sqskybed

Well I have thought about my travel plan over and over again and I've made this (definitive?) plan:
2 nights at the Four Seasons Hong Kong, exec. suite
4 nights at the Amankila
3 nights at the Amandari
3 nights at the Amanjiwo
3 nights at the Club at The Legian

I like the 'normal' Legian for the seaview but I think the Club is more secluded. What do you think? I've never been to the Club, only to the Legian.

Cicerone

I've not commented so far because I've liked what I've seen, right up until I saw the Four Seasons in Hong Kong over a harbourview room at the Penn...now I live in Hong Kong and I think the Four Season is a very nice hotel but it has two huge drawbacks (i) location and (ii) view. The first is not so bad, it is a little bit of a pain to get to and from as it just that bit further from things than you would want to be, however it is close to the mid-levels escalator and the airport express trains (but if you are staying at the Four Seasons are you taking the train to the airport!?). It is much further to the Star Ferry than the Penn, and you may end up taking taxis more than you want as otherwise you have to figure out the maze of pedestrian walkways which is the only way to get out of that Connaught Road area on foot.

However the Four Season's other drawback cannot be overcome: your view is not only of the "wrong" side of the harbor, but it is of a very boring part of the wrong side of the harbor! The industrial port part. All that money to see what is essentially Port Elizabeth New Jersey. (And I am from New Jersey, so no slight intended, but I wouldn't pay over US$400 a night to see Port Elizabeth.)

Not too put too fine a point on it, but every picture you see of Hong Kong is taken from the Kowloon side, and many are in fact taken from the Penn. A corner suite at the Penn is my idea of heaven, and it comes complete with telescope. While I would pick the Four Seasons over many hotels in Hong Kong (like the Grand Hyatt, both Shangri-Las and the Landmark Mandarin), I would NOT pick it over a habourview room at the Penn.

The Penn has the fabulous service, etc as well. The Four Seasons does have a great spa and two great pools, I believe the Penn is still working on the spa and their pool and I don't think their redone pool will ever match as the Four Seasons as theirs will still be indoors. However if you are here in the winter the pool won't matter, and the indoor pool would in fact be an advantage; and maybe the pool doesn't matter at all to you in any event. Also the Four Seasons is charging for Club Floor privileges, about US$100 a day (at least that is what they told us on the tour I took in Nov), you should confirm this if the Club Floor is part of your deal, I think that is kind of silly and the money could certainly be better spent elsewhere.

Mitch04

Friends stayed in the 4 Seasons, Jimbaran Bay, and found a snake in the room!!! The staff tried to catch it, but it slithered away, and the wife was terrified for the remainder of the stay the reptile would come back.

ccc

My wife and I stayed at Singita in South Africa several years ago. One morning she came out of the bathroom and told me that there was a snake in our room. I suggested she go get our ultra-handsome ranger, Bruce. Bruce arrived, pulled down his sunglasses, and told us that the snake was a Mozambiquan Spitting Cobra. Apparently, they spit towards your eyes, which I guess causes blindness or something worse. Rather than killing this dangerous snake, Bruce shooed it out our door with a stick, where it disappeared. Needless to say, we were much more conscious of where we put our feet after this! Anyway, the point is that Singita is still at the very top of anyplace we have ever stayed in the world, including a number of Amans. You have to remember where you are. If you want something totally sterile, you might as well stay at the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta, where there are undoubtedly no snakes.