ghia74

I need to book a room for November. My friend and I are doing 24 hours in Hong Kong on a layover on the way home from a Bangkok/Siem Riep trip. We want to take in as much of the city as possible in that one day so good location is key. I am using points and am wondering if there is a reason to choose the Sheraton over the JW Marriott which looks to be the better hotel.

rkkwan

Better view if you can get a harborview room.

jmj9905

As stated, the Sheraton harbor view rooms have spectacular views. However, if you can't get one of those the view from the Oyster Bar and lounge on top of the hotel is incredible. In addition, you can then take the star ferry to Hong Kong island. In my view, any trip to Hong Kong is incomplete without several trips on the star ferry.

bibbju

I'd go with the Marriott. Even if you get a harbourview room at the Sheraton, how much time are you actually going to spend awake in your hotel room??!!

Marriott is in a great location. Taxis, trams, buses, MTR on your doorstep. Only a few mins walk to Hong Kong Park as well as the Peak tram to take you up to Victoria Peak. You're walking distance to the bars and restaurants of Central and Wanchai. And you've got the Pacific Place development that the Marriott is part of with tons of shops plus coffee bars, restaurants, etc. The Marriott also does a great breakfast! (my office is in Pacific Place so I occasionally treat myself to breakfast there).

moondog

+1 (easy decision)

evergrn

Marriott's the nicer hotel, but Sheraton's also very nice and there's something to be said about taking Sheraton over Marriott. Sheraton's a much better value price-wise (probably points-wise also). Views from Sheraton's harbor-view room from about 10th flr on up is amazing, more spectacular than what you get from the island-side Marriott. Location is a toss-up and depends on what you're looking for. Marriott's adjoined to Pacific Ctr mall but is in a much more sedate location and is nicely situated for a morning stroll through HK Park and then you've got the Peak Tram on the other side of the Park. With Sheraton, you're right in the thick of TST's hustle and bustle (couple buildings away from Chungking Mansion), and you've got all kinds of shopping and dining nearby, and a good access to the famous harborside promenade. Both hotels are roughly equi-distant to the nearest metro station, but be warned that Marriott's Admiralty station can be a brutal place to try to catch a train during afternoon rush hour.

If you're only there 24hr, I presume you'll do the Peak Tram, Star Ferry, maybe Bird/Flower Market, see the 8pm light show, dim sum and shopping. I don't think you can go wrong with either location-wise, although I think Sheraton has a slight edge overall when based on convenience/location.

moondog

The property market doesn't think the location is a toss up. Prices are higher on the island for a reason (and, not just because most people work there).

evergrn

But we're talking about location from the standpoint of a tourist staying for 24hrs to do/see all the usual touristy stuff. I think TST is just as good as Admiralty for that, if not better. Like I said, Marriott's the better hotel, Sheraton has the edge with the view and value. I think the OP will do well with either, and there's no clear-cut winner imo.

ghia74

Thank you for presenting both sides. It looks like I can not go wrong either way. I think I will use up my points at the JW but will go check out the Oyster Bar for drinks and checking out the Harbor. The ferry seems a great suggestion. I would like to try and get a good photo of me with the city in the background from it.

jmj9905

Again,in terms of view, the Sheraton looks out on hong kong island the Marriott does not. That said, everyone has there own preference. YMMV.

ChrisLi

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Having stayed at both hotel, here's my 2 cents
Shearton is at good location, convient, but you need to book those towers room to get good view

Marriott is better location wise, lounge and food are good,though the room is bit smaller

Ymmv

bibbju

I'm trying to work out if this is so biased towards the Sheraton and TST because the author doesn't know the Admiralty area particularly well or if they just love Sheratons.

So let me add a few comments just to balance things out / correct some inaccuracies. The Marriott is above the Pacific Place development. As is the Island Shangri-La, The Conrad and The Upper House. Pacific Place is large and very prestigious shopping centre (5 floors I think!) & office development. So just like TST you have plenty of shopping and dining nearby which doesn't require you going outside at all (unless you want to!).

"Sedate" is a strange choice of word to describe the Marriott's location. Yes, it's set one street back from Queensway (one of the main East-West thoroughfares on HK island) but it's within a 5 min walk of Wanchai (red light district and expat drinking/party central - plus many very local restaurants, shops, wet market etc etc) and 5 mins in the other direction to Central (more swanky shopping and eating/drinking/partying).

Admiralty is a busy MTR station but so is TST. Both can be hellish at rush hour but so can most of the MTR stops that are heavily used by commuters. The Marriott also has the option of trams and buses (they stop right outside Pacific Place). Last week when I took a bus outside Pacific Place, I counted over 20 buses arriving/departing at that particular moment....so no issues with waiting lol. Depending on where you're travelling to, the tram can actually be quicker in rush hour so always worth considering for short hops when the traffic is bad.

In general, TST tends to be full of mainland tourists. You'll hear more Putonghua spoken than Cantonese. It can also be a struggle to get a taxi at times unless you look Chinese. Cab drivers tend to be looking for mainlanders who they can make more money out of! Sad but true. It's not uncommon for them to go out of service when they see it's a white face next in the taxi queue and miraculously go back into service 10 metres further down the road when someone whom looks Chinese hails them. Admiralty is much more of a business area. To be honest, it isn't really an "area" at all. It's where Central meets Wanchai, hence it's popularity with hotels.

If you've never been to HK before and only have 24 hours, I'd always suggest staying on HK Island. As has already been said, there's a reason why the Island is more expensive than Kowloon.

For the OP, if you want to get a photo of yourself with HK in the background, one of the best places is on the Star Ferry. Another place is The Peak but don't bother going up if it's not a clear day as you'll just get smoggy buildings.

moondog

+1

evergrn

Nothing I said is "inaccuracies"... just like nothing you say is inaccurate. It's a matter of perspective. I didn't say that Admiralty as a whole is a sedate area. I said that Marriott's location is much more sedate than Sheraton's, and the reason I say that is because the second you walk out of Sheraton's lobby, you're faced with the craziness of Nathan Rd. I never said there's no shopping/dining near the Marriott, as I did mention the Pacific Place. Personally, I love both TST and Admiralty as my base in HKG. I said that Marriott's nicer and I stated the merits of Marriott's location. I said that the OP can't go wrong with either hotel. I realise TST is more down-market compared to Admiralty, but my opinion is that TST is also a great option for tourists also due to the convenience, Harbor/skyline view and lower rates. So pls don't flame me just because you don't agree.

evergrn

Actually, you don't need to book Towers room to get a nice view. You just need to make sure they give you a Harbor-view room that's on a floor that's >10th. The higher the better. I've stayed on their 7th or 8th floor, and there's partial obstruction from the buildings on the opposite side of Salisbury. Last couple of times I stayed on floors in the 12-15 range, and the view was amazing. I've never stayed on their Towers floor, but Towers just refers to their top 1 or 2 levels, I believe.