Mira Moon Hotel, Hong Kong, a member of Design Hotels [Master Thread]
 

Since my last stay, there have been a few additions to the SPG portfolio via the Design Hotels partnership. My go-to SPG spot in HK used to be the W; which is stylish and fun, but expensive and a bit out of the way. But in the last half-year or so, we saw the addition of the Mira, the Mira Moon, and the Ovolo Southside via the Design Hotels partnership.

I've stayed at the Mira for the past two nights; and due to some complications I cancelled my flight out today and returned to HK and am currently staying at the Mira Moon. I don't currently see a thread for the Mira Moon, so I'm starting one to provide some thoughts.

First, the things that people care most about here: SPG Platinum recognition. As a Design hotel; it doesn't have full participation into SPG and the advertised status benefit. This is unfortunate. At check-in I was offered a paid upgrade to a larger room; to which I asked whether they typically provide upgrades free for Platinum members. The front-desk seemed to have to dig through the reservation a bit to check my status; but after discovering it she said something along the lines of "of course" and gave me an upgraded room. The room is still quite small, but well-designed, and has a partial harbor view with a full view of the ICC across Victoria Harbor. I also inquired about a late-checkout and was offered 2pm as a courtesy.

Overall, I'm loving this hotel. Being located in Wan Chai is quite convenient—for the tourists, it's close to Happy Valley, the Peak. For the drinkers, it's super close to Wooloomooloo (a favorite rooftop bar of mine), is surrounded by other bars, and a short taxi ride away from LKF. It's also not too far away from the Wan Chai Star Ferry stop either.

It's a super-small boutique hotel with under 100 rooms, located in one of those crazy-tall-and-narrow HK buildings, with 36 stories and about 4 rooms per story. The design is stylish and gorgeous, and they take the moon theme to the next level.

The tapas fusion restaurant and bar on the 3rd floor has a ridiculously generous happy hour of buy-one-get-one-free on any drinks by the glass from
4pm to 9pm and a selection of tapas (that's where I'm sitting to write this note).

The rates seem to be between 1200-1500 HKD per night; which is quite reasonable (~$200 USD all-in) compared to the large western 5-star hotels (W, Conrad, IC, etc. can easily cost $400/night all-in). I'd stay here again in a heartbeat.

I've also stayed at the Mira hotel and have visited the Ovolo Southside for drinks, so I'll provide feedback on those in the appropriate threads.

Just spent three nights at this property. Very convenient to my office locations so I'll probably return there, but can't say I was bowled over - good but not special.

One very nice touch was a portable Wifi device you could carry around during your stay. The breakfast (not included in my rate nor comped as a Plat, which is per Design rules, no problem) was very good but the same selections every day - surely a bit of variety is possible?

Had an issue getting my shower to be hot enough - they checked it out and found nothing so I'll blame it on user error.

Review: Mira Moon Hong Kong
 

Check In Arrived at about 20:00 after a flight from Singapore. The hotel was easy to find from Causeway Bay Station. I was recognised as an SPG platinum, was told we had been upgraded to a full moon room with a King Size Bed.Service was very surly but efficient. Had been briefed by my Ambassador about the limited benefits that come with the Design hotels but I was already familiar with the restrictions. Room We were delighted when we opened the door to find such a nice sized room. Hotel rooms in Hong Kong tend to be on the smaller side and this is a very generously proportioned room, particularly the bathroom.We found the bed to be too hard. I struggled to sleep on the first night which is very unusual considering I spend about 200 nights away from home and have no problems sleeping. This was the results of light pollution with the blue switch that create some visual distractions and the very hard mattress.This was compounded with the very cold aircon of which I only managed to find the control panel on the second night (I could have asked).The room was overlooking the HK Convention and Exhibition Center (partial view) and the harbour. We found the room to be very nice and quirky, in line with other design properties we have visited. Service We did not visit the restaurants so our interactions were limited to the staff on the ground floor who would greet us every time we walked in or out.The check in and check out staff were efficient. After being told that the check out time was noon, we were allowed an extended check out time of 16:00 (not a platinum benefit at Design Hotels).The room attendant did not replace the bottles of water (2 for the entire stay). The bottles of shampoo, shower gel and miniature soap were inadequate. We run out of bathroom amenities but didn't ask for a restock thinking it would be automatic. Location About 7-10 minutes walk to Causeway Bay station, we prefered taking the tram to Central. Overall Very nice hotel, we enjoyed our stay but would not return. We had been spoiled on our previous visit to hong kong at the Ritz Carlton. I must say that the bed would be a show stopper for us, as we did find it very uncomfortable. It was perfect for the week end and to experience something different.

We booked this hotel via the Chase UR portal for Jan 2019...I just emailed them about adding my SPG number to the reservation. Anybody have any datapoints about getting an actual confirmed reservation (confirmed by the hotel) when booking through the Chase UR portal?

Looking forward to the stay as we've heard great things...

I'm looking to book this for New Years. It's an affordable 35k points, and considering the paid rate is over $400, that's a steal. I want to use my two free certs. I've already booked at the HK IHG Intercon, one which is basically use-or-lose since it was an expiring cert.

Anyway the booking policy gives me TWO DAYS to cancel from booking. Considering the unrest over there, who knows what it'll be like at New Years. Most likely OK but you never know.

I'd love to book it for New Years but seems just too risky to book something that's effectively non-refundable. I checked the paid rates and its the same thing. I even wrote Marriott to ask if it was a mistake. I can't imagine why they would do that, its unbelievable that they would have empty rooms at New Years, so why not have a more generous cancellation policy?

Ideas?

Just stayed here last night, and had the same problem.

Overall not impressed, however the points price compared to JW and Ren is now much better (35K vs JW and Ren now recently 50K). However if the cash price is comparable to Renaissance, book Renaissance, especially with Platinum benefits and lounge access. Plus Renaissance is a much better location and a shorter bus/taxi ride to the airport express.

Anyone managed to get upgraded to the Penthouse Suite?

I've stayed in it, nice enough suite. It wasn't a free upgrade.

Design hotels are not required to upgrade, so keep your expectations low if you don't want to be disappointed.