Travel Horizons: Four Seasons Hong Kong

Showing posts with label Four Seasons Hong Kong. Show all posts

7.30.2018

if it's August, it must be Las Vegas

Though I don't think of Las Vegas as a summer destination, I have found myself making annual pilgrimages to Vegas every August since 2006. Why Vegas? Why August? August is the month when elite members of the luxury travel industry gather for Virtuoso Travel Week, an event that has grown larger year after year. Thousands of luxury travel advisors travel to Vegas to meet with reps of of a thousand hotels, cruise lines, airlines, tour companies, and other travel providers.

Think of Travel Week as a shopping spree for travel. I shop for travel ideas for you — new hotels that are opening their doors, older hotels that have transformed themselves through multi-million dollar renovations, creative ideas from tour companies about things to do and see, opportunities for unique experiences that come with a lifetime of "bragging rights." There's always something new and surprising to learn.

And there's networking... One of my favorite Travel Week stories: I was seated at dinner one evening next to my rep from Four Seasons Hong Kong. While we were talking, a client email came in with a special request for her hotel. Handing her the phone, she read the email, said "Done!," and emailed her team in Hong Kong. Luxury travel is all about relationships ... and Virtuoso Travel Week is our chance to nurture those relationships. Virtuoso hotel bookings give you even more than hundreds of dollars of amenities per stay: when you're the client of a Virtuoso travel advisor, hotels receive you as a true VIP.

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

8.15.2013

Virtuoso | the power of one to one

one of several ballrooms, filled with Virtuoso travel consultants and suppliers

Several years ago, Virtuoso Travel Week used the tag line "the power of one to one" as the theme of that year's meeting. It's not just rhetoric; it's actual fact. The advantage that a Virtuoso travel consultant offers is more than just getting amenities (which are quite valuable - you can save hundreds of dollars over the course of your hotel stay through the exclusive Virtuoso amenities). Even more important are the personal contacts that travel advisors make with suppliers through hundreds of four-minute appointments (pictured above) and through interactions in relaxed social settings.

Here's a true story from last night. I was seated at a banquet table when an email came in from a client who had several specific requests related to a prospective booking at Four Seasons Hong Kong. Could he get a spa menu? Could he arrange for child care? Could he make an reservation at one of the hotel's two three-star Michelin restaurants?

I was seated immediately to the left of the hotel's Director of Sales and Marketing. I handed her my iPhone, she read the request, said "Confirmed!", and I immediately let my client know. When I woke up at 6 a.m. this morning, the restaurant reservation had been made, the spa menu was attached, and information on child care was provided. I forwarded it back to my client.

The Power of One to One is not an overstatement. If anything, I'd call it the Magic of One to One. The time I invest each year at Virtuoso Travel Week translates directly into great service delivered directly to my clients from valued hotel partners such as Four Seasons Hong Kong.

Virtuoso travel consultant (search here on Google)

4.29.2011

the best Chinese restaurant ever

Lung King Heen is the first Chinese restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars, and after having lunch here today, I can understand why. The name literally means "View of the Dragon," and from its fourth floor location in the Four Seasons Hong Kong, the restaurant offers a commanding view of Victoria Harbour and Kowloon ... in addition to having the best Chinese food I have ever eaten.

I learned two things at lunch today —

(1) how to eat dim sum with chopsticks... The trick is to lift the dum sum with your chopsticks and place it in the soup spoon. Then, while holding the dumpling in place on the spoon with your chopsticks, you eat it off the spoon in several bites.

(2) what to order when in any doubt... Ask for the chef's choice, and you'll be treated with fresh vegetables as they come into season as well as delicacies you'd never know about otherwise. Here was our menu today:

廚師精選點心

Chef’s Dim Sum Selection

菜膽竹笙燉北菇

Double-Boiled Chinese Mushroom with Bamboo Piths and Brassica

豉油皇煎星斑柳

Fried Star Garoupa Fillet in Soy Sauce

龍景脆皮雞

Lung King Heen Roast Chicken

上湯黑豚肉雜菜煲

Japanese Pork Casserole with Vegetables in Supreme Soup

四季鮮果碟

Seasonal Fruit Platter

美點薈萃

Petits Fours

Of special note - the grouper came with very thin slices of lotus root, deep fried like potato chips - simply incredible. Lung King Heen's signature Roast Chicken dish had crispy skin (reminiscent of Peking Duck) and the moistest morsels of barbequed chicken I have ever tasted. The vegetables in the Pork Soup were absolutely done to perfection. This was not your neighborhood Chinese restaurant - but it's a place you must experience while in Hong Kong. Be sure to make advance reservations.

Four Seasons Hong Kong (search here on Google)

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