I recently heard about this new property from a friend of mine who is a member of their club so I decided it was a great opporunity to try something new considering I was in Hong Kong for a vacation.
My friend said that the hotel was actually trainee operated so with this in mind, my partner and I decided to take a tour of the property (in case it wasn't for us). Tours of the property are readily available and after one lunch at the Chinese restaurant on the premises, we decided to participate in the tour. It was fairly quick and brief but it was enough to see the main facilities in the property which were the executive lounge, two room types, gym and business centre.
We were told on the tour that the property is a training facility and that it is operated mainly by students with little supervision. Why I have to state this is because if you plan on staying, I think it's best you know (and I will explain later the repercussions of having students organize and prepare everything).
My partner and I decided to take the plunge and give it a try and since the room rates were more than reasonable (HKD $550 for a Saturday night in an Ocean View Room including buffet breakfast for two!) we thought we had nothing to lose.
We arrived on the following Saturday and was delighted...I recently heard about this new property from a friend of mine who is a member of their club so I decided it was a great opporunity to try something new considering I was in Hong Kong for a vacation.
My friend said that the hotel was actually trainee operated so with this in mind, my partner and I decided to take a tour of the property (in case it wasn't for us). Tours of the property are readily available and after one lunch at the Chinese restaurant on the premises, we decided to participate in the tour. It was fairly quick and brief but it was enough to see the main facilities in the property which were the executive lounge, two room types, gym and business centre.
We were told on the tour that the property is a training facility and that it is operated mainly by students with little supervision. Why I have to state this is because if you plan on staying, I think it's best you know (and I will explain later the repercussions of having students organize and prepare everything).
My partner and I decided to take the plunge and give it a try and since the room rates were more than reasonable (HKD $550 for a Saturday night in an Ocean View Room including buffet breakfast for two!) we thought we had nothing to lose.
We arrived on the following Saturday and was delighted to be greeted by the trainees in a loud and clear manner. We were rather impressed at the professionalism however it may be deemed slightly intimidating as there were 5 student porters on each side of the front door and as you walk in, they all greet you in unison.
The room was absolutely stunning! Complete views of South China Sea, television in the bathroom, large soft king size bed; I was truly impressed. I guess you could say that I was slightly iffy about the place because of the fact it is a ‘training’ hotel but the room itself was really good. It was also good because it was around 4PM so the sun was still up and we were able to see the sunset.
I guess the main issues with it being a ‘training’ facility is that there tends to be an abundance of students, very willingly of course to assist you but it tends to be overwhelming from time to time. For example, during my buffet breakfast we were served by 4 students which is nice but for me was a tad too much because I am not much of a morning person. Another issue is that the security to the building is rather tight. I decided to venture out at night and came back to be questioned by the security twice if I was a guest at the hotel and one of the guards even followed me until he saw me walk through the lobby. Not saying that there was anything wrong with the safety but I felt a little bit of pressure.
Overall, I would say to give it a try. I understand that they are in a soft opening period at the moment so there are still many things that need to be tweaked but it was a lovely experience and it was fantastic to enjoy a decently made coffee in Hong Kong whilst looking over the ocean. It’s worth trying out because at the end of the day, it was definitely value for money, the service is pleasant, the room is gorgeous (I must reiterate this!) and the coffee is fantastic! (In comparison to all the other coffee places I’ve tried in HK!)
I hope this helps! I know this is quite lengthy but my partner wanted to contribute. =)More
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