sheraton hong kong hotel and towers
During our recent trip to Hong Kong, we stayed at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers.
In booking a hotel for this trip, we didn’t need anything too remarkable. We knew we wouldn’t be spending that much time in the room since we would be out visiting family most of the time. So we were really just looking for a clean, reliable hotel in a convenient part of town.
The Sheraton hit this mark pretty well.
Our Room:
We booked a standard room. It was spacious, and had a spectacular view of the harbor (although slightly marred by the massive ongoing construction across the street). There was a lot of counter space on top of the mini bar and a good size desk. For the two of us, I couldn’t see a need to book a bigger room.
The bathroom had a very sizeable shower, two sinks (which is always a big plus in my book), plus plenty of counter space for makeup and toiletries. There was a strange window from the bathroom into the bedroom area. I’m not sure who wants this window, but we kept it closed with a shade for privacy reasons and would have much preferred a mirror in its place. Also, they only provided two bath towels at a time, which is fine but most hotels provide more just in case you need it.
SPG Amenities:
As an SPG member, I always find it helpful to know which hotels give you the best value for your membership.
The SPG lounge is small and, at least when we went in the late mornings, had very little to offer other than some fruit, coffee, tea, and a Coke/tonic water dispenser. This was a little disappointing. We didn’t have much use for the lounge on this trip, but when I travel with Keith on his business trips, a good lounge is a great place for me to wait before dinner in the evening while he finishes up at work.
There is a separate check-in/check-out line in the lobby for Gold and Platinum members, which is nice as I’ve noticed that some of the SPG hotels seem to be getting rid of this perk.
We were given complimentary water bottles and fruit in our room. As an SPG member, we were given free breakfast in the Cafe (although we actually didn’t end up eating at the hotel) and free WiFi.
Lobby, Service, and Shared Spaces:
The fitness center is small, but well-equipped. It has a handful of TechnoGym treadmills (my favorite kind), a couple spinning bikes, ellipticals, weight machines, and even a rowing machine (rare in hotel gyms and definitely a plus). There’s a separate room for yoga or floor exercises. And the fitness center has a nice window overlooking the harbor that makes running on a treadmill go by a lot faster.
The lobby and check-in desks are on the second floor, not the ground floor, which is a little annoying because it means making an extra stop either on the elevators or escalator. But the lobby itself is beautiful and spacious. The ground floor is often very busy because it opens into a retail space that was continuously thronged with shoppers while we were there (I’m talking lines of people out the door and around the corner).
The hotel is pretty large and each floor is very spread out with a lot of rooms. We ended up having a pretty long walk from the elevators to our room, and the lounge was on the far opposite side of the floor from us. Not a problem, per se, but a little inconvenient layout.
Surrounding Area:
The hotel sits right in the middle of Tsim Sha Tsui, which is a crowded shopping area boasting some high-end shops. The vibe is kind of a cross between Times Square and Fifth Avenue. The hotel has very convenient access to the Tsim Sha Tsui train station, which makes it easy to get around.
REVIEW AT A GLANCE:
The room: Clean, spacious enough, and comfortable with an outstanding view.
The experience: Predictable. No luxury treatment or extra niceties here, but they do the basics well enough. Negative points, however, for the lack of a real SPG lounge and the inconvenience of the 2nd floor lobby.
The service: Reliable. Our room was always made up well, and when we called down for an extra bath towel, it was brought up very quickly.
My review ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 5 sushis:
1 sushi — not very good, 2 sushis — okay, 3 sushis — good, 4 sushis — great, 5 sushis — beyond exceptional.
