Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by Zacnlinc

Thanks for these posts...

Just booked my room for a three night stay next week. Opted in for the late checkout and the room upgrade to a suite after taking the breakfast included room offer that was a garden facing room. Was a sucker as a first-time visitor? Just curious.

Am hopeful that a "deal/compromise" will be able to be negotiated once I'm onsite checking in if I opt not to accept the upgrades as offered considering I'm Gold.

Any tips/suggestions? Conrad was much more expensive at this point with my booking this close to my scheduled arrival.

Originally Posted by as219

How exactly did you finagle a suite upgrade at booking as a Gold?

What kind of tips/suggestions are you looking for?

Originally Posted by Zacnlinc

^ I really do not know... Maybe the system took pity on me as I've been checking on the HGI and the Conrad for at least the past two weeks. And with each check, the HGI's prices when up but not to the level of the Conrad's. I only pulled the trigger when a deluxe king harbor view room became available yesterday (Will be arriving there next Wednesday morning).

I was surprised to see the offers (late checkout and suite upgrade) too. Maybe there aren't enough Diamonds slated to check in and rather than gift it away, they are offering to sell it to Golds. Shame that I will miss Diamond too. I'm going to be 8-stays short of Diamond. Maybe that played a role as well. Already, I'm still not 100% sure if I will accept the upgrade is it will double the cost of the 3-night stay. Hmm.... I have some time to mull it over indeed.

Originally Posted by as219

So you were offered a paid upgrade to a suite? I'm still confused... And what tips were you looking for?

Originally Posted by as219

So you were offered a paid upgrade to a suite? I'm still confused... And what tips were you looking for?

Originally Posted by Zacnlinc

Yes... Offered a paid upgrade to a Suite. Apparently I have up to check-in to decide if I want it, if offered. No noticed received yet that it's mine to accept.

And the tips/suggestions I was looking for was to know if I should blindly accept the offer or decline it and hope that in the end an upgrade of some sort if offered free. It appears the occupancy is coming down to the wire. I checked out the NOR-1 upgrade thread referenced in the post and agree that maybe it is that type of offer. They want to move folks to a higher classed room to avoid upgrading people for free. Monday evening is my most likely last chance to monitor things prior to arriving at the hotel Wednesday morning.

Will be my first time to HKG so having a nice upgraded room with a view will make it just that much more memorable indeed!!

Originally Posted by Cymro

Assuming the paid upgrade is a good price, I'd take it. Appreciate that there may be free upgrades on the day but:

1. It's an HGI so they are under no obligation to offer any kind of status upgrade; I've only stayed there once and would return at the right price, and did get a high(ish) floor "harbour" view from the lowest room category, but even so...
2. I doubt they have many suites at all, so even if it is offered free, there's no real reason to expect it would be offered to you - in a Hilton that has to upgrade status card holders it'd be different - but even then you're gold, not diamond;
3. The rooms, while reasonable for HK, are still small - you would get quite a lot of benefit from the suite - in some places a good corner room is 40 square metres and has a sofa anyway. This won't be one of them.

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

So in short the options are:
- fastest: train to Kowloon and taxi, about 30 minutes, HKD 90+30 = HKD120 approx
- cheapest: train to Tsing Yi, metro to Olympic, about 45 minutes = HKD60, details above
- very cheapest: A21 bus to Changsha Street, about 70 minutes = HKD 33 (actually if you are of limited mobility, this has very little walking)
- most convenient: taxi from the airport, about 40 to 70 minutes, depending on traffic = HKD 230 approx.

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

Just some directions from the airport, using the Airport Express train and then the metro to Olympic rather than Mongkok. The advantage of this is that it's fairly direct, only HKD 60, and mainly indoors.

So take the Express one stop to Tsing Yi, then follow the signs for the Tung Chung (orange) line, direction Hong Kong (platform 4). Go three stops to Olympic, then take exit route D, through Olympian City mall 2, bearing leftwards by Watsons, then on to Olympian City 3. A series of walkways cover the whole distance. Once in Olympian City 3 go to the centre of the building to the main escalators, down to ground level, the main exit is on Hoi Ting Street. Turn left, past some tennis courts, then through the tiny Cherry Street Park. At the WC block turn right, and you'll end up opposite the HGI. The footbridge over the highway is obvious and on the right.

Originally Posted by as219