Hotel Review Hong Kong: JW Marriott

After departing form Macau, my next destination was Hong Kong. It was a quick ferry from Macau to the Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. The  Ferry Terminal is right in central Hong Kong and therefore it was a short 5 minute taxi ride to the JW Marriott hotel Hong Kong.

The JW Marriott was going to be home for the next 5 nights and had I paid cash it would have been pretty pricey at a total cost of £1,500. But thanks to this little hobby of collecting points, cash wise it cost me a grand total of nothing. Instead I used 160k Marriott Rewards points for my stay, taking advantage of the 5th night free promotion at Marriott Rewards.

As mentioned in a previous post on the best ways to use your Marriott Rewards points, the best use of Marriott Rewards points was for hotel stays.

Location

The JW Marriott is located in Admiralty which is pretty much the financial district. It’s close to everything you would want to see and do and also has easy access to the MTR. The JW Marriott connects to the Pacific Place shopping mall. Though if you’re planning to shop here then make sure you bring your American Express because the only thing you will find here are luxury brands.

As the JW Marriott Hong Kong is located on Hong Kong Island you have a less impressive view looking out to the Harbour compared to being on the other side of the harbour in Kowloon and looking in.

This is the view from the other side of the harbour. If you look very closely you can see the JW Marriott on the left of the picture.

When ever I’m in Hong Kong I always visit 7 Eleven to stock up on some snacks. 7 Eleven is the equivalent of Spar in the UK and can be found everywhere, well so I thought.

One night at around midnight at the JW Marriott I was feeling a bit peckish and wanted some ice cream. I could have easily ordered room service and paid a premium but with 7 Eleven stores scattered all around Hong Kong I thought I’ll  just grab some ice cream outside. What I didn’t know was that there was nothing around Admiralty at night, it was just dead. I couldn’t find a 7 Eleven anywhere and eventually after walking 40 mins in the hot humid conditions with my t-shirt soaking in sweat, I found a 7 Eleven in Lan Kwai Fong, an area famous for its night life. Lets just say I slightly lost the plot when I grabbed everything I could and bought 4 mini ice cream tubs, 3 ice teas, a couple of packs of crisps and some instant noodles. Originally all I wanted was some ice cream, but after all that time spent looking for a 7 Eleven, for some reason I thought it made sense to buy an excessive amount of goodies for that night. Obviously, I ordered a taxi back to the hotel.

I spent more money then I would have had I just ordered room service, I was covered in sweat and I was an hour. Therefore, the moral of this story is, sometimes it is just cheaper to get room service.

Check-in

Several days before check-in I received a e-mail from the JW Marriott informing me that they look forward to having me and asked if there was anything they could do to make my stay more comfortable. I originally booked a standard City View room and asked if I could have a room with a view. The JW Marriott quickly responded and confirmed an upgrade to a Premier Harbour View room.

When I arrived the hotel porter quickly helped with my suitcase and walked me to the front desk, while he took my suitcase up to my room. The clerk at the hotel front desk acknowledged my platinum status and explained where everything was and after checkin he walked me to the elevator.

Room

The room was a good size and had a nice marble entrance. The bed was very comfortable and you even had the ability to automatically close the drapes from the comfort of your bed, not that I ever did because the view was amazing.

Executive Lounge

The Executive Lounge at the JW Marriott was well staffed and had a great spread throughout breakfast and dinner (apologies I didn’t take any photos of the spread) . They also provided afternoon tea, which had some sandwiches and cakes. However for the rest of the day and night there wasn’t really anything else to eat apart from some fruit, cookies and sweets. Though there were plenty of drinks.

The Executive Lounge is on two floors and there are some stairs to allow you to walk up and down the two floors. The Executive Lounge was busy during breakfast and dinner hours, not surprisingly because that’s when all the good stuff comes out. I went up to the lounge quite a lot because I just loved the view up there.

Afternoon tea

Upstairs seating area

Drinks area, the alcohol was on the opposite side 

Pool

The outdoor pool was pretty empty when I went. There was only about 3 other guest outside and a whole load of staff. The pool itself was small and didn’t really do a good job enticing me to have a swim in comparison to the pool at the Marina Bay Sands. But to be fair that pool is in a league of its own. Since I was at the Marina Bay Sands only a few days ago, I probably didn’t give the JW Marriott a fair chance. But at the same time the pool was pretty empty so maybe not.

Also I ordered a cocktail at the bar by the pool and was thoroughly disappointed, It tasted watered downed, bland and so not worth the money. Therefore because of this experience I have decided that I in fact did not like this pool. 

 

4 staff serving 3 customers, that’s what I call customer service.

Cocktail let down of the year.

Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed my stay at the JW Marriott Hong Kong. The staff were very attentive and their customer service was the best I’ve experienced from a hotel for a very long time. Everything about this hotel was 5 star.

The only little thing that I was slightly disappointed at during my stay was the experience at the pool, and that’s only if I was being very picky because at the same time if you’re in Hong Kong how much of your time will you be spending in the pool. Obviously if I was in Vegas then this would be a different story as you know how much I love the pool parties in Vegas.

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