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I try Cathay’s cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

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My quest to try airport lounge baths continues ….

On my last trip to Hong Kong in October, also with Cathay Pacific, I made an effort to review as many of Cathay’s five lounges in Hong Kong as I could. This included The Pier Business (review here), The Pier First (review here) and The Wing First (review here).

What I did not get around to trying was one of the five cabana suites on offer as part of The Wing First lounge. This is something I managed to rectify on my recent visit to see the Hong Kong Sevens and the new Cathay Pacific premium economy seat, courtesy of Cathay.

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

The cabanas are located inside The Wing First lounge, which is located by Gate 1. Just turn left down the balcony as soon as you exit security.

What are the cabanas in the Cathay Pacific The Wing First lounge?

As you’ll see, these are highly impressive private rooms available to use for up to 90 minutes per visit. Each features a shower, bath, day bed and desk.

They are not to be confused with the Day Suites in Cathay’s other first class lounge in Hong Kong, The Pier First. The biggest difference is that the cabanas feature a shower and bath, and are substantially larger than their cousins over in The Pier First.

The Wing First cabana access and booking

Anyone with access to The Wing First lounge can use the cabanas – there’s no additional eligibility requirements. That means you must have:

  • A same-day First Class ticket on Cathay Pacific or another oneworld airline
  • oneworld Emerald (British Airways Gold or equivalent) status
  • Cathay Pacific Diamond members

Note that if you are entering the lounge based on your status you will need to be flying Cathay Pacific or another oneworld airline to qualify.

The cabanas are available on a first-come-first-served basis and cannot be booked in advance. That said, when I arrived around 5pm, I was shown straight in by the attendant. There may be a longer wait in the evenings, before the primary bank of European and North American flights around midnight.

Inside Cathay Pacific’s cabana suites

People rave about the cabanas, so I was expecting them to be nice. What I did not realise, however, was just how big they were:

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

They are larger than most standard rooms in London hotels. It’s all the more impressive when you consider that these are inside an airport, where space is at a premium.

The entire cabana is clad in beautiful red wood or Italian travertine stone.

You get your own dedicated toilet, as well as a row of wardrobes. One of these offers a complimentary steaming and pressing service. Simple hang your clothing in the wardrobe closest to the door and press the call button and someone will discreetly access it from the other side without having to enter your cabana.

On the right is a wash basin with free-hanging mirror as well as a range of amenities including dental kit, shower cap and more.

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

Toiletries throughout the cabana are the same Bamford ones as you’ll find in Cathay lounges globally.

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

Behind the vanity is a leather sofa and coffee table:

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

On the left is a loooooong wooden desk set against a huge mirror. There are plenty of plug sockets here.

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

The shower and bath tub are at the far end. The bath is vast but fills up quickly with hot water. There’s no bubble bath but I used the Bamford shower gel and that seemed to work just great!

Cathay's cabana suites in The Wing First lounge in Hong Kong

The shower is next to the bath and features a waterfall stream, a rainfall shower head as well as a handheld wand.

Conclusion

As you can see, Cathay Pacific’s First Class cabanas live up to the hype and the travertine and hardwood finishes wouldn’t look out of place in the best luxury hotels.

There are just two – very minor – things I would change: adding a couple bottles of water to the room and offering some bath salts or even a bath bomb.

Regardless, these are without a doubt some of the most luxurious private rooms you’ll find at any airport lounge. They are well worth trying if you ever find yourself at Hong Kong International Airport with 90 minutes to kill.

Comments (44)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Yarki says:

    When the Wing F first opened they had a small selection of non alcoholic beverages. They scrapped it soon after because they found it was encouraging guests to linger too long…

  • Ed says:

    Pleased to see that there are plenty of sockets for plugs.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Nothing like plenty of sockets near baths. More please

      • Rhys says:

        The cabana is huge. About 2-3m away from nearest water!

        …and you do realise most countries allow plug sockets inside bathrooms, the UK is an outlier in this regard 😉

        • TGLoyalty says:

          I know nothing like safety last.

          • meta says:

            And yet most H&S accidents happen in Britain…

          • TGLoyalty says:

            Reported or unreported 🙂

          • will says:

            I think accidents where people end up dead from electrocution are reported in most civilised countries.

            There is something of an issue where people are using their mobile phones while having a bath and charging the device.

          • Bagoly says:

            @will
            Electrocution from charging ‘phone – I can only think of wet hands removing the charger from the wall, but even that would require talent.
            My father told me that in the UK in the 1950s it was electric bar heaters which were the problem (ones like that photo of the bar in the County Hotel yesterday)

          • Gordon says:

            @Bagoly- indeed, With RCD’s and RCBO’s, gone are the days you could throw an electric fire in the bath while your wife was bathing to get rid of her!

        • Gordon says:

          That’s why there’s less people electrocuted(That means death) in the uk, There are Zones in bathrooms..

          Being an electrical engineer, I get asked this question quite a lot!

          Current 18th Edition regulations,

          Zone 0 is anywhere inside a bath tub or shower tray itself that can hold water.
          For a shower without a basin, zone 0 extends to a height of 0.10 m to the full extent of the horizontal footprint of zone 1.
          Any current-using equipment used within zone 0 must be
          protected by SELV at a voltage not exceeding 12 V AC, with its source.

          Zone 1 in simple terms, is the area directly above Zone 0 to the highest fixed shower head or a height of 2.25m from the finished floor level whichever is higher. Any fitting or appliance in Zone 1 must have a minimum ingress protection rating of IPX4 (splash-proof) or IPX5 if equipment is likely to be exposed to water jets, during cleaning for example, and
          be protected by SELV at a voltage not exceeding 25 V AC, with its source outside of zones 0, 1 and 2,

          Zone 2 is the area stretching to 600mm outside of the boundary of zone 1 to the highest fixed shower head or a height of 2.25m from the finished floor level whichever is higher. Any current-using equipment within Zone 2 must have an ingress protection rating of at least IPX4 (splash-proof) or IPX5 if equipment is likely to be exposed to water jets, during cleaning for example, and must be protected by SELV at a voltage not exceeding 50 V AC, with its source outside of zones 0, 1 and 2.

          Outside the zones,
          Low voltage socket-outlets and fused connection units (fused spurs) may be installed at a distance exceeding 2.5 m horizontally from the boundary of zone 1.

          All circuits in bathrooms and any outside circuits must be protected by a 30ma Rcd, you can have LV spurs and sockets in a bathroom outside said boundary, but you will need a large one!

          • Bagoly says:

            The 12V allowance is sensible – going forward that means lighting is really not limited.

          • Gordon says:

            Yes, I’ve had 50w 12v down lights everywhere in my house since I carried out an extension many years ago. And recently installed Led equivalents, saving a fair amount on energy usage!

        • Bagoly says:

          In Poland it’s standard to have washing machines in bathrooms.
          Admittedly in the countryside the bathrooms are often the size of a whole London hotel room!

        • Bagoly says:

          And with UK-standard components, sockets in bathrooms are pretty safe.
          The same cannot be said for European-standard components, even outside bathrooms.
          The lack of a way to properly secure sockets to the wall in even Germany astonishes me – I have had sockets come away in my hand when trying to remove a plug even in five star hotels.

          • Gordon says:

            I’ve also seen many dangerous electrical outlets in high end hotels! The classic ones are cables poorly installed under the sand in broken cable conduit and clipped to palm trees to light up beach areas!!!!

        • HampshireHog says:

          What happened to survival of the fittest? The daftist of folk are protected

  • mnlbay says:

    Nice article – always a pleasure to read!
    Although I’m not particularly surprised they don’t have bath bombs in an airport…

  • Lee says:

    BA is such a joke versus a proper full-service airline like Cathay Pacific. Good flying with Cathay!

  • Mutley says:

    Yeah but how was the rugby?

  • Ronster says:

    Good morning

    Hope your all well.

    Might not be too clear above but I think its worth highlighting for those arriving and connecting in HKG, on the same day.

    If your arriving on a BA F ticket and connecting with a non F flight oneworld flight, you will not be allowed into the Cathay First lounges, unless you meet the above criteria.

    Took a few direct chats with Cathay to clarify this.

  • QFFlyer says:

    Longest I’ve had to wait for these is about half an hour, and it’s no hardship sitting in the Champagne bar outside. They give you a buzzer the same as when you place a noodle bar order, or are waiting for a prescription in Chemist Warehouse. It’s actually a tough call for me between here and The Pier, most times I try and leave enough time to head in here first for a bath/shower, then eat in The Haven here or at The Pier, followed by the Pier’s Cocktail bar.

    That usually works out well if flying CX to Australia, as they seem to depart from the 6x gates nearer The Pier, but they are a fair distance apart, half an hour walk (or 5 minutes on the train).

    • Rhys says:

      Half an hour walk is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration 😉

      • QFFlyer says:

        Fair enough, and there are people movers (if people would just stand to one side if they really can’t be bothered to walk that would be great 😂) but I walk quickly and it does seem like a bit of a trek!

  • L Allen says:

    Does someone knock the door to give you a 10 minute warning of your time coming to an end?

    • QFFlyer says:

      Not in my experience, but I’ve never taken the p1ss hugely. They certainly don’t come around before the end of the 90 mins, I’ve only overstayed by 15-20 mins before (fell asleep), other than a couple of times I’ve been told I can stay as long as I like (that was at the end of COVID though, when there was basically no pax).

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