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Regal Airport vs Marriott Skycity

Regal Airport vs Marriott Skycity

Old Sep 6, 2018, 6:48 pm
  #1  
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Regal Airport vs Marriott Skycity

We're arriving really late (close to midnight) this fall and so we're looking to stay at the airport rather than head into town.

I've booked Regal since it's supposed to be connected to the terminal and hence does not require train/car/bus. However, I've never stayed there before, am not sure how long of a walk it is from the terminal, and not confident as to the level of accommodation and breakfast there.

Since then, Marriott Skycity has come down in price, and the rates are now almost even. I've stayed there before (although it was a while back) and there's the comfort factor with the Marriott brand, so I'd rather stay at Marriott if all else were equal. I can't remember how we went there last time, but I know that their airport shuttle only comes every 20 minutes and I really don't want to bother with waiting for taxis and paying suitcase fees for such a short ride and so forth. We've got two kids, and I know we're going to be really tired.

How much of a drop-off in quality should we expect with Regal Airport as compared to Marriott Skycity? I'm interested in room quality/cleanliness and breakfast.
And is Regal a very short easy walk from the arrival hall?
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Old Sep 6, 2018, 8:40 pm
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Originally Posted by evergrn
We're arriving really late (close to midnight) this fall and so we're looking to stay at the airport rather than head into town.

I've booked Regal since it's supposed to be connected to the terminal and hence does not require train/car/bus. However, I've never stayed there before, am not sure how long of a walk it is from the terminal, and not confident as to the level of accommodation and breakfast there.

Since then, Marriott Skycity has come down in price, and the rates are now almost even. I've stayed there before (although it was a while back) and there's the comfort factor with the Marriott brand, so I'd rather stay at Marriott if all else were equal. I can't remember how we went there last time, but I know that their airport shuttle only comes every 20 minutes and I really don't want to bother with waiting for taxis and paying suitcase fees for such a short ride and so forth. We've got two kids, and I know we're going to be really tired.

How much of a drop-off in quality should we expect with Regal Airport as compared to Marriott Skycity? I'm interested in room quality/cleanliness and breakfast.
And is Regal a very short easy walk from the arrival hall?
Regarding Marriott Skycity, I recently stayed there (two months ago.) Marriott has a desk in the arrivals hall, after one clears customs/immigration.

I went to the desk, gave them my name, and the desk clerk called a vehicle to pick me up - five minutes waiting time, max. I'm not sure if this is because I have status with Marriott or if it's available to everyone but I certainly didn't wait 20 minutes - may be something worth investigating with an email.
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Old Sep 6, 2018, 9:40 pm
  #3  
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Oh really? Will need to investigate!
I have zero status with Marriott.

How easy is it to walk to the Asia World Expo MTR Station?
And can you buy the Airport Express tickets there?
The next morning, we'll have to head into town with a bunch of luggages.
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Old Sep 6, 2018, 9:58 pm
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With kids after a long flight and midnight arrival, the hassle free option sounds like a pretty good idea. 3 minute walk down a hallway from the arrivals hall and you're at the Regal. However, it is somewhat run down and clearly the worse of the two hotels. So it really is a decision of convenience vs. quality.

If you have to get up at 8 am the next day anyhow, go for the Regal. If not, I would suck up the short transit and stay at the Marriott.
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Old Sep 7, 2018, 5:22 pm
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Originally Posted by evergrn
Oh really? Will need to investigate!
I have zero status with Marriott.

How easy is it to walk to the Asia World Expo MTR Station?
And can you buy the Airport Express tickets there?
The next morning, we'll have to head into town with a bunch of luggages.
Are you leaving HKG the next day? Depending on your flight, you may be able to check your luggage before heading to town. I would suggest you stay in Regal if you have to wake up early. It is connected to the Airport and will be a very short walk.

If you are taking Airport Express, some airlines have check-in counters at the Kowloon Station and Hong Kong Station. I am uncertain of their hours. You "may" be able to check your luggage before heading out the station (note that you have to use your ticket to enter the check-in area and later use the same ticket to board the train back to the airport - that is the case at least for the Octopus card - check with the AE counter.)

You can check out AE at: MTR > Airport Express. You should ask the Airport Express counter in the terminal to see the best option for you, especially if you are traveling as a group for a same-day return.
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Old Sep 7, 2018, 10:51 pm
  #6  
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We're not leaving HKG the next day. We'll leave around 9-10am the next morning to head into town. We're staying at Conrad the next day. Regal/Marriott is 1/2 the price of Conrad, and we didn't want to spend 3,000 HKD/night for a midnight check-in.

After reading @gpia's comment on Regent, I've made up my mind. Marriott it is.
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Old Sep 8, 2018, 7:26 am
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I agree with your choice, I am a big Marriott SkyCity fan. Just a few notes based on my personal preference and experiences.

Since you have no status, you might also consider the Novotel CityGate if it has some decent rates. I rank the Marriott first with Citygate being second...ahead of Regal.

You asked about breakfast, the Marriott breakfast is great and very expansive....also very expensive.

Someone mentioned the Marriott counter and private transfer, that is only for people with status.

The Marriott also has a shuttle service to the Citygate Outlets and Tung Chung MTR. From there you can walk over to the Ngong Ping 360 cable car which will take you to a small village with some touristic shops, eateries and the Tian Tan Buddha. If you wanted to do something on Lantau Island before heading to Hong Kong Island.

I would just do a taxi from the airport hotel to the Conrad as the AE loses its luster the more people you have and when adding the transfer from the station to the hotel. Also, depending on the age of kids the cost might not be that much different. That is a personal preference of course.
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Old Sep 8, 2018, 4:57 pm
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Originally Posted by mcgahat
I agree with your choice, I am a big Marriott SkyCity fan. Just a few notes based on my personal preference and experiences.

Since you have no status, you might also consider the Novotel CityGate if it has some decent rates. I rank the Marriott first with Citygate being second...ahead of Regal.

You asked about breakfast, the Marriott breakfast is great and very expansive....also very expensive.

Someone mentioned the Marriott counter and private transfer, that is only for people with status.

The Marriott also has a shuttle service to the Citygate Outlets and Tung Chung MTR. From there you can walk over to the Ngong Ping 360 cable car which will take you to a small village with some touristic shops, eateries and the Tian Tan Buddha. If you wanted to do something on Lantau Island before heading to Hong Kong Island.
Problem with Novotel is that their twin beds are way too narrow to be shared by an adult and a child. I do recall the breakfast at Marriott being very good. Including breakfast for 4, Marriott (as would Regal) will exceed 2,000HKD total for the night. Makes me wonder if I should just suck it up and pay the 3,000HKG for the first night to start our stay at Conrad right from the get-go (at Conrad, breakfast is free). Then again I really don't want to take a late-night taxi down Lantau Hwy after a scary experience with a sleepy driver a few years ago.
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 11:41 am
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I always stay at the Regal Airport for my overnights at HKG. You just can't beat the convenience of walking to/from the terminal in 3 minutes. Also, you have immediate, 24/7 access to all the terminal concessions, AirportExpress, local buses, taxis, etc.

Regal also has a good gym and two pools. Good WiFi. Rooms are not super luxurious, but just fine...you're not going to spend much time in the room itself anyway. Restaurants on site are supposedly good, but expensive. I've never tried the restaurants, since the airport is right next door and has a bigger selection (and quick access to Tung Chung via bus/taxi, as well as short Airport Express ride to Kowloon or Central).

Marriott Skycity is actually walkable to/from the terminal too, though outdoors, if you'd rather not take a shuttle bus. Takes about 15 minutes or so, over a pedestrian bridge from the other terminal (shopping mall/IMAX theater) and then walking through a couple of parking lots and crossing a road. I might stay there if I had a longer stay and did not want to stay in town for whatever reason.
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 7:05 pm
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Originally Posted by evergrn
Problem with Novotel is that their twin beds are way too narrow to be shared by an adult and a child. I do recall the breakfast at Marriott being very good. Including breakfast for 4, Marriott (as would Regal) will exceed 2,000HKD total for the night. Makes me wonder if I should just suck it up and pay the 3,000HKG for the first night to start our stay at Conrad right from the get-go (at Conrad, breakfast is free). Then again I really don't want to take a late-night taxi down Lantau Hwy after a scary experience with a sleepy driver a few years ago.
Why not split the difference and just stay at the Hilton Garden Inn the first night? I am assuming you have some Hilton status thus the free breakfast comment about Conrad. I completely understand not wanting to pay full price for the Conrad with the late arrival but if you need to get into the city anyways......the stay at a hotel in the city. Even if it is just a cheaper hotel with no program affiliation. Hong Kong taxi driver can be a little quirky (like most) but always found them to be pretty good and safe....your driver experience is a one off I think.

I like the Marriott a lot but that rate is pretty high so I would be inclined to find something cheaper in the city myself.
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 8:25 pm
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Not sure how familiar are you with the airport and its surroundings but given you have 2 kids and arriving at midnight I suggest Regal. Have stayed in Marriott and Regal before and you can't beat the convenience of Regal given it's a 3 min walk indoors (I would not suggest walking to Marriott in the middle of the night). Sounds like you only need a nice bed and decent breakfast - Regal will serve this purpose well. Any other option requires some form of transportation.
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 9:32 pm
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Originally Posted by mcgahat
Why not split the difference and just stay at the Hilton Garden Inn the first night? I am assuming you have some Hilton status thus the free breakfast comment about Conrad. I completely understand not wanting to pay full price for the Conrad with the late arrival but if you need to get into the city anyways......the stay at a hotel in the city. Even if it is just a cheaper hotel with no program affiliation. Hong Kong taxi driver can be a little quirky (like most) but always found them to be pretty good and safe....your driver experience is a one off I think.

I like the Marriott a lot but that rate is pretty high so I would be inclined to find something cheaper in the city myself.
Marriott's just a hair over 2000HKD, but that includes tax/svc & breakfast for 4. It's still definitely higher than what I would've preferred to pay, but there just aren't many options when you've got a party of 2 adults & 2 kids. There's only a handful of hotels that allow such occupancy (only reason Conrad and probably also HGI would allow it is my status). If it were 2 adults & 1 kid, we could be staying at BP International for <1000HKD, breakfast included.

HGI is more expensive than you think. Their lowest refundable rate for their cheapest room is usually >1300HKD inc tax/svc. For our date, they're running >1600HKD. To me, a price difference of 400HKD is not worth choosing HGI over Marriott, esp given HGI's mediocre reviews and tiny room sizes and Mongkok location (not my favorite).

I did consider Royal Plaza, which will be ~200HKD cheaper than Marriott. But I decided against it, because again I'm not a huge fan of staying in the Mongkok area and because of our scary late-night airport taxi experience. I'm not sure that the taxi thing was one-off... this has been discussed in HKG forum and apparently this type of stuff happens a lot (tired/sleepy drivers).
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 9:42 pm
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Originally Posted by Chromie25
Not sure how familiar are you with the airport and its surroundings but given you have 2 kids and arriving at midnight I suggest Regal. Have stayed in Marriott and Regal before and you can't beat the convenience of Regal given it's a 3 min walk indoors (I would not suggest walking to Marriott in the middle of the night). Sounds like you only need a nice bed and decent breakfast - Regal will serve this purpose well. Any other option requires some form of transportation.
Really? As I'd mentioned above, a previous poster's comment about Regal really put me off and I promptly cancelled Regal and booked Marriott. Again, almost same price... actually Regal will be 200~300HKD more expensive than Marriott after factoring in breakfast. Other than the convenience factor, though, the other advantage of Regal would've been that it was a room with 4 single beds, as opposed to 4 of us sharing 2 double beds at Marriott.

My wife and I need more than just nice bed... we're actually a bit fussy about needing clean room, clean and crisp sheets and clean fluffy towels. We don't need 5-star necessarily, but we need clean property that's well-managed. We were talking about HGI above, but HGI would be like the last-resort option for us and we haven't stayed at a place like that in a long time. Do you think Regal would be up to our standard? If there're many of you who think highly of Regal, then I might reconsider/rebook Regal.
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Old Sep 9, 2018, 11:08 pm
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Originally Posted by evergrn
Really? As I'd mentioned above, a previous poster's comment about Regal really put me off and I promptly cancelled Regal and booked Marriott. Again, almost same price... actually Regal will be 200~300HKD more expensive than Marriott after factoring in breakfast. Other than the convenience factor, though, the other advantage of Regal would've been that it was a room with 4 single beds, as opposed to 4 of us sharing 2 double beds at Marriott.

My wife and I need more than just nice bed... we're actually a bit fussy about needing clean room, clean and crisp sheets and clean fluffy towels. We don't need 5-star necessarily, but we need clean property that's well-managed. We were talking about HGI above, but HGI would be like the last-resort option for us and we haven't stayed at a place like that in a long time. Do you think Regal would be up to our standard? If there're many of you who think highly of Regal, then I might reconsider/rebook Regal.
If Regal will be HKD 200-300 more than Marriott I'll stick with Marriott The convenience of Regal is definitely not worth the extra $$.
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Old Sep 10, 2018, 8:07 am
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The Marriott - without having looked it up - is probably half as old but either way in better shape. Youre not only looking for a bed and quick turnaround, and in that case, I stick to my vote for the Marriott. Especially if it is more expensive than the Regal.
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