American Express operates 19 lounges all around the world as part of their own Centurion lounge concept. Most of them are located in the US, only one in Europe and some are located in Asia. Travel-Dealz editor Dennis checked out the lounge in Hong Kong. Here are his thoughts.
Access & Location
As an owner of an American Express Platinum or Centurion credit card, you will have access to this lounge, no matter which cabin class or airline you are travelling with. The only rule that applies: If you start your journey in Hong Kong, you can only access the lounge 3 hours prior to your departure time. But if you do a transit in Hong Kong, like I did, you are allowed an unlimited amount of time in the lounge.
The lounge is located in terminal 1 near gate 60, on the upper level. The whole part of this terminal seems to be exclusively operated by Cathay Pacific. Therefore, if you are flying with another airline than Cathay Pacific, expect a bit of a walk to your departure gate.
As a Platinum card owner, you and one guest have access. As a Centurion card owner, two guests and yourself have access to the lounge. Of course, all passengers have to have a valid boarding pass for travel commencing on the same day.
Layout
The size of the lounge is quite small. Right after the entrance you will find a business room with a printer, then a meeting room and a phone room, all on the right side.
Business room 
Meeting room 
Phone room
After that you are in the common space area. There are several chairs and tables and a separated area where you may be able to work for a bit. That’s about it. Generally speaking, the lounge and its interior is quite stylish.
Common space 
Stylish seating space 
‘Working’ space
Unfortunately, the lounge is missing a proper working space with working desks and chairs. If you are looking to work for a longer period of time, this lounge is probably not for you. The separated area with some electrical plugs is only good for a short amount of time because the chairs are uncomfortable if you work for longer and your posture won’t be good.
There’s a beautiful stylish bar in the middle of the lounge. You can order cocktails, wine and coffee there. And there’s a refrigerator with ice cream.
The acoustics in the lounge are not optimal. You can hear a lot of dishes and cutlery clinking and you hear everyone talking additionally to the noise from the departure gates downstairs. Especially when the lounge is full (which was the case in the early afternoon), the noise levels are pretty exhausting.
The toilets were extremely clean and very modern. Nothing to complain about here. Quite the contrary, I was pretty impressed.
Catering
I was disappointed by the food to be honest. All the meals I have tried were pretty average and definitely more like typical buffet food.
I didn’t try the cocktails since there was a waiting time of at least 15 minutes per order. However, I photographed the menus. Here you go:
Menu from December 4, 2019 
Menu from December 4, 2019
Service
The service was great. You can see the employees working all the time, for example tidying up and taking used dishes. In general, I had the feeling that it was of a very high priority for the employees to make the lounge look clean and tidy at all times.
WiFi
The Wifi speed in the lounge was really good, I was surprised. When you enter the lounge, you receive login data for their “high-speed WiFi” and the speed test really confirms it: Yes, it is indeed pretty fast!
Conclusion
- Location
- Amenities
- Catering
- Service
All in all, I was, unfortunately, a little bit disappointed by this lounge. I had high expectations at the food especially. For me, the long way to the lounge was definitely not worth it, because I also wanted to work and it was a little bit uncomfortable working there. That’s due to the noise levels and because there are no proper working desks.