corporate-wage-slave

I was a bit puzzled by it. I used to live in Hong Kong (and New York) so I'm not exactly detached here. I think the way I would characterise this is that some people visiting New York for the first time would want to stay near Times Square in an upmarket brand hotel. Nothing wrong with that approach, much would be on your doorstep and you can maximise your time better, perhaps, and there is also comfort feeling of being in the centre of things, lots of police for example. Some people aren't very adventurous, nothing wrong with that. On the other hand if you go to the less popular areas such as the Fashion District or Midtown East, you may get a better value hotel, and thanks to good public transport you don't miss out much in terms of accessibility. And you may gain by have a residential neighbourhood near by. This story can be played out in any major city with good local transport - and those two often go together.

The Conrad is one of my favourite hotels in the world (possibly my very favourite), location is nearly perfect but it is extremely expensive sometimes, and just very expensive at other times. So HGI Mongkok is well located for public transport and you're weighing up the cost difference and the location trade-off.

If I was a first time visitor, I would be happy to have that choice. Both hotels are suitable for first time visitors for different reasons.

MP001

I was a first time visitor to HK in July and I stayed at the HGI.
Overall I am very satisfied of the choice.
Indeed the immediate buildings close to the hotel and run down, but that is it.
I felt safe anytime and you walk a couple of blocks you are on Nathan road.
I used the A21 bus from the airpot that is extremely cheap and drops you on Nathan road, few minutes walking to the hotel. MRT is also close and I used it to travel around Hong Kong.
The hotel itself is a standard Hilton Garden Inn, I had breakfast included that was ok and I was upgraded to high floor. You don’t have the harbour view, rooms are facing a motorway, so better to have higher floors so you have a better view of the surrounding.
To me it was a good experience, and I would not hesitate to stay again.

as219

Thanks for the report, especially for the A21 tip! I think I will definitely do this...

Now here's to hoping the pool will actually be open by October as promised on the website!

BLazarus22

Thanks all!

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

From the website tonight;

"The swimming pool is temporarily closed until June 2018, we apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause."

http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/e...MSGI/index.htm

They must be having a few problems.

Regards

TBS

as219

Argh!!! They must have just changed that. This morning it said October 2017.

Thanks for the heads-up, though.

Need

The reason that some of us thinks this hotel may not be good for first time visitors is because of it immediate surrounding area. When I told my mother that I am staying at this hotel, she immediately asked "Your wife let you?" Because it is right next to Mongkok Portland Street:
https://travel.sygic.com/en/poi/port...reet-poi:21146

I am thinking of more of a family first time vacation in Hong Kong. But if you are single or couple young travellers or from a big city, it would be okay. The area is safe.

as219

The differential pricing between the HGI and Conrad is interesting.

I have a three-day stay at the end of October. The Conrad is only HKG$100 more a night...but in terms of points it's 50,000 more. Obviously the HGI is near capacity for my nights, but even so. On a money stay who would go with HGI over the Conrad?!?

eponymous_coward

I have a two day stay in January. Conrad refundable rate is 2800 HKD++ a night. HGI refundable rate is 1300 HKD++. Pretty clear win on price.

Here's the thing, though... HIX Mongkok is 850 HKD++ on a refundable rate for those dates. So on a money stay, you'd have to be a very stubborn Hilton loyalist (or extremely focused on Gold/Diamond requalification and unable to use credit cards for that) to go with the HGI over the HIX, given that an HGI is not exactly a huge step up from a HIX in service levels. It's not like IHG doesn't have lucrative promos you can milk like Hilton's, either.

I can get not wanting to spend a lot of money on a fancy hotel if you don't need what it offers you, and you're mostly interested in a clean bed and a warm shower, but when you get to lower-end the properties start becoming interchangeable.

(In the end I picked none of the HGI/Conrad/HIX and am spending 1610 HKD++ a night on the Cordis to satisfy curiosity since I checked out the hotel on a previous trip.)

as219

Ok, now this is just crazy. See below for a money and points comparison for my dates. I don't care how full HGI is, this is just crazy...

flyerCO

Without details meaningless comparison. Prepaid v refundable, last high end room v standard room, etc. The points rate shows that its obviously not a standard room that is left.

Also 2 miles is a whole different area in Hong Kong.

as219

Of course it's not meaningless. I go to hilton.com, plug in my dates, location Hong Kong, and these lowest available rates pop up. Obviously there are no standard rooms left at HGI, where basically all of the rooms are the same.
This the equivalent of a Hampton Inn in a downscale area going for the same price as a prime-location Waldorf. I understand perfectly well how a situation like this can happen...but it doesn't make it any less crazy. IMHO.

flyerCO

However you've left all those details out in your post. Thus your comparison was meaningless.

You don't compare apples and oranges.

BTW there can be an event going on. Just because its downscale area doesn't mean there's never high demand. I've stayed at many a Hampton Inn that cost more then a Hilton.

eponymous_coward

I just spent $630 a night for a Hampton Inn (or rather, my company did) in SF this month (and it was in SoMa in an area where you could walk past junkies shooting up in the alleys). Most expensive hotel room I have ever been in, and I've stayed in Conrads, Grand Hyatts, other five star hotels... but no, a Hampton Inn in a fairly gritty part of town was the most expensive room I've ever stayed in. Fleet Week + Oracle conference.

So I don't see it as crazy at all. Just how it works some times.

Zacnlinc

deleted