Help with trip needed (hotels, transportation)
 

Hi,

I'm currently planning a trip to Hong Kong and Macau and I do need a little bit of help with planning. Let me first start by saying that I already was in Hong Kong but the last time I've been there was 15 years ago.
Right now, I'm to arrive in Hong Kong on a Saturday at around 3:30 in the afternoon. I haven't booked tickets or hotels yet but I plan to directly head over to Macau for the first two nights. Do I need to purchase the ferry tickets ahead or can I do that upon arrival at the airport? What about my checked luggage? Do I need to retrieve it or will it be checked to the ferry boat?

Since I'm a Marriott Platinum, I plan on staying at the Sheraton in Macau as the JW is fully booked. Any opinions on this place?

Upon my return to Hong Kong, I do need help with hotels. I'm going to stay here for 5 nights. I've stayed at three different properties in the past: The Mandarin Oriental, the Grand Hyatt and the JW Marriott which all are too expensive on this trip. I'm not planning at staying inside the hotel a lot on this trip so I'm not going to need a top notch luxury place. I'd like to pay less than 1500 HKD and preferably have an outside pool and a harbour view. I don't mind using non chain hotels as long as they are clean, safe and new or a least recently renovated with a few modern features like USB charging or even a free smartphone for use during my stay etc. Most locations would work for me (Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Central, Kowloon). As I've said, it's been 15 years since I've been there and don't know if "new" parts of town could be an alternative.

Burning off points could also be an option (I still have lots of Marriott/Starwood points as well as Hyatt points) but in this case the only cheap points options would be in Sha Tin (Courtyard and Hyatt) but I've got no idea if that location is good or at least well accessible via Subway or Uber). By the way, I saw that Uber is available in HK but are they reliable there?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Hi,

I stayed at the Sheraton in TST for 3 nights at the end of April ( in the towers section). It will probably be more expensive than the HKG $1500 per night but the location is very good just by the water front and it had a roof top swimming pool with hot tubs and you could view the harbour. There is a Hilton Garden inn in mong kok that can be reasonably priced ( I think the pool is closed until June though)

Sha tin will be cheaper and you can visit the Ten Thousand Buddha monastery but you will be spending a little time to get back into central hong kong .central each way by transport.

Macau is likely to be busy on the Saturday ( have not gone straight there from the airport)

Regards

TBS

(Obviously the room price will depend on the time of year/room type.)

Harbour Grand Hong Kong (North Point). Outdoor pool. To the east of Central. Newer hotel. Very near to Fortress Hill MTR station. Area undergoing gentrification, so you'll find a Starbucks or two.

MetroPark Causeway Bay. Despite the name. it's actually in Tin Hau and very close to Tin Hau MTR station. To the east of Central but not quite as far east as the one above. Pool is rooftop. Also area has undergone some gentrification.

Hotel Jen (Western District). Pool is rooftop. On the west of Central. Nearest to B2 exit of HKU MTR station (so a walk through to get to the platform.) Near to Kennedy Town, which has already had a far bit of gentrification.

For the luggage, I believe you go to the Turbojet counter, give them your luggage claim tags and someone gets them for you and puts them on the boat. However, some airlines offer a tag-through service: https://www.turbojet.com.hk/en/routi...-reminder.aspx

Sheraton Macau is a good hotel but very large (2000 rooms?). I stayed in a suite which was reasonably priced but cost various by 200% based on day of week and season. Worth getting club access. But Macau is just shopping and gambling these days, though the scale of it is astonishing -- incredible large. I found Hong Kong much more interesting as a tourist destination than Macau. The shopping is an experience (e.g. 100kg Winnie-the-pooh solid gold statues -- "low-end" jewelry is USD 10,000 and up a few years ago, maybe it has calmed down now with the Chinese corruption crackdown).

Do it at the airport. The route is exclusive for arrival passengers. So it is not as busy as you think.

Checked baggage will be handled when you buy your ticket (you will need to provide your baggage tag for the ferry to get your baggage). Then the ferry personnel will put on the ferry.

CY Sha Tin would be your better choice. However, its public transportation is not as good as HR Sha Tin, even both hotels are close to train stations.

(Additional transfer will be needed for CY Sha Tin, but not necessary for HR Sha Tin.)

Uber is officially illegal in Hong Kong. While you will not be liable as a passenger, the reliability could be in question due to illegality.

But so far, everything is still operating illegally as usual.

It is all up to you.

I have used uber about 10 times in HK and it was a pleasant experience MOST of the times.