Landmark Mandarin Oriental – Hong Kong
As trailed elsewhere Mrs D and I decided to spend Xmas at the Landmark – displaying profound cultural ignorance we failed to realise that Christmas Eve is the “celebration” night in Hong Kong so we just planned a nice quiet night in as it was our arrival day!
As we disembarked the airplane and walked down from the gate into the main concourse we were immediately met by a clipboard carrying MO Concierge who introduced herself and took it upon herself to take over trolly duties. She led us to the immigration area and then indicated that she would see us on the other side. We made it through immigration in about 20 minutes and realising she was waiting by the wrong door went over to her. She then led us through the airport to the waiting limo we’d booked directly with the hotel. This service is apparently free to all MO guests regardless of how they intend to get to the hotel. It is a cute touch but doesn’t actually add that much value as the airport is well signed.
Once in the limo the driver ensured that the air con temperature was to our liking and handed us a chilled scented hand towel and a bottle of cold water each. The water was from a Welsh source – the MO’s default supplier it would appear. The scent of the hand towel was beautiful and I found myself wondering what it was.
Traffic in Central was appalling but eventually we pulled up outside the Landmark to have the limo doors opened by an MO representative who welcomed “Mrs and Mrs Decker to the Landmark Hotel – did you have a good trip?”. We were whisked through reception and up to our 12th floor corner room where the representative checked us in comfortably seated on the corner sofa! A quick guide to the room and a few moments later our luggage arrived and was put into the walk-in wardrobe for us.
Finally we were on our own and like a couple of excited children on Xmas morning we explored every nook and cranny of the room. We’d opted for an L600 Corner Spa Suite and thanks to Amex had a very good equivalent daily rate. To describe the room in more detail :-
Walk into small entry hall area with furniture containing collection of glasses and extensive mini-bar/snacks. Through to main living area which is logically although not physically split into a left side and a right side. The left side contained a work desk and an L-shaped sofa and coffee table with some additional chairs. The right side contained the walk in wardrobe and the large bed. In the middle was a large glass and sandstone walled “Spa bathroom”.
The left side has a large flat plasma HD TV set into the wall with a DVD/VIDEO player on the corner. The right side also has a slightly smaller flat HD TV set into the wall for the bedroom area. The entire room is “wired for sound” with individual volume controls in the bathroom. The desk area has draws containing stationery, office equipment (stapler, sellotape, ruler) and cables to wire pretty much anything into the TV/Sound system. I was thus able to shower to the the strains of Jocelyn Montgomery’s take on Hildegard von Bingen from my iPod but because my ****** Vaio has no S/Video out couldn’t watch any saved videos. The phone on the desk has two lines and SEEMS to be VOIP – it keeps reconnecting to base. The desktop also has three manuals for the room, the spa and room service. Small notepads with pens are scattered throughout as are tasteful orchid arrangements. The entire room has a tiled floor with raffia type carpets delimiting areas in the “old style”.
The floor to ceiling windows have two blinds – one to exclude all light, one to act as a privacy screen whilst letting in light. All these (plus lights) are electronically controlled from electronic touchpads located around the room. They are controllable by section (living/sleeping/bathing). There is “mood lighting” available to provide gentle back lighting if required.
The right side has the bed with associated bedside cabinets and lamps. The top drawer on both sides is faux and contains a master control panel for all the electrics. The bottom drawer IS a drawer. The walk in wardrobe has shelving and hanging space to the front, coat hooks and umbrella to the right and safe, draws, slippers and shoe cleaning accessories to the left.
The “Spa bathroom” has as its centrepiece the 7ft circular bath which actually has an internal diameter of about 5ft and is not a Jacuzzi. It does however have an excellent “wand shower” – picture an eight inch rod .75 inch in diameter with shower holes over one third of the circumference for six inches. To one side of the bath in its own glass doored enclosure is the toilet and on the other side a shower room with “sit down shelf” and rainfall shower and “wand shower”. There are plentiful mirrors, towels and toiletries – all having that special scent first noted in the limo – and all made by Aromatherapy Associates of Twickenham! Each side of the bathroom has its own wash basin and the attention to detail on the toiletries is phenomenal, bath salts, flossing equipment even miniature hair brushes.
The floor to ceiling windows regretfully don’t have much of a view – but they’re still a nice feature as you soak in decadent splendour.
Every evening the turn down service left fresh ice, a hand made chocolate in a pristine MO black box on both sides of the bed, fresh drinking water and on Xmas Eve a commemorative Xmas tree decoration – beautifully boxed of course. Each day saw local and Herald Tribune papers left on the door, new towels and robes (a mix of micro fibre interior and satin exterior), more water, more toiletries and fresh fruit – including one day a Pitahaya – Dragon fruit.
Internet service was touted as 100MB and available via wireless/lan/TV. There was a daily fee of just over £10. The internal network may very well have been 100MB but the internet connection peaked at around 4MB and for the latter half of our stay was woeful – the earthquakes in South East Asia having crippled internet capacity. This did however provide some perspective for my kvetching – I lost fast internet access and ONLY a few people died.
Room service - again another experience. Rates are reasonable given our exchange rates (less so when you can buy a real pashmina at the street market for less than £2 but...) and the food arrives on a portable table complete with "hot box" to keep the main course hot. There is always a complimentary "sweet tray" with handmade delicacies to accompany the main savoury dish.
The trip from the hotel to the airport was not quite as magical as the pickup – no water, no towels BUT we were pleasantly surprised to again be met by a “concierge” who insisted on loading a trolley and wheeling us to the appropriate check in desk!
Now for a few non-room specific observations.
MO Bar
The downstairs bar in the lobby. Split over two floors a wonderful angled mirror over the bar shows what bottles the staff will be serving from. The drinks menu is… I’m WANTING to say innovative but what do cocktail bars do OTHER than come up with new names for old mixes. The Tamarillo Martini is nice and sweet and brings back memories of Jack Nicholson and a knife and the Witches of Eastwick. They can’t mix a Vesper so I have to improvise with Lemoncello. Pickie food menu is nice though and complimentary olives and nuts are tasty. Music is a little too lounge for me and definitely too loud. ‘Scuse me whilst I collect my bus pass.
Amber Restaurant
We ate there with the seasonal menu and it was ‘aight. Décor is gorgeous and all that but it lacked a certain “je ne sais quoi”. On the bright side the adjacent bar had a great humidor apparently stocked with a great range of cigars. Much confusion however when I tried to order a Bolivar. It seems that private clientele keep their own stock there so what you see AIN’T what you get. So settled for a Cohiba Siglo II .
But then on one night Mrs D wasn’t well so I ventured alone and tried the “Voyage” menu. The sommelier and I got chatting and suddenly I had a new best friend. The food was exciting, beautifully presented and I got to try some brilliant wine pairings I wouldn’t have dreamt of. As a penultimate finale for a three cheese course he provided a flight of Vintage Port -> Carrot Juice -> Tokai and on the dessert course he went with Vintage Port and a Sherry I couldn’t have differentiated from a good Port!
The Spa
Too few words here for what was a sublime experience. Present at reception – assigned a personal guide. Changed into sandals and provided with herbal tea. Led to lockers, provided with locker, robe, towel, optional paper underwear and a gift toiletries pack. Showered then led to main sauna area – so many varieties I cannot remember them all – but I can remember the experience of leaving a steam filled room for a mint scented freezing cold shower!
Led from here to treatment area where I had 2 hours of salt scrub and facial. INCREDIBLE. Just do it. Words will not suffice.
So all in all MO rock! We’ll try them again next Easter when a group of us do Tokyo!
As trailed elsewhere Mrs D and I decided to spend Xmas at the Landmark – displaying profound cultural ignorance we failed to realise that Christmas Eve is the “celebration” night in Hong Kong so we just planned a nice quiet night in as it was our arrival day!
As we disembarked the airplane and walked down from the gate into the main concourse we were immediately met by a clipboard carrying MO Concierge who introduced herself and took it upon herself to take over trolly duties. She led us to the immigration area and then indicated that she would see us on the other side. We made it through immigration in about 20 minutes and realising she was waiting by the wrong door went over to her. She then led us through the airport to the waiting limo we’d booked directly with the hotel. This service is apparently free to all MO guests regardless of how they intend to get to the hotel. It is a cute touch but doesn’t actually add that much value as the airport is well signed.
Once in the limo the driver ensured that the air con temperature was to our liking and handed us a chilled scented hand towel and a bottle of cold water each. The water was from a Welsh source – the MO’s default supplier it would appear. The scent of the hand towel was beautiful and I found myself wondering what it was.
Traffic in Central was appalling but eventually we pulled up outside the Landmark to have the limo doors opened by an MO representative who welcomed “Mrs and Mrs Decker to the Landmark Hotel – did you have a good trip?”. We were whisked through reception and up to our 12th floor corner room where the representative checked us in comfortably seated on the corner sofa! A quick guide to the room and a few moments later our luggage arrived and was put into the walk-in wardrobe for us.
Finally we were on our own and like a couple of excited children on Xmas morning we explored every nook and cranny of the room. We’d opted for an L600 Corner Spa Suite and thanks to Amex had a very good equivalent daily rate. To describe the room in more detail :-
Walk into small entry hall area with furniture containing collection of glasses and extensive mini-bar/snacks. Through to main living area which is logically although not physically split into a left side and a right side. The left side contained a work desk and an L-shaped sofa and coffee table with some additional chairs. The right side contained the walk in wardrobe and the large bed. In the middle was a large glass and sandstone walled “Spa bathroom”.
The left side has a large flat plasma HD TV set into the wall with a DVD/VIDEO player on the corner. The right side also has a slightly smaller flat HD TV set into the wall for the bedroom area. The entire room is “wired for sound” with individual volume controls in the bathroom. The desk area has draws containing stationery, office equipment (stapler, sellotape, ruler) and cables to wire pretty much anything into the TV/Sound system. I was thus able to shower to the the strains of Jocelyn Montgomery’s take on Hildegard von Bingen from my iPod but because my ****** Vaio has no S/Video out couldn’t watch any saved videos. The phone on the desk has two lines and SEEMS to be VOIP – it keeps reconnecting to base. The desktop also has three manuals for the room, the spa and room service. Small notepads with pens are scattered throughout as are tasteful orchid arrangements. The entire room has a tiled floor with raffia type carpets delimiting areas in the “old style”.
The floor to ceiling windows have two blinds – one to exclude all light, one to act as a privacy screen whilst letting in light. All these (plus lights) are electronically controlled from electronic touchpads located around the room. They are controllable by section (living/sleeping/bathing). There is “mood lighting” available to provide gentle back lighting if required.
The right side has the bed with associated bedside cabinets and lamps. The top drawer on both sides is faux and contains a master control panel for all the electrics. The bottom drawer IS a drawer. The walk in wardrobe has shelving and hanging space to the front, coat hooks and umbrella to the right and safe, draws, slippers and shoe cleaning accessories to the left.
The “Spa bathroom” has as its centrepiece the 7ft circular bath which actually has an internal diameter of about 5ft and is not a Jacuzzi. It does however have an excellent “wand shower” – picture an eight inch rod .75 inch in diameter with shower holes over one third of the circumference for six inches. To one side of the bath in its own glass doored enclosure is the toilet and on the other side a shower room with “sit down shelf” and rainfall shower and “wand shower”. There are plentiful mirrors, towels and toiletries – all having that special scent first noted in the limo – and all made by Aromatherapy Associates of Twickenham! Each side of the bathroom has its own wash basin and the attention to detail on the toiletries is phenomenal, bath salts, flossing equipment even miniature hair brushes.
The floor to ceiling windows regretfully don’t have much of a view – but they’re still a nice feature as you soak in decadent splendour.
Every evening the turn down service left fresh ice, a hand made chocolate in a pristine MO black box on both sides of the bed, fresh drinking water and on Xmas Eve a commemorative Xmas tree decoration – beautifully boxed of course. Each day saw local and Herald Tribune papers left on the door, new towels and robes (a mix of micro fibre interior and satin exterior), more water, more toiletries and fresh fruit – including one day a Pitahaya – Dragon fruit.
Internet service was touted as 100MB and available via wireless/lan/TV. There was a daily fee of just over £10. The internal network may very well have been 100MB but the internet connection peaked at around 4MB and for the latter half of our stay was woeful – the earthquakes in South East Asia having crippled internet capacity. This did however provide some perspective for my kvetching – I lost fast internet access and ONLY a few people died.
Room service - again another experience. Rates are reasonable given our exchange rates (less so when you can buy a real pashmina at the street market for less than £2 but...) and the food arrives on a portable table complete with "hot box" to keep the main course hot. There is always a complimentary "sweet tray" with handmade delicacies to accompany the main savoury dish.
The trip from the hotel to the airport was not quite as magical as the pickup – no water, no towels BUT we were pleasantly surprised to again be met by a “concierge” who insisted on loading a trolley and wheeling us to the appropriate check in desk!
Now for a few non-room specific observations.
MO Bar
The downstairs bar in the lobby. Split over two floors a wonderful angled mirror over the bar shows what bottles the staff will be serving from. The drinks menu is… I’m WANTING to say innovative but what do cocktail bars do OTHER than come up with new names for old mixes. The Tamarillo Martini is nice and sweet and brings back memories of Jack Nicholson and a knife and the Witches of Eastwick. They can’t mix a Vesper so I have to improvise with Lemoncello. Pickie food menu is nice though and complimentary olives and nuts are tasty. Music is a little too lounge for me and definitely too loud. ‘Scuse me whilst I collect my bus pass.
Amber Restaurant
We ate there with the seasonal menu and it was ‘aight. Décor is gorgeous and all that but it lacked a certain “je ne sais quoi”. On the bright side the adjacent bar had a great humidor apparently stocked with a great range of cigars. Much confusion however when I tried to order a Bolivar. It seems that private clientele keep their own stock there so what you see AIN’T what you get. So settled for a Cohiba Siglo II .
But then on one night Mrs D wasn’t well so I ventured alone and tried the “Voyage” menu. The sommelier and I got chatting and suddenly I had a new best friend. The food was exciting, beautifully presented and I got to try some brilliant wine pairings I wouldn’t have dreamt of. As a penultimate finale for a three cheese course he provided a flight of Vintage Port -> Carrot Juice -> Tokai and on the dessert course he went with Vintage Port and a Sherry I couldn’t have differentiated from a good Port!
The Spa
Too few words here for what was a sublime experience. Present at reception – assigned a personal guide. Changed into sandals and provided with herbal tea. Led to lockers, provided with locker, robe, towel, optional paper underwear and a gift toiletries pack. Showered then led to main sauna area – so many varieties I cannot remember them all – but I can remember the experience of leaving a steam filled room for a mint scented freezing cold shower!
Led from here to treatment area where I had 2 hours of salt scrub and facial. INCREDIBLE. Just do it. Words will not suffice.
So all in all MO rock! We’ll try them again next Easter when a group of us do Tokyo!
). I will have to start pouting in LRoM's direction i think. 
