Hotel Assistance - 5 night HK visit
 

Hello fellow FTers!

I am going to be in Singapore on business travel in early March, and as I have never been to Hong Kong, have decided to tack a long 4 day weekend visit to HK to the end of my trip. I'll be there in early March, arriving the 7th, leaving the 12th. I am a relatively adventurous traveler, do lots of walking around cities, and am not afraid of mass transit. I do like nice hotels, and I prefer locations that are both convenient to transit, but are also in a bustling neighborhood so I can walk right out the door to interesting bars, restaurants, etc. I enjoy an outdoor pool, for an occasional dip, but it's not a must, especially as I assume the weather may not necessarily cooperate in March. Location wise, I'm fairly agnostic in terms of TST vs Central, as I assume as a first timer who likes to wander, I'll likely spend time in both neighborhoods -- though I'm open to opinions if folks think one or the other is far preferable. I'll be traveling on my own for this trip

I'm looking to do a points redemption -- I have 150K SPG/Marriott points available, just enough for a 35K per night redemption with the 5th night free. I'm a Gold Elite with SPG, no status with anyone else, but the Gold status isn't generally enough for room upgrades and such so I'm not sure that matters. I also have a large pool of Chase UR points, and about 15K of Hyatt points. With that in mind, I've narrowed things down to a few options:

1-- Renaissance Harbour View: The pool looks great, rooms look nice. Negative might be the location, which while extremely convenient, it sounds like isn't particularly exciting in the immediate vicinity? Additionally, I feel like the view is the main reason to stay here, and only viewless Garden View rooms are available for points bookings. I'm not sure this hotel makes sense with a no view room, and insufficient status for the club level?

2-- Mira Hong Kong: It seems like the location here is a plus, with the bustle of Kowloon out the front door. Rooms look nice. Indoor pool, which I probably wouldn't bother with. Overall this seems a solid option though nothing greatly exciting about it, as I'm not one who's that into the super "chic" decor.

3-- Hyatt Regency HK TST: This one is interesting, in that it's available for 15K Hyatt points a night, which seems to be a decent redemption. I have enough points for one night, the remainder I'd transfer from Chase (the redemption rate is better than the UR mall). Same location advantages as the Mira. Outdoor pool while not spectacular looks nice. Restaurants, etc look good.

4-- Other: I could book almost anything else directly with Chase UR points at 1.5c per point if there's a compelling reason to do so.

I'm currently leaning toward the Hyatt, it seems the best combo of what I'm looking for, even though I don't love the idea of burning 60K UR points. The Mira does have the advantage of burning Starpoints instead and taking advantage of 5th night free, but it's not striking my fancy quite as much as the Hyatt. The JW looks awesome, but are out of reach points wise this trip as it is a 50k redemption. Thoughts?? And thanks in advance!!

Do you plan on spending a lot of time in the room enjoying the view?

I was at the JWM in Central (though almost Wan Chai) in November '18, and was upgraded to a room with a nice view. Which... was totally wasted, as I spent most of the time visiting HK.

Probably not a lot though a view is still nice in mornings and evenings -- but you raise a good point. I guess my point is more that a major Renaissance positive seems to be "great view for the price" which is only a positive if you'll actually be in a place to take advantage of it :).

Hi,

I stayed at the Hyatt regency TST in November. Location in TST is very good and the hotel was very good value for the money. ( esp if you will spend a good deal of time outside)

The pool is nice ( I found the water to be a little on the cold side and the pool closed at 6pm ( maybe 7 in the summer) as it is shared with Residences which are above the hotel ( the hyatt occupies upto floor 24 IIRC of the building with the residences above that)

Regards


TBS

Right, and I did like the view and enjoyed it when I walked into the room on the first day in the early afternoon when I checked in. But the rest of the week that I spent there, it went largely unnoticed.

Thanks all for the input here! I've gone ahead and booked the Hyatt Regency TST for the 15K points per night. It seems like a great hotel in a great location for a first HK visit. Looking forward to my trip, and hoping I'm able to get through TSA in late Feb! :)

HR has the best location (on top of metro, albiet a slightly longer walk to the "red" urban lines). with Mira you'll need to walk outside.

Renaissance - forget it. u're 20 minutes on an elevated walkway which is packed with people from the metro.

We enjoyed our stays at HR TST. Great location, easy access to public transportation, friendly staff. Have a nice trip!