Tea with a view in the Grand Club
Since our Cathay Pacific flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was delayed about 9 hours, we would only have one night at the Grand Hyatt, rather than our planned 2 night stay. When I realized our flight would likely be delayed at least one night, I called Hyatt Gold Passport to alert them, and they were happy to note my reservation, and eventually they changed it to one night, and the points for our second night were back in my account right away.
After 24 hours on the plane, I was ready for a shower. Since we arrived just before 5am, we headed to The Arrival lounge to clean up briefly. Then we caught the MTR into the city, then a cab onward to the Grand Hyatt. I also didn’t want to check in to the hotel too early, and I wanted to fight off jet lag be having the whole day to explore Hong Kong.
Lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
The hotel was happy to check us in early in the morning. I made this booking with points, so I was unable to upgrade with my Diamond suite upgrades, but they upgraded us to a harbour view room on the club level. Like several Hyatts I’ve seen in Asia, the club floors span a few floors. Same thing here, with easy access to the club lounge via stairs. In our case, we were one flight below the lounge
Harbourview room at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Convention Center in the foreground with Kowloon across the harbour
The room was relatively modern, although the bathroom seemed a little dated, particularly the gold fixtures.
The Diamond amenity was in the room when I arrived
fancy gold fixtures in the bathroom
After unpacking, we walked to a nearby MTR station, and were off to explore Hong Kong. We eventually went on a search for some lunch, but unfortunately weren’t patient enough to wait for Tim Ho Wan, a highly regarded, Michelin starred dim sum restaurant in Mong Kok. We eventually settled on lunch at a noodle shop.
Cantonese food at One Harbour Road
By late afternoon, jet lag was catching up, so I gave in and took a little nap. Earlier we had spoken to the one of the excellent agents at the Hyatt Grand Club that helped us find a place for dinner. After our day in the city, we decided to just stay in for dinner, eventually deciding on One Harbour Road, a Cantonese restaurant in the hotel.
This was not terribly over priced for a restaurant in an upscale hotel with an amazing view of the harbour in Hong Kong. I’m sure there are better options for Cantonese food in HK, but both my wife and I thought the food and service were excellent.
We returned to our room, and I was pleasantly surprised that a birthday cake was waiting for me. The agent at check in acknowledged my birthday, but I thought that was just because he saw it on my passport. In any case, it was a nice surprise to have a birthday cake. It was not a typical birthday, but this one spent in one of my favorite cities was memorable.
Visiting the Grand Club
It was still pretty early, and trying to get our internal clocks on the correct time, we went to the Grand Club for a drink.
Dessert spread available in the evenings
Great night time view from the Grand Club
Finally we made it to 10pm or so, then decided to sleep in a real bed for the first time in a while. The Grand bed was very comfortable, although I could probably have slept in a folding chair at that point. Our flight to Bali departed the next morning, so we got up relatively early for breakfast. The spread in the Grand Club was again impressive.
Back to the Airport
We had a little bit of breakfast in the Grand Club. Then we collected bags and were off to the Airport Express for our flight to Bali. Next up, visiting lounges at Hong Kong International Airport before our flight.
