For Your First Trip in Hong Kong: Choosing the Best Place to Stay

When traveling abroad, accommodation usually takes the biggest chunk of your budget, and more so when you visit countries like Hong Kong. In our previous trips to Hong Kong, we’ve had the chance to stay in different hostels and hotels – Marco Polo Prince, Marco Polo Gateway, Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel, Cordis Hotel, Imperial Hotel, Regal Oriental Hotel, Ah Shan Hostel, Johnson Hostel – and in so doing, we’ve been able to pinpoint which establishments or areas are most suitable for which types of guests.

Location

• If you love to shop, consider booking a stay at hotels that are directly connected to malls. Marco Polo’s three hotels (Prince, Hong Kong, and Gateway) in Tsim Sha Tsui, for instance, are directly connected to Harbour City. There’s also Cordis Hotel in Mong Kok, which is directly connected to Langham Place. You’ll find this type of hotel a godsend especially during rainy days as they allow you to go around without having to worry about the weather.

• Hotels, hostels, and AirBNBs located in Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok are ideal if you want to explore Hong Kong’s street food culture and enjoy bargain hunting in night markets. Last but not the least, this is also where majority of the rubber shoes stores are located (Fa Yuen Street) so if you’re hoping to score a cheap find for authentic or limited-edition NMDs or something similar, then these are definitely the locations you should target.

• Hotels, hostels, and AirBNBs located in Tsim Sha Tsui are ideal if you prefer to be within walking distance from Kowloon Park, a variety of high-end shopping malls, a wide array of tourist-friendly restaurants (all kinds of cuisines, too!), Avenue of Stars (under renovation until 2019 though!), and majority of Hong Kong’s top museums. TST area is also ideal if you plan to take the ferry to Macau.

• For more high-end shopping choices, you can also search for hotels, hostels, and AirBNBs located in Causeway Bay.

Hotel freebies as souvenirs

When I’m staying at a nice hotel, one of the first things I look for is what toiletries and other free non-essentials that I can take home with me as “souvenirs”. If you’re like me, then here are a couple of hotels that I can personally recommend in terms of “souvenir quality” –

Marco Polo Gateway 

Aside from the usual toiletries and monogrammed pens and pads, I’m particularly delighted with their capsule espresso machine, and yes, you can absolutely take those capsules home with you as well. Just make sure it’s the right match for your own espresso machine!

Disneyland Hotel

While this is the most expensive of all three hotels currently operated by Disney, it is also the only one that offers themed hotel rooms. So if you love Alice in Wonderland, for instance, then you’ll probably find yourself in seventh heaven once you see all the Alice-themed toiletries and “souvenirs” in your room.

Hotel Hollywood

This Disney hotel has a more retro feel to it. While I haven’t had a chance to stay in this hotel yet, I did have the chance to enjoy a buffet-style dinner at its flagship restaurant Chef Mickey’s. Based on what I’ve seen of the property, I think most of the “souvenirs” you’ll find here will feature characters that make up Mickey Mouse and Friends (think Pluto, Goofy, etc.)

Explorers Lodge

This is the newest and – at time of publication – the most affordable of the three hotels operated by Disney in Hong Kong, and as its name suggests, expect your “souvenirs” to be safari or jungle-themed.

Cordis Hotel

Other than the usual nice “souvenirs”, what I like the most about Cordis is that it’s the first hotel we’ve been to that offered fancy-looking patterned pens with absolutely no logo or branding of their company.

Airport transfers

Cabs are private car rentals are obviously the most convenient way to travel from airport to your hotel, but they’re also the most expensive. The next best thing, of course, is the Airport Express, which offers free shuttle service to major hotels in the city. For a complete list of the hotels they service, click here.

Note: I always take the bus regardless of whether I’m staying at a hotel or hostel just because it’s cheaper (about a third of what an Airport Express ticket would normally cost).


Choosing the right hostel

• Hostels may be a dime a dozen in Hong Kong, but honestly, almost all of them look one and the same. While you can certainly save more money by booking a room at the hostel, you also need to be extra careful because choosing the wrong one can drastically affect the quality of your stay.

• Take the time to read the reviews. In particular, you want a hostel that’s received little to zero complaints about its hot shower and air-conditioning. In one of our previous trips, the heater in our room seemed to be broken, and we could only have either an extremely hot or extremely cold shower.

• Not all hostels offer free towels, hair dryers, and adapters to use. So be sure to ask about these things first and pack accordingly.

• Ask for the nearest landmark. You want to make sure that your hostel is within walking distance of train stations and, if possible, convenience stores as well.

• Try to look for hostels that offer FREE mineral water. One bottle of water in TST can cost you $9 - $15 HKD so again, it all adds up!

Additional tips

• Very few hotels in Hong Kong offer triple or quadruple sharing, and if you’re unlucky, those that do aren’t actually good enough for four. Either the beds are too tiny or the room too small to accommodate four persons and their four pieces of luggage.

• Most hotels prefer that you show them printed versions of your voucher or booking.

• Most hotels would ask to see the passport of the person whose name was used for booking accommodation. In some cases, they may also ask to see the credit card used for the booking. In other instances, they may ask to see the passports of all staying guests.