.I was recently invited to experience Above and Beyond at Hotel Icon in Hong Kong.

I stayed at the hotel with my partner and on arrival we were warmly greeted by Louis. He asked for me to give my name to the receptionist so my reservation details could be checked. Once I had told him my name he said “Miss Or, we have been expecting you, please follow me.” He then whisked us up to the Above and Beyond Club Lounge to check in.  Whilst on our way up in the lift we talked about the hotel, the weather and the usual pleasantries.

In the lounge we were warmly greeted and offered a hot beverage whilst we were taken through the check in process. Both girls who checked us in were very charming, polite and professional. We were then escorted to our room.

In our room we received a welcome card and gifts from the Director of Guest and Public Relations –  Charlie Lin (see photo).

The note was a lovely touch although I noticed this was pre printed. This is probably due to the amount of cards he would have to leave for guests. Although what I was not expecting which was much more personalised was the welcome note and gift that I received from Louis Ho. (see photo)

As mentioned earlier it was Louis who greeted me at the door and he is the Director of Front Office. During our conversation we spoke about the weather, and the note he gave me referred to that. This little added touch is what made the welcome that much more memorable for me.

What makes Hotel Icon so different?

Hotel Icon is a five star hotel in Hong Kong and on Trip Advisor at the time of writing this, it is Number 4 out of 712 hotels in Hong Kong. What makes this even more fantastic is that Hotel Icon is the teaching and research hotel built for the School of Hotel and Tourism Management by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. It is fully owned by the university.

Whilst at the hotel I made use of all the facilities and particularly liked the Above and Beyond Club lounge. This offered complimentary afternoon tea, complimentary evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvre and tea and coffee 24 hours a day. Their outdoor heated swimming pool was a joy to swim in. Their ‘handy’ mobile phone which also gave me complimentary international calls was an added bonus.

As quoted below from a message in the room from the General manager, Richard Hatter:

“In our little universe, students, teachers and seasoned hospitality professionals come together united by one goal: to make your stay utterly memorable and pleasurable”

Richard is also the Chair for the Institute of Hospitality Hong Kong branch.

The service certainly was Above and Beyond at Hotel Icon. It was great to be on the receiving end of having random acts of kindness bestowed on me. Some wonderful memories were created for me to take away. Of course I left copies of my books for Richard and I am delighted to say that these have been made available for the hotel students as well.