east Hotel, Tai Koo, Hong Kong in pics

[haf]

This Swire property is frankly just as good as the Upper House but about a third the price! It has an open rooftop bar while Upper House's bar/restaurant on the 47th floor is indoors (although impressive view as its closer to Central).

Regardless, it takes 15 mins by MTR to get to Central from Tai Koo and the entrance is right next to the Hotel so it's barely a commute and well worth staying at if alone and looking for a great experience for a good price! I paid 1400/HKD/night with no breakfast but free wifi is included.

Service quality was fantastic in the restaurant for breakfast and Sugar on the 32nd floor took very good care of me and my clients!

[haf]

[milehighj]

Nice. Thanks for posting haf.

[Kyo]

Thanks haf, I'll be there next Monday night if all goes to plan! Hopefully they do late checkouts as my flight out's at 9pm...

[SQflyergirl]

You know..... they really should've hired you to take their pics for their catalogue

[Kyo]

Weekday rates are HKD 1,650 + 10% service charge = HKD 1,815, roughly $305 SGD, which ain't so bad

Saturday's rates, however, were almost HKD 3,000 net (which in all fairness, seems to be the minimum/norm based on 4-5 star HKG hotel offerings).

IC Grand Stanford at HKD 3,900 (yikes) on Saturdays... no thanks!

[haf]

You know..... they really should've hired you to take their pics for their catalogue

Thanks!

Kyo+ I paid $1300/night (for mon/tue) and $1600 on Sunday night... didn't realise there's such a jump on Saturday. You will enjoy it though!

I normally stay at the Excelsior but that was more expensive hence this seemed like a good option!

[Kyo]

Well, it's peak Christmas week we're talking here, so if they were to raise prices, that's the time to do it, I guess...

I *am* very surprised that they leave an iPod Touch (?) in the room for guests... will be fun to see what they have loaded on it!

[Guy Betsy]

I beg to differ on my recent stay...

I stayed there at EAST last week from Tue - Thu, courtesy of Cathay Pacific.

I was given a corner room on the 11th floor. What first striked me as 'bad' was the surrounding glass windows which faced directly onto other people's apartments. Which is fine in the day, but at night, which means people can see you. Yes, there are wooden venetian blinds but people can still in. So you'd have to use the black out window shades.. but once they are down, it feels like you're in a box!

The room heats up when you open the door. To the tune of 25C - blowing HOT air. The controls are at the far end of the room. The hotel tries to be very 'GREEN' ala "W" style but its a poor comparison. Did you try ordering room service?

Ok - some people might find it cute but when the service guy came with my Hainanese Chicken Rice in a paper bag, I was a little bit more than shocked!




Then upon opening it, found this setup. Like you find when you buy take-out... including the plastic cutlery!



And indeed the portions reflected this too.



All fine and dandy.. but not at HK$128 for that!

The next day, I wanted a document printed.. oh, they have no printer. They direct you to a website which you have to upload your document and they will print it out for you. Not very feasible when it comes to confidentiality.

I didn't like the la-dee-dah attitude of the hotel .. and after the website printout incident, I checked out early and moved myself to the Hyatt Regency TST instead, where I got a cheaper rate than what the EAST wanted.

Honestly, if you have a choice... Taikoo Shing is really too far away!

I personally wouldn't be going back to the hotel.. not after I lodged a complaint and the PR's response was "we had other positive feedback from other guests..." Hmm. I can see how they do service recovery.

No thanks.

[haf]

I think marketing itself as a business hotel and not having an accessible printer is pretty silly!

However, regarding feeling like in a box, I never got that impression. Nor did I have any a/c issues (I was in the middle of the hallway on the 8th floor).

And I must say, when is room service at hotels of this quality ever a cheap proposition?

Kyo - they loaded various music on the iPod and of course the East app so you can see your bill and checkout. It's a paperless checkout. When you do it from the room, they will call your room a few minutes later to confirm and email you the hotel bill within about an hour. No need to wait in line downstairs!

[Rejuvenated]

For those staying there, there is Cityplaza which a short walk away for your dining and shopping needs should you want something closer as an alternative to those in Central, Admiralty or Causeway Bay. Cityplaza is more of a shopping center catered to locals as oppose to tourist compared to say Pacific Place or Times Square, but worth checking out for guests staying at this hotel considering the proximity.

[benlee]

At the going rates, they are bound to cut corners. Looks like a no-frills hotel for the budget minded.

[N_Architect]

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

[Kyo]

[rant mode on]

In terms of the price and what is offered - East is my new hotel of choice when on paid stays in HKG. Remarkable service (I admit, I made a few difficult requests - not entirely on purpose also, and they came through with flying colours).

I'll be back for sure - I love the eastern views of the harbour (was given Room 2005). The location is a bit out of the way, but I sorta like that feeling that I'm 'going home' at the end of the day, just like the HKG friends I've just met after dinner...

I love their iPod music, I love the iPod's in-room checkout facility (although it doesn't allow me to add items like CDs taken from the bar), but a quick call to the front desk and it was all sorted...

Sugar bar was absolutely jam-packed - on a Monday night! As guests, we still were given outdoor seats on the deck after a short wait inside, a priority seating benefit (which may or may not be the norm/documented) of sorts... it's a highly innovative hotel and I'm now thinking of trying the Upper House on my next visit to compare (I did pop in, to take a quick look around, but not into their rooms as it was next to the Conrad)...


It's like the W, without pretending to be something it's not - and I absolutely loved it.

I dislike the fact that my room has no bathtub (not sure if the other category does), and the bathroom Elemis amenities are of the 'bolted down'/unremovable 300ml (5 varieties, all good)...

For free SPG redemptions or cash+points, the W still seems the way to go (the Sheraton felt stuffy), and I still like the Conrad HKG (circa HKD 3,900 per night, i.e. OMG prices), upgraded to a double suite on the 60th floor... the general manager seems a real champ!

East was the crowing point in probably my favourite HKG experience I've had so far. Massive thumbs up from me (also from the few guests I had over, they all loved the design of the room...)

The W's got a new Insider (the old one left two months ago), and I got the same stock standard room I had previously. No G+A suites for me on an SPG free night. The W had a broken men's spa being fixed, and the second main ground floor to lobby/reception lift's floor also broken/replaced with a carpet instead 3 times per day... I'm really over the W HKG. Find it rather pointless, to be honest... the pool upstairs is awesome, but the underwater sound system is turned down SO LOW now, you can't hear anything (the pool attendants said the sounds were disturbing hotel residents in their rooms, but hello, there's only 6 floors of gym/Bliss spa insulating the sound in between??)... the highlight of my W stay was getting a Symmetry CD from the Insider as my Plat amenity after I asked...

Oh well - next time if the W upgrade doesn't show in advance (like it always seems to do for our beloved KeithMEL), I'll just book East with absolutely no reservations... give it a try! (love the lift bamboo veneers also!! They glow 'up' or 'down' in Cantonese characters when the lift comes)

benlee: I disagree that it's a no-frills hotel. I don't expect a no-frills hotel to stock Elemis, for example. If you want an example of a no-frills hotel, I'd instantly point fingers at Ibis Northpoint

[benlee]

benlee: I disagree that it's a no-frills hotel. I don't expect a no-frills hotel to stock Elemis, for example. If you want an example of a no-frills hotel, I'd instantly point fingers at Ibis Northpoint

I was referring to the manner which the room service meal was served as mentioned by an earlier poster. I've tried their higher end sister hotel, the Upper House and wasn't impressed so I think I'll give this one a miss. I happen to quite like the W for the comfort factor in the room, but not the noisy lobby which resembles a night club.