HK hotels-2

28 I Hong Kong hotels
grahamuden
JUNE 2016 businesstraveller.asia

Hong Kong hotels I 29
Helen Dalley leaves
downtown Hong Kong to
discover hotel options for
business people working
in the SAR’s booming
satellite conurbations
JUNE 2016businesstraveller.asia
Far
from the
crowd
madding

ong Kong’s central city core
straddles its“fragrant harbour”,
the crowded waterfront
skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island
facing the densely peopled mass
of the Kowloon Peninsula. But the
territory of Hong Kong covers a much greater area than
this alone, and the New Territories’satellite towns have
grown into cities unto themselves – in the case of Sha
Tin with a population of more than one million.
For those with work to do in these burgeoning
business centres, it makes sense to stay in a hotel
within easy access. With that in mind, a circuit of Hong
Kong’s outer districts reveals a surprising wealth of
accommodation options.
LANTAU & CHEK LAP KOK
Room demand at airport locations has grown from
an average of 55 million room nights in 2010 to
65 million in 2015, according to US hotel data and
research firm STR. As a result, airport stays are better
than they’ve ever been – and in a bid to attract
discerning clientele, facilities like spas and good
restaurants are increasingly commonplace.
Indeed, staying in or around the airport doesn’t have
H to be the dreary experience you imagine, and there are
two resort-style hotels worth considering on Lantau
Island, the site of Hong Kong International Airport.
Designed by architect heavyweights Aedas, the 658-
room Hong Kong Skycity Marriott Hotel (marriott.
com) is directly connected to AsiaWorld-Expo and
houses a branch of its signature Chinese restaurant
Man Ho, renowned for its dim sum.The Regal Airport
Hotel (regalhotel.com) is another quality option, with
Spa Deluxe and Spa Cabana rooms in the Om Spa –
the latter have their own patio and outdoor Jacuzzi.
Situated ten minutes away by taxi from the airport,
Novotel Citygate (novotelcitygate.com) in Tung Chung
is connected to the Citygate Outlets shopping mall,
where locals come to shop for discounted clothing from
brands such as Ralph Lauren and Adidas. Overlooking
the airport and the Ngong Ping cable car, guests in
Executive Premier rooms can access the Premier lounge
on the 21st floor.
Part of Hong Kong’s Harbour Plaza Group (harbour-
plaza.com), the Rambler hotels – named for their views
over the Rambler Channel, a body of water separating
TsingYi Island from the mainland Kowloon Peninsula
– offer affordable if basic rooms in TsingYi two stops
from the airport on the Airport Express line. Rambler
Above: Skycity
Marriott Hotel

Oasis lays claim to having the longest outdoor
swimming pool in Southeast Asia, while Rambler
Garden has business hotel rooms with harbour views
on the 30th floor.
Lastly, a 25-minute bus journey from the airport is
the Auberge Discovery Bay (aubergediscoverybay.
com) offering a resort feel. Central on Hong Kong
Island is also just 25 minutes away by ferry.
WESTERN NEW TERRITORIES
Once Hong Kong’s garment manufacturing heartland
– Nan Fung’s textile mill was established here in the
1950s – Tsuen Wan hopes to rise once again, and
development is being spearheaded by the conversion
of its most renowned factory into the Mills Project,
which will house an incubator and springboard for tech
start-ups, retail area and an arts/cultural space when it
debuts in 2018.
Situated between Tai Wo Hau and Tsuen Wan MTR
stations, themed property Panda Hotel (pandahotel.
com.hk) debuted new meeting space The Crystal in
December and is a popular choice with Korean and
Australian visitors in addition to mainland guests.
Director of marketing communicationsVirginia Cheung
believes staying in an area like Tsuen Wan is a good
option for those who want to experience authentic
Hong Kong culture.“Many places here sell traditional
street food and there are lots of local restaurants with
dishes like steamed lobster on the menu,”she says.The
property is also well placed – a footbridge connects the
hotel with Tsuen Wan MTR station and the hotel sits
atop a travel-themed shopping mall, Panda Place.
Another hotel within walking distance of Tsuen
Wan MTR is Silka Far East (silkahotels.com/fareast),
a budget hotel that nevertheless boasts a free Handy
smartphone service and complimentary shuttle bus to
Mongkok. Similarly budget-friendly is the 547-room
Dorsett Tsuen Wan (dorsetthotels.com), a five-minute
walk from Tai Wo Hau MTR with a club lounge on the
22nd floor.
Located near to Tsuen Wan West, L’hotel Nina
et Convention Centre (lhotelgroup.com) is one of
the largest hotels in Hong Kong with 1,608 rooms.
Connected by an arching sky bridge, the twin-tower
property has extensive meeting spaces and its own
shopping mall.
Head west along Castle Peak Road and you’ll find
Bay Bridge Hong Kong by Hotel G (baybridgehong
From left:
Harbour Plaza
Resort City;
Courtyard Sha
Tin by Marriott;
Royal Park Hotel

Hong Kong hotels I 33
kong.com), a trendy serviced apartment property in
Yau Kom Tau, around ten minutes by shuttle bus from
Tsuen Wan. A little farther west is the RoyalView
Hotel (royalview.com.hk), which has a club floor room
and offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom
serviced apartments.
Over in Tuen Mun, the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel
(www.sino-hotels.com/hk/gold-coast) is one of the few
hotels in Hong Kong to have a genuine resort feel, as it
overlooks a marina that recently hosted the Gold Coast
Boat Show, where super-yachts priced upwards of HK$90
million (US$11.5 million) were on display.
Those doing business inYuen Long or the mainland,
meanwhile, should consider Harbour Plaza Resort
City (harbour-plaza.com/resortcity) in Tin Shui Wai,
which offers rooms and serviced suites.“The advantage
of staying in this area for business travellers is that
we are very close [11km] to Shenzhen,”says assistant
director of marketing communications Polly Law.
SHA TIN
Switching to the eastern side of Hong Kong’s New
Territories we arrive in Sha Tin, a“New Town”area
that has grown exponentially since the 1970s, until
today more than one million people call it home. At
University MTR is the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha
Tin (hongkong.shatin.hyatt.com), next to the Chinese
University of Hong Kong. Many of its corporate
clients are academics and companies based at the
nearby Science Park, a five-minute taxi ride away, says
marketing communications manager Emily Wong. With
a club lounge overlooking peaceful Tolo Harbour, it
offers close proximity to many of Hong Kong’s hiking
trails and the Ma Lui Shui pier to access outlying
islands including Tung Ping Chau, which is renowned
for its rugged rock formations and dramatic cliffs.
“The hotel’s outdoor event space is popular with
cosmetics clients as it offers good lighting for photos,”
says Wong, while its in-house patisserie serves those
who don’t have time to linger over breakfast, and
stocks everything from wine to instant noodles to
save making the five-minute walk to the nearest
convenience store.The hotel recently introduced Handy
phones to rooms, which have free wifi, unlimited data
and free calls to the US, China and Singapore.
A ten-minute walk from Shek Mun MTR, Courtyard
by Marriott Sha Tin (marriott.com) is another well-
known international brand; it recently upgraded its

30th floor facilities, which include a lounge and bar,
private rooms, meeting suites and a presidential suite.
Also in the area, the Royal Park Hotel (royalpark.
com.hk) is situated next to the MTR station in Sha Tin’s
city centre; its 443 rooms and suites are furnished in
a clean, contemporary style, and it boasts an indoor/
outdoor pool that is heated in the cold season. Finally,
overlooking the Shing Mun River is the huge, 1,138-
room Regal Riverside (regalhotel.com). Its size,
excellent F&B offerings, resort-style facilities and event
credentials have seen it win a number of plaudits from
the business and conventions community.
KOWLOON BAY
We now head south, through Lion Rock tunnel and
into the Kowloon Bay area, where gleaming high-rises
such as the Manulife Financial Centre and Standard
Chartered Tower are situated, along with industrial
buildings staffed by IT businesses and garment
sourcing firms.This part of Hong Kong has been
earmarked for development as the SAR’s “second
CBD”, and hotel groups have been quick to see
the potential.
A five-minute walk from Ngau Tau Kok MTR,
guests at L’hotel Elan (lhotelelan.com) check in on
the 35th floor, where the pool and gym are located.
In-room fossils acknowledge the hotel’s status as a
Geopark hotel, and the hotel reception can arrange
guided tours of Hong Kong’s designated Unesco
Geopark area for guests, says L’hotel’s executive vice
president Sylvia Chung.
“Another advantage of staying in this area is there
are many large shopping malls nearby including Apm,
Megabox and Telford Shopping Centre,”she adds.
Long-stay visitors looking for a homy ambience can
book into one of two duplexes, which feature Japanese-
style bathtubs. All 254 rooms in the hotel have their
own iPad.
Located close to the Kwun Tong promenade, the
Newton Place Hotel (newtonplacehotel.com) offers
views ofVictoria Harbour from most rooms, while over
in Diamond Hill, Pentahotel Kowloon (pentahotels.
com) tags itself as“your neighbourhood lifestyle hotel”,
its hip design aiming to engage travellers with trendy
ideas like a reception area that doubles as a bar/café.
Sitting atop the Tseung Kwan O MTR and Popcorn
shopping mall, in facing tower blocks, are two great-
value hotel options.The Holiday Inn Express Hong
Kong Kowloon East (ihg.com/holidayinnexpress) is in
Tower 4 – reliably consistent in its service and comforts;
in Tower 5 is the equally reputable Crowne Plaza
Hong Kong Kowloon East (ihg.com/crowneplaza),
which is worth checking out for the seven private spa
rooms from local wellness brand Sense of Touch.
From top: Hyatt Regency Sha Tin; Regal
Riverside; Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees

surprised when they do.“It doesn’t feel like Hong Kong
to frequent travellers, yet it’s not that far away from the
centre. On the bus, it’s two stops to Causeway Bay, but
we’re also close to [picturesque beachside area] Stanley,”
he says. Southside’s corner room overlooking Ocean
Park and Deepwater Bay is one of its most popular,
while the corner deluxe with coffee table and sofa gives
business travellers a bit more space to spread out.
Carry on along the main road and you reach the one-
time fishing village of Aberdeen, where trawlers moor
when they’re not fishing the South China Sea.These
days the whole area is surrounded by residential high-
rises, but Ovolo has another hotel in the area, Ovolo
Aberdeen Harbour (ovolohotels.com), which like
Southside has a 24-hour gym and flexible check-in/out
– and Aberdeen’s town centre is compact, easygoing,
and well connected to all the city’s main districts by a
plethora of buses.
Heading west towards Pokfulam is the Cyberport
mixed-use,“creative digital cluster”complex. Here
you’ll find Le Meridien Cyberport (starwoodhotels.
com/lemeridien), where the PSI bar is a great spot
for watching the sun set over the South China Sea
with a pint of locally brewed Gweilo ale, according
to marketing communications manager Connie Tam.
Those concerned about Hong Kong’s air pollution can
book into one of the hotel’s 20 Pure rooms, whose air
purifiers and hypoallergenic bedding give comfort to
asthma and allergy sufferers. Another health-related
concept is the recent changing of minibar contents,
which forego the Ferrero Rochers and Pringles for
healthy organic snacks.
Cyberport is home to big IT names including IBM
and Microsoft, and the hotel is popular with those
looking to host team-building activities in a resort
environment, with coffee-making classes among the
options, says Tam. With bohemian Lamma Island just
30 minutes away by boat (from Aberdeen), business
travellers with a free window could even kick back at a
beachside bar before returning to the airport. n
Finally, on Kowloon City Road near the entrance
to the old Kai Tak airport, Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees
(harbour-plaza.com) offers serviced suites from its
location in To Kwa Wan, as well as a free shuttle bus to
Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui.
HONG KONG ISLAND SOUTH
We now hop across the harbour to Hong Kong Island,
but instead of the crowded north shore, our route takes
us through the 1.9km-long Aberdeen Tunnel to Wong
Chuk Hang, location of the marine-themed Ocean
Park and another fast-growing district, filled with
old factory buildings that are being refurbished and
upgraded alongside new-build tower blocks like One
Island South.The neighbourhood is gearing up for the
arrival of the South Island MTR line this December,
when Wong Chuk Hang will connect to Admiralty in
four minutes.
Here you will find Ovolo Southside (ovolohotels.
com) on the left and L’hotel Island South
(lhotelislandsouth.com) on the right. Both hotels
are popular with fashion retail corporates as luxury
department store Lane Crawford has a showroom
and home store in One Island South. L’hotel’s Chung
says,“Guests can go hiking in Aberdeen Country Park
or visit the Aberdeen fishing village nearby, while
shopping hub Times Square is only a 15-minute bus
ride away. L’hotel Island South is not like a city hotel
– it’s an oasis with views of lush green slopes and a
tranquil atmosphere.”
A converted warehouse where raw concrete and
exposed pipes are part of the design, hip property
Ovolo Southside is currently hosting the Mojo Nomad
initiative, which provides local and international
start-ups with a co-working space in its Lo Lounge
and affordable room rates in partnership with start-up
incubator Nest.
General manager Tim Alpes admits that one of its
biggest challenges is getting people to make the trip
through the tunnel, but says that they are pleasantly
From left: Ovolo
Southside; L’hotel
Island South

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