station. But here it was self-collect, unlike the lounge where it was served to table.
The variety was fine, and typical of what I expect at a top Asian hotel. The quality was fine, but unspectacular. Nothing wrong from the food we had, except maybe a surprisingly bland congee. The hashbrown tasted like McDonald’s, which is actually a good thing to me. The fruits were sweet, not always the case at hotel breakfasts.
Overall, breakfast was fine, but not memorable. I didn’t feel like we wasted stomach space, but neither did I feel we would have missed anything had we skipped the hotel breakfast. Which is why exactly we went to the Executive lounge for our second morning.
In-room dining
We opted to use our dining credits on in-room dining partly because the credit would probably not cover a full meal for 2 at any of the F&B venues, except Garden Café. The other reason was that since we had a sparkling wine and cake to enjoy, might as well order room service and have it all together.
Honestly, I’m no fan of room service. I’m always worried about food smells lingering in the room, but mainly I always had doubts over food quality and value-for-money. For those reasons, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ordered room service. In fact, the only occasion might be at the Sheraton Grand Los Angeles, excluding mookrata at the Conrad Koh Samui since I had to do my own cooking. The Sheraton experience barely counts as well, since it was delivered in takeaway packaging. This was probably my first real experience of in-room dining, and while one experience isn’t going to make a fan of in-room dining, the Conrad Hong Kong really impressed me on this occasion.
From the in-room dining menu, we ordered the Norwegian salmon steak (HKD308), Golden Leaf fried rice (HKG265) and barbequed pork glazed with queen’s honey aka char siew (HKD220). The last two items were from the ‘Golden Leaf Specialties’ section of the menu. I was told the food would take around 40min, but it turned out be around 10min less than the estimate.
When the food arrived, the staff rolled in a whole table, beautifully set up like a fine dining restaurant. On the table was a bread basket, toothpicks in holder, salt and pepper grinders, and a rose in a vase with water. There were proper napkins, sharing plates and bowls, bread plate with butter knife, and every other kind of cutlery we would need. Like I said, I have very little experience of in-room dining, so this was quite a spectacle for me. I guess the hotel only does this if there’s 2 or more guests dining together, but we were pretty amazed by the elegance and effort that goes into the dining setup.
The staff enquired where I wanted the table moved to, and we agreed the corner in front of the armchair was best. Once the table was in place, the folding edges were lifted into place, and the staff proceeded to remove the food from a compartment beneath the table. The food was all still neatly in place like they had just left the kitchen.
Thankfully, the food quality largely matched up the wonderful setup. The salmon was cooked near-perfect, with crisp skin and moist inside. The bread was still warm. The barbequed pork or char siew, was not quite the best I’ve had, but it was a very good effort. I personally would have liked more char to give some crisp to the outside. The taste was a nice balance of sweet and salty, the meat tender and not too fatty. The rice was perhaps the only slight disappointment, as it leaned towards being bland. A little more seasoning would have been good, but the subtle taste made for a good combination with the char siew.
Overall, I was really happy to have spent the dining credit on in-room dining. It was a lovely experience, even if we did end up going over the credits by a little. It was a better meal than I expected, and the food was objectively quite good. The staff that delivered the food, and later a different one who came to clear the table, were both really nice. Both were really friendly, cheerful and did their jobs expertly, much like good restaurant waiters.
Facilities
The hotel has a heated outdoor swimming pool and a fitness centre. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to visit either of these facilities during my stay. I wasn’t able check out the latter due to time constraints, while the former was closed for annual maintenance. When I booked, the hotel already had a notice on its website and the Hilton Honors app informing (potential) guests of this closure. A letter notifying guests of the closure was also in the room when we arrived.
Conclusion
There’s no hiding that the Conrad Hong Kong is rather outdated, with rooms that look stuck in the 1990s. However, the hotel makes up for it with wonderful staff and service. The hospitality I received during this stay might just be the best of any Conrad I’ve stayed at. From pre-arrival, to the bellhops/concierge staff, in the lounge and room service, the staff seemed to genuinely want to deliver a good experience. I didn’t have any exceptionably challenging requests, but every interaction felt pleasant and warm. Intangibles like this that really make or break a stay. For sure, the hotel could do with some serious refurbishment. It’s not bad enough that I would avoid staying there at all cost however.
While the hard product is what makes a hotel look great, it’s the staff that really makes the experience memorable, and usually the determining factor whether a hotel is worth returning to. In this case, the Conrad Hong Kong is definitely a hotel I look forward to returning to.