The Landmark Hong Kong - Trip Report
Posted: 14 Mar 2006, 23:52The Landmark Mandarin Oriental
10th - 11th March (only one night unfortunately)
I've always liked the Mandarin Oriental chain, all the ones I've stayed in I've found the service and facilities to be exempalary.
We were booked into the Landmark for only one night. We had been in Hong Kong for 5 nights, four in the Conrad, but wanted something really special for the last night of the holiday. Its also fair to say as we had it on a FHR rate we intended to not really leave the property from early check in to late check out.
Arriving at pretty much midday the room was cleaned but being inspected so were invited to have a drink in the bar. Check in was efficient and very polite. Will talk about the Bar later.
The Room
We had booked a L600 Delux Room. We were hoping for an upgrade as a FHR perk but all L900's were booked. Still this room was very large and adequate.
The room comprised of lobby area, lounge and work area, bedroom area with walk in closet and obviously the very large spa bathroom. The room was packed with as much technology as possible; the tecno box had cables for everything. Most impressive though was the cable to connect your ipod to the room's speaker system. Here's a pic - not very exciting to look at but was great to listen too.
And the wonderful technology box..
Other tecnilogical bonus's were a great selection of facilities on the 3 TV's (not a boffin but quality looked HD, sure I'll be corrected)and several mood lighting options.
The sofa was a lot more comfortable than it looked.
The same could be said for the bed. Sitting on it initially I have to say its the firmest bed I have ever lied on and the standard pillows supplied were quite hard. Although once settled down on it it provides a very comfortable sleep. You can do some really nice lighting effects with the bedside lamps and the screen behind the bed. Gave the sleeping area a really cosy feel.
The bathrooms are what this hotel seems to be selling itself on. They didn't dissapoint. Easilly the main focal point of the room. They have an entrance in both the living and sleeping area. They consist of the 7 foot round bath, with the shower and the toilet built behind it in their own separate compartments. Bathroom came with two sinks and all possible amienities. I actually used the sowing kit - cool that the needles all came pre threaded
. The house toiletries, provided by Aromatherapy Associates were better than average, better infact than the Hermes ones provided in the original Mandarin. Plenty were provided and plenty were restocked when we took them before turn down (you can take the boy out of wolverhampton.....)The bath fills fairly quickly, but I wish the overflow outlet would have been a bit higher up to allow for deeper soaking. Couldn't fault the raindrop shower, but then I never can.
Only a couple of gripes with the room, my lighting panel by mu side of the bed didn't seem to want to work. And the minibar cabinet, whilst looking gorgeous, would always pop open very slightly in the night and leak out light into the room. Managed to force it shut with the room service menu.
The Spa
This was the other reason why we stopped here. 21000 square feet of Spa. We were both booked in for a 2 hour Time Ritual. Good concept, you discus with your therapist what you like and they'll tailor the treatment to that.
Everything about the spa was excellent. Used the heat treatments and pools first for an hour. They have a vitality pool, tropical rain sauna, hammam and dry sauna. For the best skin ever I found a good ten minutes in the dry sauna, followed immediately by a cold mist menthol shower whilst using crushed ice as a body scrub. Your skin feels alive!! The treatment itself was fabulous; second only, if at all to one provided in the Spa at the MO in NY. The ritual cosisted of a foot bath, whilst you discussed your treatments, full body scrub, front and back aromatherapy massage with chakra balancing and ending with a facial and scalp massage. Couldn't fault it at all.
Wining and Dining
We drank in the MO Bar and had a meal in Amber, the restaurant. The bar is nice and quiet by day, ideal for a light lunch and more bussy in the evening. Perfectly good hotel bar with attentive staff (constantly refilling my olive dish!). Only gripe was they charged me for a bottle of wine not the glass. Still discovered this later and it was all sorted out.
Very impressed with Amber. Found the service, food and ambience to be better than Felix in the Pen. As there was no view to sell it had to rely on the actual food more and was better for it.
Nice touch, the wine list came out as a tablet PC. You could select and search for wine by region, name etc. I tried not to be impress but I couldn't help it. Its one of those menus where sometimes you have to just take pot luck but every choice was a winner for me. Found the dessert particulary impressive, and thats a tough one to crack with me. My meal was as follows:
Wild agrula crepinette of giant squid pig's trotter fire roasted piquillos italian parsley just de daube enhanced with sherry vinegar and belotta chorizo
anjou pigeon green pistachio foam samosa of its leg young turnips
caramelised mellow grey shallots banylus and chocolate emulsion
jellified tangerine goats milk creme brule preserved kumquats tangerine sorbet and oriental spiced ice cream
Fozzyo had equally fabulous stuff involving foie gras and pork belly!! Meal was expensive. But never anything wrong with a last night splurge. Amber also has its own little bar, great for coffe or in our case pre meal champers.
The Service
Service was on the whole excelent. Always plenty of staff milling about in reception, the receptionist always mentioned me by name even before looking at my files. Its this service, like I've had in others that always sets MO apart from the rest for me. My only complaint on this occasion was after checking in a call to guest services. They wernt very aware of the benifits or actually what the FHR rate was, even though I could see it clearly on my booking form. I got all these, but at first they didn't seem to think we were entitled to complimentry breakfast and welcome gift (abottle of wine). Difficult to tell if this is teething issues or something worse. Talking of complimenty breakfasts the one provided is very nice.
Overall, a fantastic addition to the MO brand. Smaller than you first think. Looking forward to staying here again (and then a night in the Mandarin Oriental when that reopens!)
Dean
10th - 11th March (only one night unfortunately)
I've always liked the Mandarin Oriental chain, all the ones I've stayed in I've found the service and facilities to be exempalary.
We were booked into the Landmark for only one night. We had been in Hong Kong for 5 nights, four in the Conrad, but wanted something really special for the last night of the holiday. Its also fair to say as we had it on a FHR rate we intended to not really leave the property from early check in to late check out.
Arriving at pretty much midday the room was cleaned but being inspected so were invited to have a drink in the bar. Check in was efficient and very polite. Will talk about the Bar later.
The Room
We had booked a L600 Delux Room. We were hoping for an upgrade as a FHR perk but all L900's were booked. Still this room was very large and adequate.
The room comprised of lobby area, lounge and work area, bedroom area with walk in closet and obviously the very large spa bathroom. The room was packed with as much technology as possible; the tecno box had cables for everything. Most impressive though was the cable to connect your ipod to the room's speaker system. Here's a pic - not very exciting to look at but was great to listen too.
And the wonderful technology box..
Other tecnilogical bonus's were a great selection of facilities on the 3 TV's (not a boffin but quality looked HD, sure I'll be corrected)and several mood lighting options.
The sofa was a lot more comfortable than it looked.
The same could be said for the bed. Sitting on it initially I have to say its the firmest bed I have ever lied on and the standard pillows supplied were quite hard. Although once settled down on it it provides a very comfortable sleep. You can do some really nice lighting effects with the bedside lamps and the screen behind the bed. Gave the sleeping area a really cosy feel.
The bathrooms are what this hotel seems to be selling itself on. They didn't dissapoint. Easilly the main focal point of the room. They have an entrance in both the living and sleeping area. They consist of the 7 foot round bath, with the shower and the toilet built behind it in their own separate compartments. Bathroom came with two sinks and all possible amienities. I actually used the sowing kit - cool that the needles all came pre threaded
. The house toiletries, provided by Aromatherapy Associates were better than average, better infact than the Hermes ones provided in the original Mandarin. Plenty were provided and plenty were restocked when we took them before turn down (you can take the boy out of wolverhampton.....)The bath fills fairly quickly, but I wish the overflow outlet would have been a bit higher up to allow for deeper soaking. Couldn't fault the raindrop shower, but then I never can.Only a couple of gripes with the room, my lighting panel by mu side of the bed didn't seem to want to work. And the minibar cabinet, whilst looking gorgeous, would always pop open very slightly in the night and leak out light into the room. Managed to force it shut with the room service menu.
The Spa
This was the other reason why we stopped here. 21000 square feet of Spa. We were both booked in for a 2 hour Time Ritual. Good concept, you discus with your therapist what you like and they'll tailor the treatment to that.
Everything about the spa was excellent. Used the heat treatments and pools first for an hour. They have a vitality pool, tropical rain sauna, hammam and dry sauna. For the best skin ever I found a good ten minutes in the dry sauna, followed immediately by a cold mist menthol shower whilst using crushed ice as a body scrub. Your skin feels alive!! The treatment itself was fabulous; second only, if at all to one provided in the Spa at the MO in NY. The ritual cosisted of a foot bath, whilst you discussed your treatments, full body scrub, front and back aromatherapy massage with chakra balancing and ending with a facial and scalp massage. Couldn't fault it at all.
Wining and Dining
We drank in the MO Bar and had a meal in Amber, the restaurant. The bar is nice and quiet by day, ideal for a light lunch and more bussy in the evening. Perfectly good hotel bar with attentive staff (constantly refilling my olive dish!). Only gripe was they charged me for a bottle of wine not the glass. Still discovered this later and it was all sorted out.
Very impressed with Amber. Found the service, food and ambience to be better than Felix in the Pen. As there was no view to sell it had to rely on the actual food more and was better for it.
Nice touch, the wine list came out as a tablet PC. You could select and search for wine by region, name etc. I tried not to be impress but I couldn't help it. Its one of those menus where sometimes you have to just take pot luck but every choice was a winner for me. Found the dessert particulary impressive, and thats a tough one to crack with me. My meal was as follows:
Wild agrula crepinette of giant squid pig's trotter fire roasted piquillos italian parsley just de daube enhanced with sherry vinegar and belotta chorizo
anjou pigeon green pistachio foam samosa of its leg young turnips
caramelised mellow grey shallots banylus and chocolate emulsion
jellified tangerine goats milk creme brule preserved kumquats tangerine sorbet and oriental spiced ice cream
Fozzyo had equally fabulous stuff involving foie gras and pork belly!! Meal was expensive. But never anything wrong with a last night splurge. Amber also has its own little bar, great for coffe or in our case pre meal champers.
The Service
Service was on the whole excelent. Always plenty of staff milling about in reception, the receptionist always mentioned me by name even before looking at my files. Its this service, like I've had in others that always sets MO apart from the rest for me. My only complaint on this occasion was after checking in a call to guest services. They wernt very aware of the benifits or actually what the FHR rate was, even though I could see it clearly on my booking form. I got all these, but at first they didn't seem to think we were entitled to complimentry breakfast and welcome gift (abottle of wine). Difficult to tell if this is teething issues or something worse. Talking of complimenty breakfasts the one provided is very nice.
Overall, a fantastic addition to the MO brand. Smaller than you first think. Looking forward to staying here again (and then a night in the Mandarin Oriental when that reopens!)
Dean
