UpInTheAir

The Lobby Lounge is smaller than the Garden Cafe and so on weekends, they also serve a Chinese breakfast in their Golden Leaf Chinese restaurant.

https://conraddining.com/en/garden-cafe/

kingcole974

I have just booked flights for my first ever trip to Hong Kong and are deciding between the Conrad and The Garden Inn Mongkok.

We like a nice hotel and always enjoy a Conrad stay, but as our time in the hotel will be limited, and considering location to restaurants and tourist things, is the Conrad a good buy at 3 times the price of the Garden Inn?

On a related note, we are also visiting Macau but can only book the Conrad to the end of June. We arrive first week of July. Is this a case of inventory just not released yet or is something else happening?

lsquare

What's the breakfast spread like? Is it possible to have it at the restaurant?

angel_yunjie

Don't know anything about the garden inn Mong Kok but at the Conrad HK right now and I would say that it's not worth splurging on. I like the location and the views but the rooms are pretty dated. Just FYI, the Kowloon side is pretty crazy - very crowded and sensory overload, kind of like staying in times square or Chinatown in NYC - but if you're ok with that then should be fine. We stayed at HR in TST for the first few days and it was too much for me; I prefer the peace and quiet of the island side but it def depends on personal preference.

kingcole974

Thank you.

Could you say what you mean by HR is TST?

lsquare

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/ch...sha-tsui/honhr

angel_yunjie

Hyatt regency in tsim sha tsui

yeekin

I loved the service from Conrad HK and accessibility to Wan Chai and Central area for good food/sights. Hotel hardware is good too. Trolleys (bus with electric wires) are just downstairs, otherwise the MTR does fine.

For Macau Conrad, they release the room bookings closer to the date of stay. It has been a trend for sometime already. Try again maybe in March or April. Don't sweat about it in the meantime.

gav0106

I had same issues. I booked Garden Inn in the end. I need to be there for a wedding, and the Conrad is right next door, but the price was 4 times higher. Does not justify it, and with the pool closed as well, went for HGI. I stayed at both, and actually the HGI is a nice hotel. Location okay, near the MRT to get to Admiralty, and staff were great and rooms a decent size. For the money HGI does the job. All others like Holiday Inn, Regent, Sheraton, IC, Hyatt were all at least double price.

stevie

Pools at Marriot and Shang-ri La available to Conrad guests during refurbishment. I plan to stay for 4 nights early Feb and will report back on breakfast etc. I will also stay at IC Grand Stanford simply for a change of scenery during my work trip. Also the run by the harbour.

SPBanker

HGI is perfectly fine, breakfast is OK, and often the location is good as well (depends on what you want to do, of course, but there are two MTR stations nearby etc.)

hfly

In my many many stays there over the years I used the pool maybe once, when with family and my son was young, truth be told it was a pretty poor pool.

stevie

Totally agree but I swim daily and like to continue this on my travels, even if I have to swerve kids having fun in a smallish weirdly shaped pool

angel_yunjie

completely agree. just came back from a stay and i wasn't impressed with much beyond the suite upgrade and the amazing views, which were stellar. i'm partly comparing it to my only other conrad stay in osaka, and perhaps it's hard to live up to a newer hotel and japanese hospitality. but many other things are solely based on this hotel alone

- we also checked in in the main lobby. i was a bit surprised that they do not have diamonds check in at the exec lounge, but at least it's not just me
- auto upgrade in the app was for an exec peak view. i emailed to ask for a harbour suite. then app changed to peak suite, and i asked again at the front desk whether a harbour suite was available and they gave it to me
- room was spacious and views were gorgeous, though this was the 43rd floor and slightly more obstructed than the top floors. was happy to get harbour views in the living area and peak views in the bedroom
- hard product is very dated. so much so that for some reason, they said the heating is not activated and brought up a small space heater for me. i found this very strange and i dont think this is a HK thing because we had heating at the hyatt regency TST
- i also didn't love some aspects of the layout - the area right behind the bedroom door is especially tight and has a lot going on (bedroom door, bathroom entrance, closet, minibar). it's hard to access the closet and safe when door is open. i'm guessing this is because they converted 2 separate rooms into a suite, since the bedroom door also had a room number on it.
- lounge breakfast is good along with the service but nothing exceptional other than the views. lobby breakfast looked more extensive but was mostly the same stuff plus an egg and noodle station and slightly more chaotic (hostess seemed very flustered, even by a short line)
- housekeeping was sufficient but noticably lacking in areas - mirrors were not cleaned, did not replace bath salts, and the most surprising is that they did not refill the conditioner for the last 2 days even after i called to request as well as told one of the staff in person
- checked out in the main lobby also. as you mentioned, service was efficient and curt (i suppose this is the HK way) but no pleasantries, no thank you for being a diamond member, did not ask if we needed help with bags or to call a taxi

so all in all, it was an ok stay. no serious complaints but also nothing outstanding that makes me want to stay here again. sufficient and polite are the words that come to mind, but def not attentive. i actually felt like the service was a bit better at the hyatt regency TST

stevie

Had a 4 day stay here in the last week. I have to say I really enjoyed it. Staff were great, lounge emptyish (due to CNY I guess) and hotel very relaxing.
The breakfast in lobby lounge saw a small wait at certain times, but breakfast in lounge also decent.
The garden cafe is having the windows replaced as they are 30 years old and may not survive a heavy typhoon, or so I was told. They are also refreshing the area for opening late Feb. I had a look in and it appears they are brightening the place up.
Anyway I enjoyed the stay and having swapped between the IC Grand Standford and the Conrad I will be choosing the Con solely again.