Very good City Centre hotel - nearly 5* - but not quite...
We stayed at the Island Shangri-La for 2 nights having found a great deal via a well know UK travel agent. All in all this is a VERY good hotel - but not quite a PERFECT hotel - read on and we'll let you know why...
Location - great location on HK Island - right next to Pacific Place Mall (loads of very high end shops) and Admiralty MRT (great for transport – MRT is easy to use so please give it a go). Also close to Hong Kong Park – so a beautiful short walk to the Peak Tram
Decoration - classic yet still current colonial charm - classic yet not dated – huge chandeliers in reception, beautiful marble bathrooms, massive big marble reception, huge arrival drive with fleet of limos and Rolls Royce’s
Rooms - good size (our 7 year old son easily fitted a foldaway bed in and all furniture still in use). Beds comfortable, rooms quiet. Amazing bathrooms will excellent shower and loads of extra supplies provided (e.g. Evian water, Chinese tea on arrival, our son received some delicious chocolate chip cookies from reception. This was lucky, as I'd forgotten shaving cream - and even that was available in the bathroom)
Facilities - lovely rooftop pool which we tried in early January - and was heated to a lovely temperature - all the other...Very good City Centre hotel - nearly 5* - but not quite...
We stayed at the Island Shangri-La for 2 nights having found a great deal via a well know UK travel agent. All in all this is a VERY good hotel - but not quite a PERFECT hotel - read on and we'll let you know why...
Location - great location on HK Island - right next to Pacific Place Mall (loads of very high end shops) and Admiralty MRT (great for transport – MRT is easy to use so please give it a go). Also close to Hong Kong Park – so a beautiful short walk to the Peak Tram
Decoration - classic yet still current colonial charm - classic yet not dated – huge chandeliers in reception, beautiful marble bathrooms, massive big marble reception, huge arrival drive with fleet of limos and Rolls Royce’s
Rooms - good size (our 7 year old son easily fitted a foldaway bed in and all furniture still in use). Beds comfortable, rooms quiet. Amazing bathrooms will excellent shower and loads of extra supplies provided (e.g. Evian water, Chinese tea on arrival, our son received some delicious chocolate chip cookies from reception. This was lucky, as I'd forgotten shaving cream - and even that was available in the bathroom)
Facilities - lovely rooftop pool which we tried in early January - and was heated to a lovely temperature - all the other facilities you'd expect from a top hotel including good range of restaurants, spa, and business facilities (although we didn’t try these)
Food - we only had one breakfast here - and it was EXCELLENT - a close call between this and Mandarin Oriental for best ever in a hotel - pals don't miss out on the Chinese noodle soups - with range of ingredients you can choose - surprisingly filling yet absolutely delicious
Service – generally we found service to be excellent from the ‘greeters’ in the car arrival bay, through luggage, reception, chambermaids, and waiters in restaurants – all very efficient, polite and friendly. Some other contributors have commented on the concierge – we found them to be extremely friendly and helpful – always phoning ahead to restaurants to ensure we had good tables
Our only 2 issues with this hotel were;
1. We booked (and paid a premium for) a Harbour View. Whilst we could see water from our room we could not see the Harbour at all – we were facing perpendicular to the water and strained to see water disappearing into distance - to be honest we felt a little cheated, and let-down, as we'd expressed clearly at booking and check-in (a number of times) we really wanted a great view as per the website - so if you go please do insist you get the right view- as we’d really hoped to see the lights and Skyline at night. On another day we might have changed rooms, however after a 13-hour red eye flight and delay in reception (see below) we didn’t have the energy…
2. When we checked in we were offered a deal to upgrade to the Horizon Club for 1300 HKD – which seemed a good price given breakfast was 700 HKD and this package included a slightly bigger room, better view (apparently) and access to the Horizon lunge offering free snacks, tea, coffee, and early evening drinks. Perhaps it was our tiredness and jet lag – however we assumed 1300 was a total price – so we said we would do the deal. We had to wait about 20 minutes in reception whilst our receptionist checked rooms, and finally let us know one was available (bear in mind this was 7pm – so not an early morning check-in). I went up to seal the deal and luckily checked that the 1300 HKD was a total price, but was informed this was per day and subject to 10% tax (as per many other things in HK as we were to discover). This didn’t sound like a great deal anymore so we decided not to do this and went to our first room having had a 20-minute delay.
Perhaps I am being overly critical here – and the first incident really marred our view – there are many many good things about this hotel. So all in all would give this 4.5* - but rounded down due to issues above. That said, we would visit again, and would recommend at the right price, so please don’t let our comments put you off we hope these help you…More
Show less