Honk Kong hotel for family, any suggestions

[kjaysmum]

Hi, my sister in law is looking for a reasonably priced hotel with a family room for a stop over in Hong Kong, any suggestions please

The Regal Kai Tak (the old airport) has large rooms and is very reasonably priced, but the location is not great - they would have to catch a taxi to get anywhere interesting.

The Wharney is in Wan Chai, which is much more lively, but I don't know if they have large family rooms - I have only stayed there as a single. If anyone tells you oooh, Wan Chai is the red light district, technically that is true but it's not in the slightest bit sleazy. Think expat pubs and bars rather than streetwalkers. Wan Chai still quite residential, and smack in the middle of the great shopping. Lots of colourful street markets, too.

how long will she be staying kjm?

the YMCA in Kowloon is very good - not sure it has family rooms, but it is reasonably priced and in a great location very close to markets and the ferry. don't be put off by the fact it is the Y - it is just like a hotel. we stayed there in 2000, but my SIL was there last year and it was still good value.

Stayed here Metropark hotel - was nice with harbour view but slightly out of way (but v close to Tin Hau metro/MTR, one stop past Causeway Bay). It was the best value for money hotel I could find given that we needed two rooms (travelling with 4 children).

Agree with PPM about the YMCA on Salisbury Road (virtually next door to the Peninsula), but the YWCA in Mong Kok (I think it is called the Anne Black) is an armpit, and Mong Kok is utterly, utterly hideous, so don't confuse the two when booking!

We stayed in the Kowloon Shangri La. It wasn't overly expensive but was great. Room was large enough to fit two doubles and a pull out bed. Bathroom was a wet room and it was lovely. It was easy to get to from the airport and handy for the things to do on Kowloon in the evening like the Walk of Stars. It also had a small pool and gym which was useful.

we stayed in the Kowloon on route to Oz in 2005 because the Y was booked out. it was slightly more expensive (but not overly so) and agree with robinpud it was great. breakfast wasn't included with the room, so we used to nip over the the Y, which was over the road, as it was a bit cheaper to eat there.

didn't realise there was a YWCA too - that would be a back mistake to make!

Terrible mistake, Mong Kok is a dump. It's apparently the most densely-populated square mile on the planet and by God does it feel it.

I'd go for the Kowloon Shang out of all the choices here. Don't forget the HK dollar is pegged to the US dollar at 7.78 so worth less than sheets of bog roll relative to sterling. Hong Kong is also a free port (no tax on anything except petrol and cigarettes), so your ILs are set for a VERY cheap holiday.

For some reason it's not terribly well publicised but there is a ferry that runs from the pier about 30 metres down from the Kowloon Shang to Central - you don't have to walk down to the main Tsim Sha Tsui ferry pier.

www.asiarooms.com usually has the best deals.

Forgot to say, when are they going?

Lunar New Year is about the 6-8th Feb next year and the streets will be completely dead. Absolutely nothing except 7-11s will be open.

Thanks for the tips, have passed them on to her. I'm not sure when they are going but think they have booked the stopover for 3-4 days.

The family will be traveling through in Sept 2008

September can still be very warm (by British standards) but should be lovely. But they should take out excellent comprehensive travel insurance, as it's the peak of the typhoon season. If it's Typhoon 8 or 10 everything closes down (including the airport), so good insurance is essential in case their flight gets diverted and they end up stuck in Manila or Taipei for four days - better not to end up at an airline's choice of hotel if that's the case.

Shouldn't be a problem, though - the season lasts from about late August to late October so they would have to be very unlucky to get one that coincided with their dates. Everything just continues as normal if it's below Typhoon 8 (it's just a bit windy - oddly, when it's a low signal it usually doesn't even rain).

thanks ninedragons will pass on the info, typhoons eh, sounds nasty, but then I hate wind!