Great Hotel in Hong Kong

        Great Hotel in  Hong Kong

  I have been asked a lot about where I stayed when I went to Hong Kong a few months ago.  Hong Kong, like New York City, can be a challenge so  I want to share with you a wonderful choice for a hotel in Hong Kong.   

As you know it is always easy to find an expensive great hotel in most cities but looking for a mid-priced hotel that gives you your money’s worth  is not always as easy to find.   Well I was so fortunate to find a wonderful hotel in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong.  

It is called The City View.   The hotel was known before as the International YMCA Hotel.   But for everyone from the states this is no YMCA.  It is a beautiful hotel with great value and wonderful service.  

I chose an Executive package but I found that all the rooms are lovely.  As in any big city, the rooms are not large but certainly beautifully arranged.  And I must say that my room in New York City boutique hotels was much smaller!  In my City View room, I had Wifi internet connection in my room which was part of the package.  You can get a daily rate as well but for me it was great to get back to my room and be able to go online any time of the day or night.  I had a heavy schedule  while I was there and it was truly a great help.

The City View also has a wonderful breakfast buffet which was part of my package but again you don’t have to include it.  I would highly recommend that you do so.  The food choices every day at the buffet were both American style and Chinese style.  I loved combining both into a large breakfast and I found that during the day I could eat lightly.  Just to make your hungry here were my choices.   

I personally would start with some miso soup with rice.  I don’t know why but that became the first thing I wanted at the buffet.  For those of you who need to start with a great cup of freshly brewed coffee they had it.  Then I headed to the chief and ordered my eggs,  sometimes an omelet with ham, vegetables, cheese, etc, or he would prepare me some eggs “over easy” or even poached.  While he was preparing that, I grabbed a plate and chose from bacon, sausages, noodles, roasted tomato slices and a number of other hot dishes.  Then I would get some homemade yogurt and add some deliciously sweet fresh pineapple and watermelon.  There were more fruit choices plus fruit juices but those were my favorites.  On to the bread and pastry table where they served lots of choices from little muffins-chocolate, carrot, a number of breads you can toast, fresh moist croissants and other French pastries using almonds, dates and other flavors.   I almost forgot there was dim sum every morning as well, displayed in the steaming bamboo containers.  Frankly something for everyone!  

So you can see that the breakfast buffet was high on my list of recommendations.  

As far as the service at the hotel, I found everyone who works there so willing to help me.  Most everyone spoke English very well and if there was some language barrier they immediately found another person to handle it.  

You can have high tea with sandwiches and pastries each day served in the lobby.  There is a charming Chinese restaurant and a dinner buffet plus room service.  Also if you walk outside, around the corner you will find lots of choices for food – restaurants and street vendors.  I loved the shop with sweet jerky made right in front of you.    

The City View offers you the use of saunas, steam rooms and whirlpool, fitness room, pool and a gymnasium for both men and women.  The only limitation is that I could only use the sauna and steam during the week since they are part of the YMCA, but the cost is so low and I really enjoyed that service.  However I noticed on the website that now the hours have been expanded.  

Each day the hotel offered an activity or event to their guests.  I took advantage of the free foot massage on Tuesday.  Wonderful! I didn’t have time for the other activities but they sounded like fun.  

Staying in Kowloon area at The City View, you can walk to the subway stop and I found that form of transportation very easy to use in Hong Kong.  But you can always catch a taxi and although I never used the buses I sure saw a lot of them on the streets.    

From the hotel, you can walk to the famous Ladies Night Market which starts at noon and goes into the evening.  I found gifts for friends there. Practice bargaining, it works!

 When I had a bit of time, I enjoyed just walking around the area near my hotel.  Yes, there was a Starbucks within walking distance but I have a rule not to go to a place that I could go to back home.   Besides I find it more fun to try the local places.   Some of the great places to eat for me were local restaurants.  Luckily I had people from Hong Kong that were with me on certain days and they could help me order but I did notice that lots of the restaurants have photos in their menus.  

The people of Hong Kong were really lovely to me.  I would walk up from the subway and take my little map book out, looking for a street sign trying to figure out which direction I needed to go.  Over and over someone would stop and in English ask me if I needed help.  Often they would walk me a bit in the right direction.  They would stop where they were headed to help me.  And when I would thank them, they would often say, “Thank you from Hong Kong.”   It was so gracious and impressed me every time.  

If you want to learn more about The City View and check the rates for the time of year you are planning to travel to Hong Kong go to their website, http://www.thecityview.com.hk/en/index.html, or go to some of the hotel websites and plug in the hotel name. 

I think you will find that The City View is great for both business travelers and tourists.   One more thing be sure  to say Hello at the Breakfast Buffet to other hotel guests.  I met some lovely  people there from places like Knoxville Tennessee to South Africa and if you are lucky you might even meet some "royalty".