wideman

In the link you provided, select China for country, Hong Kong for city, and voilą!

DaveInLA

Of course I did that, TST doesn't show up. Grand Hyatt and Sha Tin come up, but not TST.

wideman

Odd. When I click the drop-down list, TST is the 4th item, between GH and Sha Tin.

DaveInLA

Yes, I also see it in the pulldown menu but try selecting it and then hit submit. When I do that, no link shows up

Assimilated Cajun

My wife and I spent three days and nights, including the first two days of the Asian New Year, at the Hyatt Regency TST. I used a Diamond suite upgrade for the first two (paid) nights, and my annual free night from the Chase Hyatt Visa for the third night. Upon checkin we were told that the manager had approved our staying in the suite for the third night, notwithstanding the rule that suite upgrades apply only to paid nights.

Getting to the hotel from the Kowloon ferry terminal (the "Hong Kong-China" terminal) was a bit of an adventure. We had briefly considered walking, but it would have been about a fifteen-minute walk across the park, so we took a taxi. The taxi driver didn't seem happy about taking such a short haul; he drove aggressively and didn't say a word. A;though the Hyatt's official address is on Hanoi Road -- could be worse, could be "Ho Chi Minh City Road" -- the drive-in entrance is on Mody Road, just a short block and a half from Nathan. The taxi took us down to the basement, a polite and helpful Hyatt bellman took our bags, and we took the elevator to the third-floor lobby. At the reception desk another polite and helpful person informed us of our upgrade to an executive-level suite and took us to the 23rd-floor Regency Club Lounge for check-in.

Oddly, the only staff members we encountered who were less than fully courteous and helpful were in the Regency Club. It was only a couple of them, and they weren't too bad, but they were a bit stiff and seemed to consider themselves executive material. Most of the Club staff, and every other staff member we met, were really nice.

We were thrilled when we heard that our suite was called a "Harbour View Suite", but less thrilled when we actually saw it. It is small for a suite, just a little bigger than many ordinary hotel rooms, with decor that was pleasant but not elegant. But the real disappointment was that the only true harbor view was from the bathroom, and even there you had to crane your neck to see it. We were later informed that this is true of all the alleged harbour view suites, since they are located at the two ends of the hotel (on the east and west). In retrospect it might have been better not to use a suite upgrade and just to hope for a Diamond upgrade to a harbour-view room on a high floor. Many of the non-suite rooms are located on the south side of the hotel and therefore have much better harbor views than the suites. (I am informed that there are also four "executive suites" on the 24th floor, of which two are on the south side with great harbor views.)

Breakfast in the lounge was good, as were the evening hors d'oeuvres, but the selection of food wasn't as impressive as in many other Hyatt lounges, including the one across the bay in the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Two of the three red wines served druing the evening cocktail hour came from bottles with screw tops. There was no option (at least not for us) to have breakfast in the restaurant rather than in the lounge.

We were happy to be in Kowloon during the first two days of the new year. The parade on the first night went within a block or two of the hotel; we walked down to see it but couldn't see past the crowd, so we went back to our room and watched passing floats and marching bands with our binoculars and zoom lenses. On the second night, the lounge afforded a great view of the fireworks, although it was crowded.

One high point of our visit was a lunch at the hotel's Chinese restaurant, called The Chinese Restaurant. I had the vegetarian dim sum -- both the restaurant manager and a couple of restaurant-review web sites emphasized that this is among the most vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Hong Kong -- and my wife had the non-vegetarian version. We both greatly enjoyed our food, the atmosphere, and the service.

On the third day we checked out and took a taxi to the Grand Hyatt, having decided in advance to split our stay between the two hotels. We had another taxi adventure: the first two taxis that arrived didn't want to take us to Hong Kong island. The first driver apologized politely, but the second was angry and aggressive. The Hyatt bellman came to our defense and was engaged in a vigorous shouting match with the taxi driver when we drove off in a third taxi. (The third taxi driver was a nice guy and a good driver, and the Assistant Manager of the Hyatt Regency, who must have gotten a report from the bellman, called ahead to the Grand Hyatt to make sure we were okay.)

We enjoyed our stay at the Hyatt Regency, and especially the care and attention we received from many of the staff members, but I can't say it was particularly memorable. In contrast, the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong was out of this world. I'll post a report on that stay in the GH HK Master Thread.

moon4fun

I am new with Hyatt.

I just book 2 Free night using the Chase Hyatt Cert.
When I received the confirmation, under additional Tax and Service Charges, it said 10% Service Charge.

Is this true there will be 10# Service charge?

I am Platinum, will I allows to access the Club Lounge?

Thanks!
Lee

peteropny

No service charge for award redemption. No access to club lounge as platinum (you might be able to pay an up charge for access though).

RichardInSF

Assimilated Cajun -- there is a weirdness in the HK taxi system in that some of them only operate on one side of the harbor. These taxis will refuse to cross through the tunnel. If you told the hotel attendants your destination, they should have gotten the right type of taxi the first time.

Assimilated Cajun

Thanks, Richard. I think this is what the Hyatt employee was trying to do. When he asked the first cab driver whether he could take me to the GH on HK island, the driver politely declined. The Hyatt bellman then had a conversation in Chinese with the second driver, who had pulled up while he was talking to the first one. Apparently there was a misunderstanding -- the driver must have said no and the bellman must have thought he heard yes --because the bellman proceeded to put one of my suitcases in the trunk. The driver then got out of the car shouting, removed my suitcase, and threw it violently to the ground. This was followed by lots more shouting, but fortunately the third driver came along and whisked us away to Hong Kong while the discussion was still heating up. I gather no one was injured, because I made clear that I was willing to sign an affidavit or witness statement if necessary, and the Hyatt Regency never got back to me about this. (They did, however, check with the GHHK staff to make sure that my wife and I and our luggage were OK.)

yojimbo

I'm in the lounge at HR TST now, watching the sun go down and the lights come up.

Food and drink in the lounge are adequate.

Booked a club room with points and was able to check in at 10am and was upgraded to a harbor view room.

dtm1

Quick question

I have booked 2 rooms - 1 for myself and my wife and an adjoining room for the kids. Will the kids also be able to access the club lounge? Will the kids' room also be upgraded?

What is people's experience at this property?

cheers

rhu171

A couple of years ago I booked 3 (paid) rooms all under my name and only my room was given access to the Club. I tried to ask for access for at least 1 more room but they wouldn't give it to me unless I spent 3000 points to upgrade. The other guests were friends not family. All 3 rooms though, were upgraded to Harbour View rooms on the 20th floor. YMMV of course.

SanDiego1K

Does anyone have favorite restaurants to recommend within a short walking distance or taxi ride of the hotel? What about dumplings or dandan noodles?

And how about a great place for reflexology and Shanghainese foot shaving?

Firewind

Well, I looked up dandan noodles, and I'm still not sure if they qualify - which also indicates my level of connoisseur - but there is definitely a noodle place across the street on the subway entrance side. It is small and basic. You sit at common tables. The server/front manager/(owner?) is a character. She either has you point to a picture of what you want on a menu, or if you dawdle, she tells you what you want and shouts it to the back. Out it comes, timely, and you can't go wrong, IMO. At bill time, you get a bill that you can't read, but it is cheap. You give her some money, and she takes what is owed. But you can be confident that it will be correct. As I recall, she doesn't accept tips.

The place was full of businessmen. The two I sat with were down from Shenzen, invited me to come up and have lunch with them, and gave me their cards. They made it sound like it was no big deal to go there, but I didn't know what was involved, so I didn't take them up on it.

You can check it out with little effort, and if it doesn't meet expectations, nothing lost.

If no one here chimes in with suggestions for dumplings, I've heard that the hotel's own buffet is fine in that regard, but I did not see it.

rhu171

I like Tsui Wah. There is a branch on Carnarvon Rd just behind the hotel.

I've also been to this really good hole-in-the-wall noodle shop about a couple of blocks North of the hotel (on Cameron Rd or Prat Ave, can't quite remember). Very cheap and it had lot of locals eating there too.