Nice Hotels To Date

Before I go travelling somewhere, I tend to do a huge amount of research on which hotel to stay in. And of course since I'm usually travelling with Mr Ng, I am also required to find hotels which are within the budget he gives me (read: cheap). But as we have experienced in the past, cheap does not always equal good. And I really love the feeling of coming back to a beautiful hotel room after a long day, I'm not one of those people who believe a hotel room is only for sleeping so it doesn't matter where you stay! Fortunately I have had the good fortune of staying in some really nice places over the past few years (especially now that we are no longer confined to a uni student's budget!), but usually in the standard rooms to make it a little less painful for Mr Ng when he finds out the cost per night.

First up, The Upper House in Admiralty, HK in a Studo 70 Island View room - still one of the most impressive hotel rooms I have ever encountered:

And Mr Ng's favourite part - the free 'maxi'-bar which included non-alcoholic drinks and snacks replenished twice a day:

All but the first photo of the bedroom are ones that were taken on my phone but as you can see, rooms look exactly as they are pictured on the website

Mr Ng and I stayed here on two separate occasions within the hotel's first year of opening but with Studio 70 rooms now starting at HKD4,000 (significantly more than the rate I remember we paid) I'm not sure we'll be staying here again any time soon. But you definitely get what you pay for considering the sheer size of the room and all the food/drinks and awesome toiletries that are included (we had Ren toiletries and I've read that the bigger suites are stocked with Aesop ones). The whole hotel has such a zen atmosphere and is a calming refuge in the hectic-ness that is HK - we didn't want to leave! If you have the opportunity, The Upper House is definitely one to experience at least once in your life.

Next, The London in Midtown Manhatten, NYC. I stayed here with my mum in a standard London Suite which comprised of the bedroom, separate living room, wardrobe area and spacious bathroom - absolutely huge by New York standards:

The suites were so much bigger than I was expecting and the extra lounge area really came in handy, especially considering the amount of shopping that accumulates between two females over 12 nights in NY! We did pay almost USD600 per night (which included daily breakfast) however I would not hesitate to stay here again. The location (just around the corner from the Hilton) is also fantastic and we pretty much managed to get to wherever we were heading by foot.

Third up, Mr Ng's and my most recent hotel stay which was at the Mandarin Oriental in Central, HK. I had previously read stellar reviews about the impeccable service here and I have to say, we were not disappointed. We stayed in a Superior Room which is not overly big but cleverly designed in an open-plan and you can really tell from the quiet-ness of the room that this is one well built property:

welcome tea upon arrival

and my favourite part (apart from the Hermes toiletries), a little goodie for you at turndown which differed every night:

Service here is probably the best I have ever encountered anywhere up to this point in time (this is the only place I have ever been greeted with a 'Welcome home!' by the door man) however my one main gripe is that free wi-fi is not included in the rate for Superior Rooms, although we did manage to get a discounted rate at HKD2,350 excluding taxes per night which is not too bad. In this day and age though I think it should be mandatory for hotels to provide free wi-fi, don't you think?

Finally, the most jaw-dropping room I have stayed in is none other than the Deluxe Suite (or 'Honeymoon' suite) at The Peninsula in HK which I mentioned previously here. And I'm happy to say it lived up to (and actually exceeded) expectation:

Two highlights of the room were the guest lavatory and of course, the view:

I'm not sure if I will ever be lucky enough to stay in this type of room again - the rate we paid was HKD8,888 per night and that was already discounted. But being able to stay in this beautiful suite in one of the most luxurious hotels in the world really was the cherry on top, and made the whole wedding that much more special. This is definitely one to book for a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.