Kacee

Exactly. Value for the money, a solid location, and nice views from the high floors. But not in the same class as GH for facilities or service.

Visconti

The GH is much nicer and while I personally prefer staying in Central, I can see where Kowloon side is easier and more convenient for tourists. There's more stuff to do, easier to get around, and Central is only a Ferry away.

Mandarin Oriental is Kowloon side, and when I was an expat in HK, they had the best "Hoi Nan Gai Fan" in all of Asia, in my view. After lunch, take the Ferry to Central and have afternoon tea at the Pen!

Coathanger

I though the MO was in Central and the Pen in Kowloon?

Either way have split my stay later this year across the GH and HR for the best of both worlds.

bostonpilot

Yes, the MO is in central and PEN is in Kowloon.

In addition to great food, the MO has the best barber shop in the world that I've found. Pricey, but great.

Visconti

I'm sure you're correct, but though it's been a while since I've lived there, my memories were certain that the Pen was in Central and MO was on Kowloon!

This only means, I need to take a vacation to visit HK again! Never tried the Barber shop, but will this time.

Coathanger

I'm now also intrigued by the Barber Shop at the Madarin Oriental given the recommendation by bostonpilot.

Have had the traditional shave experience at Trumper's in Mayfair and also at Murdock near Covent Garden (it was in a Hackett store) and both were reasonably good, but not exceptional.

dsquared37

A friend made it a point to show me the place last year after breakfast. It was impressive to behold.

bostonpilot

Sorry to the admins as this is off topic from HR TST, but I figured I needed to add to the topic a bit more.

If you do try the MO barber, the "Mandarin Shave" is excellent, but give yourself some time as it takes a while. Kumar is my guy there, been going to him for years, but you need to make an appointment a while ahead of time as he's a popular guy.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I've been molding my travel plans for years to give myself time to stop in the MO Barber and my tailor in Kowloon before heading to the airport on my last day of HK/China trips.

Mainland China for business, early evening arrival at the HR TST, drinks in the lounge, dinner in HK, early morning at the MO Barber, an American diner style breakfast at the "Flying Pan" in Wanchai, one last massage, and then off to the airport.....my normal way to wrap up a China business trip, highly refined through way too many weeks on the road for work over the past 20 years!

Like most things in HK, don't look at the price, and enjoy yourself.

dsquared37

Perhaps there's more than one, but there's a 24 hour "Flying Pan" just downhill from Soho adjacent to the mid-level escalators (far from Wan Chai).... is there another?

[bolding mine]

Happy

As an exHKGer HR TST is our go to hotel whenever we could not use our friend's place. This year we have gone thru HKG 3 times and needed a total of 22 nights 15 of them were in HR TST all on full pts. We're given xx08 and xx06 rooms on those nights as a lowly plat. View is not important to us as we had much better view from our old residence in HKG long time ago but we do appreciate the bigger corner rooms. Service is fine. We left bags there for 2 days when we went to Macao. But DH also accidentally left his camcorder and some med by oversight. We discovered that when we were at the Hong Kong / Macao ferry terminal. Called HR FD. They said the housekeeping staff already found them. FD said they would put the stuff together with the bags in storage waiting for our return. Then in the evening an assistant manager sent me an email asked me to confirm the arrangement. So the service is excellent in my book.

The K11 location is super convenient for MTR. You only need one transfer on MTR line and a very short us connection to go between HKG and K11 - 100% indoor or under cover - and only takes about an hour, plus more convenient to the Airport Express.

Visconti

Sorry for the off topic too, but HK was my first expat post and where I began my career many years ago, and will always have a special place for me.

I'm going to take a trip to HK, since it's been far too long since I've been there. Kumar, just call the MO and request an appt?

Would you mind sharing the name of your tailor (true bespoke)? I used to have my suits tailored with Anderson & Sheppard on SR and prefer to have their style of cut. Can you recommend a good HK tailor these days? When I lived in HK, the cost was about $300 USD, but lacked the refinement of SR. I can imagine the price has only gone up.

bostonpilot

Correct, there are two. Soho and Wanchai. Soho is good for those late post-LKF nights, but the Wanchai is much closer to the MTR. Both are open 24 hrs/day

Yep, just call or email to reserve.

mohkg-barber [at] mohg.com
+852 2825 4088

Happy to share my tailor. Joe @ Nelson David Tailors (named after his late business partner).

110 Far East Mansion
5-6 Middle Road

sontina_9986 [at] hotmail.com

He's on the first floor (not ground floor, one floor up). You may have to wander around a bit to find him, and look closely as there are some shops named very similar, including one that is David Nelson vs Nelson David as I recall.

That building is full of tons of tailors of varying quality. I've worked with a few in there, including some who have heavily reviewed reputations which I was VERY unhappy with. Joe has been great and came to me through the recommendation of a close friend and ex-HK expat who's been using him for 20 years or so. Highly recommend him.

Its ~5 min walk from the HR TST too, basically across Middle Rd from the Sheraton. Also, a few times when I wasn't able to get back to town before he closed, he has dropped off my goods at the HR TST concierge for me which has been great.

Enjoy!

Likemiles

This question is for Happy and all the others who have made HRTST their home in HK. Is the senior concierge DC still working there? He's the one who used to work at the old Hyatt right on Nathan Road, then Macao, and finally HRTST. A helpful, good-natured person he is. I hope he hasn't retired yet, even though he has earned his retirement many times over.

Happy

At HR TST now for 2 nights. We never I use the concierge service as we are from HK. If you give me the full name of the guy I could ask if the gentleman is still working there.

Likemiles

Since it's probably against Flyertalk rules to post employee names, Happy, I sent you a private message instead. Thanks for bothering to find out.