Hong Kong Sheraton Tsim Tsa Tsui

[Chris26WI]

We checked in at 12.30 pm, but the room was not ready yet... and we were given drink vouchers for the lobby bar... finally we had to wait until 2.30 pm to get the room key. I was not unhappy anyway as they offered us an upgrade to a Harbour View room for only 300HK$++ extra per night (I thought it was impossible to get such room during peak season), so I had no problem in waiting. Staff was nice and polite.

The room was - as expected - a little bit on the small side, but quite newly renovated in a nice modern design. A lot of glass and mirrors everywhere; the bed was the Sheraton sleeper bed, so very comfortable; large Sony (CRT) TV with HBO and Star Movies. The interesting thing was the bath room with the little window towards the bed room (however you can use a roller blend to prevent unwanted looks :-) ). Nice glass sink in the bath room, but no seperate shower cubicle and rather short bath tub.

The best of the room was the view, of course... looking towards the nicest part of HK Island. The view from the Interconti will be better of course as it's directly near the water, while the Sheraton is a little bit backwards (see photos). The location of the Sheraton TST is great, of course, couldn't be better... just a short walk to Star Walk and star ferry and Nathan road on the other side. There's a MRT exit (access) near the hotel too, but you will have to take the backwards exit (we didn't find it at the beginning).

The Sheraton is a very nice hotel in a top location though the rooms are a little bit small - but that's the only drawback.

Photos

[AEmgee]

I completed a 6-night stay at the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers from January 22-28, 2006. My winning bid was $115 which was a pleasant surprise, since I had previously tried much higher for a 4* property in TST without success.

This hotel's location is one of the best in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST). It is located on Nathan Road between Salisbury Road and Middle Road. Steps away on Middle Road is the pick-up /drop-off point for the Airport Express Shuttle which will transport you to / from the Kowloon Station for the Airport Express Train. I didn't use this on the way in because a friend picked me up from the airport, but it was extremely convenient for my return journey. The hotel staff wheeled my luggage to the shuttle stop and within minutes a shuttle appeared and took me to the Kowloon Station. There, I checked in my bags (no need to take them to the airport) and obtained my boarding pass and then took the Airport Express Train to the airport where I enjoyed a leisurely lunch before boarding my flight. Other transportation on Middle Road, just behind the hotel, is the station for the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) which takes one to Shenzhen, China. Further, across the street from the hotel on Middle Road is a 7-11 and next to that is the entrance to the subway (MTR) that will take you anywhere in Hong Kong. For those who prefer to see Hong Kong above ground, the Star Ferry is about a 10 minute walk to the west. Across from the Star Ferry is Harbour City - an enormous shopping centre with 700 shops! There are also a number of buses traveling up and down Nathan Road which are very convenient as well.

Upon check-in at about 5:00pm I was offered an upgrade to a larger room with harbour view for an additional HK$300/night. I declined the upgrade as I wouldn't be spending much time in the room anyway. I had faxed a request in advance for a king non-smoking room and was assigned a nice corner room on the 15th floor - 1568. The large window overlooked Nathan Road and the Peninsula Hotel, and a smaller window overlooked Salisbury Road with a partial harbour view (there is so much smog in Hong Kong that a truly "good view" is not easy to come by). There was no mention of Priceline. I did receive a card on my pillow every night that said that US$1 or equivalent local currency would be automatically charged to my room account to support UNICEF in its quest to vaccinate children in developing countries. There is a channel on the television dedicated to this topic. However, upon check-out, my account was $0 and I asked about the UNICEF charges, and was told that it was purely optional, despite what the card said.

The room itself was small but no worse than the room I received at the Sydney Harbour Marriott. At least the furniture in this room included two end tables! The Sheraton Sleeper Bed was comfortable. The desk was large and there was a fair amount of storage. In-room Internet access was expensive as expected, and the business centre's fees were equally bad. For free Internet, there are multiple terminals scattered throughout the Harbour City Shopping Centre and for pay Internet, the decrepit Chungking Mansions up Nathan Road has two stores with access for HK$18 for 30 minutes (one with free beverage included). In the closet were a safe, ironing board, and iron. There was nightly turn-down service with tasty chocolates and linens and towels were only changed upon request. There was a kettle and a good selection of tea and instant coffee. Complimentary water from Watsons in a stylish curvy green and clear container was regularly replenished in the room. The turn down service even placed the water with a cup on the end tables each night! The television was a large Sony CRT - much larger than the televisions of hotels in Australia and New Zealand. There was an adequate selection of channels - including English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and even Japanese, French, and Dutch. The bathroom was small but had an interesting small glass sink and short one-person bathtub. There was actually quite a bit of storage underneath the glass sink. Toiletries were Aqua Shui Water branded and included shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. The hair dryer had excellent power but the button needed to be held down constantly for the dryer to stay on. Robes were provided as were slippers.

I didn't use any of the facilities in the hotel but did have a look at the fitness centre, which was well-equipped and had a nice view. One other guest told me that the swimming pool was fantastic but the only chance I had to go up to see it, it was already closed (after 9:00pm). The concierge was helpful on a number of occasions with maps, directions, and recommendations and all the hotel staff were quite friendly and spoke English well.

In summary, I was very pleased with the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers. At the price I paid, I felt that I got a tremendous deal and my stay could not have been more pleasant. I would definitely not hesitate to stay here again and hope that I have the good fortune of winning this hotel again on my next trip to Hong Kong.