whimike

Which hotel?

Modo

Evened out very slightly since I posted but still plenty of better hotels in the 50 to 70% of the HIX price range for this Friday. A couple of the Butterfly group which is a group consistently better value for a pretty similar experience. Take a look on any of the search engines narrowing down to Central and/or Sheung Wan. The whole of The Island is quite cheap this weekend and yet TST/Kowloon seems not to be following the pattern. The two IHG hotels out at Kowloon East are exorbitant for that location.

Base room at LBP US$70 V US$155 for HIX on Agoda. Business Suite is US$95 at LBP

brewdog11

Would like to post a mini-report of my one-night experience here:


CHECK-IN:
Checked in around 21:00, there was no line and I was helped immediately. As an IHG PLT, I was proactively offered late check-out and informed that my room was upgraded and I had some soft drinks waiting for me as a welcome gift in my room. I was given my room keys and a breakfast chit for the second floor restaurant and sent on my way.

THE ROOM
Took the elevators up (quick ride, since it was an off-peak time) to the 32nd floor and walked into my room. First impression, the room is clean but small. It also had an odd scent to it, but nothing horrible of foul--just odd. Pulled back the covers on the bed and noticed the sheets had a few spots on them. They'd obviously been washed, but there was some residual markings on them. There was also some pills/lint on the sheets, but nothing major.

Opened curtains and found that the room had a pretty decent view of Victoria Harbour. There were a few buildings in the way, but I could still see everything pretty well. It was nice to sit back and look out at night, as I could see the ICC (and the messages rolling up the side of the building on a sort of electronic marquee) and other places over on the Kowloon side. I could even watch the helicopters land and take off over at the green helipad (sorry, I don't know the proper name). During the day, however, it was hard to see past the ICC due to the haze blanketing the city.

THE BREAKFAST
Ah, yes, the breakfast. I'd heard moderate-to-abysmal reports about it in the past, and I initially just planned on stepping out of the hotel and finding a place close by to eat at, but I wanted to at least try it once and report back. Well, my empirical experience validates the poor reports. Staff are efficient, but the food leaves much to be desired. Yeah, I know it's a free breakfast for everyone in a high-rise hotel, but I still think it could have been better. I'm usually "the guy who eats everything," but one plate from breakfast had my stomach feeling upset.

I had to book this hotel last-minute, so the room was expensive. To me, the value was not good (especially in comparison to the other hotel rooms I can get for the same price when booking a little bit in advance). If the price were right, I would return.

mcgahat

I chose this property as it was relatively cheap for Hong Kong during my time of visit and since it was just me for a few days the size of the room wasn’t much of an issue for me and enjoy trying new properties.

Arrival was easy enough as I took the airport express from the airport and then the shuttle from the airport express station. The shuttle drops you off on the side of the hotel entrance so you are right there. This hotel is the first stop on the shuttle route so it is nice when you arrive but on the return you will be picked up first and would have to sit through all the other stops. If I stay in the future I would probably just take the shuttle on arrival and then either walk to the airport express station (if I had small amount of bags) or just take a taxi to the station.

Check in at my late hour was prompt, professional and friendly. I was given a room with a mountain view on an upper floor. I know this is a HI Express and they do not have much to upgrade Platinum’s too but there are rooms with harbor views so why not make that an upgrade? When I arrived to the room there was a couple of soft drinks and some cookies, I am presuming a gift as a Platinum member.

The room itself was of course small but I would say average size for a Hong Kong hotel in this price category. I actually found it to be of low quality for such a new property with the wall having many scuffs, the carpeting with stains etc. I don’t know about that bathroom with the frosted glass. The concern isn’t a privacy concern but an annoyance as anytime anyone goes to the bathroom in the night and turns the light on it is going to blast the room with light. I also think it just looks cheap. The bathroom itself is indeed small but functional with the shower door functioning also as a door for the bathroom itself which is odd. The room is ok but better suited for a solo traveler I think.

I had breakfast a couple of days and it was very low quality. It had your basic items such as some meats and breads but was not a huge spread but that is to be expected for a HI Express I guess. I just didn’t expect it to be such low quality. The dining area for breakfast is in the Thai restaurant so the décor is definitely nicer than anything you will normally see at HI Express but as you might expect it will get crowded later in the morning. I chose to eat elsewhere for breakfast the rest of my trip.

The location was ok as it was a relatively short walk to a subways station and to the Macau ferry terminal but I was expecting something a little more lively, given the SoHo in the name. It was actually very quiet for my late Saturday night arrival and kind of quiet during my entire trip. Not a bad thing but not what I had in mind.

I don’t see a reason for me to stay here again. If I am looking for a priority club property to earn or burn points then I can easily do better. If I don’t care about the program affiliation then I can definitely find better 2.5 or 3 star properties in this price range.

mcgahat

I just posted a review in the Group Stay Forum for anyone interested in reading.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...l#post24309643

brewdog11

I enjoyed your review! It seems like you and I got the same impression from the place. Besides the Harbour View room that I was upgraded to, there wasn't much special about this place. It did seem kind of cheap, and I'm even angrier with myself after paying $240 USD for it .

mcgahat

Ouch. I was at 1,040HKD and didn't see the value so at the rate you paid....no way.

IDM79

Just perusing through the reviews of this place and was surprised I didn't see a mention of one of the best attractions of this hotel. The view from the top is spectacular. One of the first things i check out in a high rise hotel is it's view from the top if at all accessible. After we dropped off our stuff in the room when we stayed here awhile back I immediately took the elevator as high as it would go. Which wasn't the top floor. This place rather surprisingly doesn't flaunt or even make it easy to get out on top of their building. (never did inquire whether this was intentional or not) Anyway, we had to look around for away to get up higher and found a door that opened into a darkened hallway which led to another door that opened into an outside fire escape stairway. A couple floors worth of climbing those and voila! We found ourselves at the top of a skyscraper surrounded by a forest of skyscrapers and a 360* (sort of) view with Hong Kong and Kowloon and rhe bay and the mountain spread out all around us. Breathtaking at night or day (especially considering the last couple flights of stairs).
It was so nice to go up there at night after a long day of exploring and just quietly look at this amazing place. Even if you get an upper floor room with a great view out the window, no comparison. Our visits up there were definitely among the highlights of our trip.
Again, not sure why they aren't promoting this 'little' asset of theirs. There were no signs anywhere saying anything like "do not enter" or "staff use only" and we weren't always the only ones up there so I don't think they have a problem with people going up there.
So if you're heading to this hotel, make sure you head straight to the top and remember, it's sometimes much easier (and fun!) to ask for forgiveness than permission.

camsean

Great comprehensive review!^

tcook052

Thanks for the review. I spent some points on 2 nights here next week and travelling alone smaller room should be fine. The location was a big deciding factor so if it has that and is quiet that's okay by me.

tcook052

After staying at this hotel for 2 nights this week thought I'd offer up some thoughts.

I'd used some leftover points to reserve 2 nights given prices were on the high side thanks to CNY and thought it was a good use of the points but probably wouldn't stay here at the regular room rate as it's to me too high for the quality of the hotel. The location is pretty good though thought it more Sheung Wan than SoHo as apparently did my cab driver who was confused until I pulled out a little card with the hotel's name and address in both English and Cantonese.

I liked the choice of soft or firm pillows and the small little fridge under the luggage rack. Note however that it may not be turned on as mine wasn't and took a few hours to cool down once I set the little temperature dial.

The drapes are set to open when you insert your room card in the little slot but can be manually operated. The view from the room was pretty good as I could see Kowloon, well at least I could when weather permitted as my stay was quite misty/foggy/hazy enough so some days you could only make out the bottom half of some Kowloon skyscrapers. The chair by the window was comfy enough to enjoy the view for a little while winding down from a long day of sightseeing and new year festivities.

The breakfast was lacking a little in the way of bread, buns or croissants so went with the sausages, scrambled eggs, cereal and OJ and didn't linger as it was busy enough when I was there that twice someone tried to claim my table which had my jacket and camera bag on the chair.

Overall for a short award stay quite satisfactory. Here's a few photos:



View from room 2506:

Alawyer

I got upgraded to a suite when I declined the upgrade to the Harbourview room. The suite is far far bigger than a room with a view.

pretzlaff

Spent 2 nights there (HIX Soho) last week on points as a Spire.

We chose the hotel partly because it looked like it was simple and easy to get there from the hotel. Indeed, it was. We took the Express Airport train to the Hong Kong station, then caught the H1 bus to the hotel which was only about 5 minutes away and was the first stop.

Check in was good, with recognition of Spire status and upgrade to high floor and harbor view room.

The room on the 35th floor was really too small for 2 people. This was largely due to our reservation of 2 single beds. With 2 beds, there simply is too little room to walk easily around the room. The result is a very narrow path of very dirty carpet around the beds. It would be adequate for 1 person in a room with a double bed.

The view was not bad but not really 'on' the harbor with a number of buildings between you and the harbor. But still nice and interesting.

Breakfast was good with sufficient 'western' type things. The self-serve laundry was nice and we used it. You get tokens at reception for 40hkd each. One for the washer and one for the dryer.

The area was good. There was a 7-11 diagonal across the street. We walked a number of places.

Check out was smooth without any charges. We easily walked to the Macau ferry terminal. We walked to the closest MTR station entrance and then underground walked toward the ferry exit which is exit "D".

All in all, not a bad stay but having then moved to the Conrad in Macau and the Grand Stanford later, a few more points or a few more dollars really gets you a lot more elsewhere. We probably won't return.

Having found that Hong Kong taxi's are only about 5usd from the Airport Express stations to hotels, this hotel being on the MTR shuttle system is less attractive.

palermo

Your assessment is spot on. It is Ok but far from being remarkable in any sort of way. I stayed here in 2013 when it was 20,000 points. The value for money was about right. At the current prices/points required, there are typically much better options in HKG.

Location-wise is Ok but in the wrong side of Central except that SOHO is the preferred area.

meremale

Has this hotel been permanently closed ?