A Review of The Peninsula Hong Kong

Quite possibly the most famous hotel in the city, the Peninsula Hong Kong first opened in 1928 as the first hotel of the Peninsula brand. Intrigued by its history and fame, I decided it was a suitable place to spend my first nights in Hong Kong. And while the hotel lived up to its charm, I left feeling disappointed. Having recently set up my own online journal, I thought recounting my first days in Hong Kong would be a good way to start it. 

First of all, my opinions were most likely clouded by the sudden and abrupt end to my year-long summer and the unwanted comeback of many responsibilities. I am writing this most importantly for my own amusement and to remind myself how excited I was to be in this city. Yet, I hope that if anyone happens to stumble upon this, they may find it somewhat useful and a pleasant read. I will skip other introductions and move on to my critiques of the hotel. 

I will, as any good guide to writing a review would suggest, start with the positives, and there will be a very convenient summary at the end for readers in a rush. I was also in a rush to get to Hong Kong since the semester had already started, so I was very late, but my stress was lifted as the arrival experience was absolutely frictionless. The beautiful green Rolls-Royce was a fabulous and comfortable way to enter the city, and the hotel provided standard in-room check-in, which is always appreciated. As I already hinted, I found the hotel to be, and I can’t find a better phrase to express it, very Hong Kong. It was grand and overwhelming, but surprisingly easy and exceptionally efficient. At the same time, it was nothing like Hong Kong – the hotel was calm, spacious, and comfortable. That was my absolute first impression of the hotel and the city before dozing off. 

As far as the decor goes, I liked the hotel’s simple and classic design. It wasn’t anything too adventurous, which I think was a good decision. I very much liked the hotel’s spa and gym; it was a very specific place, and the best way to describe it is that it felt like hiding from a dragon in a tower of a medieval castle. Sadly, due to a typhoon that weekend, the pool was closed. What I see quite rarely when traveling is that The Peninsula, or at least their Hong Kong location, provides a wide selection of movies to watch, without the need to sign into any of your own accounts. Again, how convenient! The staff were approachable enough, like most Hong Kong people. And as I have seemingly slipped into very generic compliments, I feel it is time to move on. 

I had slept in more comfortable beds, I thought, falling asleep and waking up. I am very particular about that sort of thing, though, so I don’t hold it against them. There were other things I didn’t particularly care for, but I think it’s unfair to categorize them as negatives. I am talking about things that are very subjective or just far out of my area of interest. For example, the custom car seemed like a very normal car to me. Yes, the green exterior was beautiful, and it was a very comfortable ride, but when they mentioned a custom Rolls–Royce, I expected more. If its customization was in how many horses drew the car, then I apologize, but I am unable to appreciate that. 

Another thing that stunned me has to do with in-room dining. What I wanted to point out was that the hotel offered five tomato-based pasta sauces – my memory is not certain, but I believe the options went like this: tomato sauce, puttanesca sauce, marinara sauce, pomodoro sauce, and arrabbiata sauce. While I can appreciate the enthusiasm for tomatoes, it felt a little unnecessary. Because does anyone actually care about the difference? Very few people urgently crave penne puttanesca; most people simply want pasta with tomatoes and would settle for any of the five. I would have much rather seen other options on the menu. It’s not really a flaw, as overall the selection was wide, and I am sure if I asked, they would have made whatever I liked for me. And most importantly, everything I ordered was delicious! 

Now I would like to talk about the things I did not like about my stay. What I remember as the most irritating was the layout of my room. First of all, and I see how the abundance of space is the last thing anyone in Hong Kong should complain about, with how wide the room was, the television was just too far from the bed. It was really quite hard to see anything when trying to stay comfortable. On the contrary, the bathroom was squeezed into a very tight space and was much smaller than other hotel bathrooms in the city. I understand it is an old building, so there are limitations to how the room can look, but they could have splurged on bigger televisions… At least the cars are green, though, right? This could have been specific to my room, though, especially as I have always found The Peninsula to be very generous with space in their hotels. I will leave the issue of the layout soon, but I wanted to note one last thing: the position of the safe. I had quite a lot of luggage with me, with the move to Hong Kong and all, and I was at the hotel for only two nights. Therefore, I obviously wasn’t going to unpack everything, not even my entire carry-on, which I planned on leaving in that little area designated for small luggage that hotel rooms tend to have. Unfortunately, here, if you used that area and wanted to keep the suitcase open, you could not access the safe. And yes, I could have unpacked it all or asked for help, but I like the practicality of keeping it open. Everybody knows that once you take the clothing out, you have to wash it, but if you leave it inside the suitcase, it stays fresh. And frankly, until then, I had never encountered an issue like this. Overall, the layout just felt disproportionate and not fully thought through.

Reading through what I just wrote, I realized I actually had more positive things to say about the hotel than any words of reproach. I should note here that I only wrote about things that I actually came into contact with, and I never went out of my way to conduct tests to gather information that people generally look for in reviews, so I apologize for that. Luckily, at least for those who seek drama and good gossip, I remembered a moment that left me quite disgusted. I saw, sitting down after taking a shower, that one of the bathrobes had a nasty piece of tape with someone’s hair stuck to it. What purpose the tape originally served, and why it was stuck to the robe, is still unknown to me, but it’s the kind of thing you really do not expect to see anywhere, let alone a hotel like this one. I would not complain about it, and I am mentioning it only for the purpose of remembering it and as an attempt to make this review more interesting. I am, so to speak, throwing very overcooked spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. And now, I am wondering which of the five sauces would stick to a wall the best. 

To satisfy those in a hurry, the hotel was beautiful and efficient, and I definitely recommend giving it a try – especially if it’s your first time in Hong Kong, as I really can’t think of a better place to first breathe in the city’s almost Chinese air. To be honest and hopeful, I believe I just got unlucky with my room. And I got a sneak peek into how the hotel sorts its bathrobes. Though all I know of the system as of now is that sticky tape is involved.