Review of JW Marriott Hong Kong

New Year 2006 started for me with a night in the JW Marriott Hong Kong - "Marriott's flagship property of Asia", according to their webpage.

1. Location / building:

The JW Marriott is located on Hong Kong Island, namely at Pacific Place, a large high-class shopping mall. The MTR station "Admirality" is located just below the center (connected to the mall via several escalators. Pretty Hong Kong Park can be reached within five minutes of walking from the hotel which is quite convenient. By the way, practically next door to the Marriott is the Conrad Hotel.

The location is not bad at all, primarily thanks to the near MTR station. However, the hotel is not on the harborfront, so only a part of the rooms can pamper you with some harbor view. The airport express station "Central" can be reached within one station after "Admirality" and even Kowloon on the other side is only 2 MTR stops away (actually faster than taking the Star Ferry).

Providing more than 600 rooms, the hotel itself is naturally a high-rise building (of around 35 floors). Thanks to the type of construction, most of the rooms give a little bit the feeling of being in a corner room.

After arrival upon Pacific Place, it's not very easy to figure out the entry of the hotel, quite hidden. From that door you have to take the elevators than to get up to the impressive lobby in the 3rd floor.

For Hong Kong Island, the location is not too bad, but not the best either as you're not exactly in walking distance to the Star ferry pier.

Location: ****

2. Hotel class:

The JW Marriott is an international 5-star-hotel (Hong Kong hotel classification) though it doesn't really belong to the top hotels of the city (like the Peninsula, the Four Seasons, the Mandarin Oriental, the Intercontinental etc.).

3. Rooms:

I made the booking via Priceline - that's why I didn't exactly expect any fancy room or even an upgrade. So finally I was quite happy with the room in the 19th floor which they gave me. We could even enjoy a little side harbor view from the room. Unfortunately, the room wasn't quite large - not to say tiny... (well, it's Hong Kong... large rooms are scarce) - but at least quite interestingly "formed" (a small wall between the hall and the room itself which gives you the impression of a little studio instead of a simple hotel room). That construction turns the room rather quiet, too (in terms of noise from the corridor).

The bath room is very nice and elegant, quite large in proportion comparing it to the living room. There's a separate shower cubicle and a rather large bath tub. More than enough towels and bath amenities are provided as well (both of good quality). Two bath robes were there too, and an iron/ironing board was in the closet (near the in-room-safe).

The room itself was a little bit on the small side (comparing it to the size of the bath room) and was dominated by the king size bed (with a mirror behind the bed :-) - probably to give the impression of a larger room size). I liked the quite large bay window of the room which offered a rather wide view. However, in the evening with lights turned on it was easy for the two neighbors to spot inside your room (if you don't close the curtains). In front of the window there was a comfortable (typical Marriott-) chair in dark green with a little cocktail table next to it. Upon turndown service in the evenings they put you a can of hot chinese tea and some fruits there. Nice service! The rather large desk is between the chair and the TV rack and offers highspeed internet connection (against surcharge; not wireless). The TV rack is unfortunately a little bit diagonally opposite of the bed, so you have to turn your head to the left when watching TV from the bed.

I found the bed was very comfortable (not too hard, not too soft) though I think it was not yet the new Marriott bed. Next to the bed there was a panel (style of the 80s) to centrally operate the lights (switch on/switch off) and the curtains (!) of the room, as well as the signals for the room-service ("do not disturb" / "please make up the room"). The alarm clock was integrated in this panel too. The air condition was adjustable and quiet (you can't open the windows). The minibar could be found in the right part of the closet, prices on the usual hotel level of Hong Kong. There was a nice coffee machine too, using high quality filter coffee. I once ordered food from the room service which was nice and of good quality (not too expensive; Asian food around 10US$, Burger or Club Sandwich around 15$).

Alltogether, the room gave the impression of the eighties, no really up-to-date anymore in terms of design. As everything was very clean, working properly and in excellent condition, I didn't mind that. This room remembered me a lot of the Marriott Singapore which has quite similar rooms in terms of size and design.

Interestingly, we got two coded keys (without toothing) instead of the common keycards for the doors. Never saw that before. Apparently, the hotel has been fitted in the 80s with stuff which was actually high tech during that time.

Room: ****

4. Facilities:

The hotel offers all the common facilities of an international hotel of that category. Several restaurants (didn't check these out - it's cheaper and probably not much worse outside) and Bar, a Business center, a large gym and an outdoor pool (didn't check it out either - much too cold in HK in January).

There are several floors of shopping center below the hotel (Pacific Place), most of these shops are quite classy and on the higher level in terms of prices (for Hong Kong).

Facilities: ****

5. Service:

As I only stayed here for one night, I didn't get much into touch with the service. Well, check-in and check-out was quickly and friendly handled. We didn't have to wait at all during both activities. Being a Marriott rewards member, I was offered a discount voucher for the hotels' restaurants and bars. I wanted to use this voucher for the room service but the waiter who brought the food told me it was not valid on New Year's day. Well, ok. No problem... but during check-out the agent checked my account, saw the room-service bill and told me that she will discount that bill by the 10 or 20% because of the MR offer. Wow! I didn't expect that and I didn't even ask her about that. Nice gesture! I also liked to be addressed by my name every time, even on the telephone when ordering the food.

Service level: *****

6. Prices:

Well, the JW Marriott usually charges a lot more than the Sheraton (Kowloon). Usually there's no way to stay at the JW for less than 2000HK$ (around 250US$) - according to official rates. The Sheraton could have been booked for the same period for around 1000HK$ less per night! Quite a difference. As the Sheraton is on par with the JW Marriott in many aspects (IMHO), I would for sure go for the Sheraton if I had to choose. Using Priceline, I paid only slightly more for the JW than I did for the Sheraton before, so it's not such big deal. For a price of around 1000HK$ I cannot and I would not complain at all to stay at the JW Marriott.

Value for money: ***

7. Conclusion:

I felt very comfortable with the JW Marriott and I especially liked the proximity of the hotel to the Hong Kong park as well as the good connection to the MTR station (Admirality). The room was comfortable, the bath room special, the view ok. Except of the slightly outdated design of the room and the little bit small size of the room, there was nothing to complain. The service was attentive, friendly, decent and effective.

That's why I finally recommend the JW Marriott HK. Another story is the price level of this hotel - IMO you get more for you money in several other 5 star hotels of the city (e.g. the Sheraton and the Harbour Plaza), but it depends on the price you get for the JW, of course. Who wants to stay cheaper but to collect Marriott rewards points also should have a look at the two Renaissance hotels of Hong Kong (New World in Kowloon and Harbour View in HK Island).