Business Traveller (Asia-Pacific)
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD WD
A circuit of Hong Kong’s outer districts reveals eals a host of great accommodation options
Hong Kong’s central city core straddles its “fragrant harbour”, the crowded waterfront skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island facing the densely peopled mass of the Kowloon Peninsula. But the territory of Hong Kong covers a much greater area than this alone, and the New Territories’ satellite towns have grown into cities unto themselves – in the case of Sha Tin with a population of more than one million. For those with work to do in these burgeoning business centres, it makes sense to stay in a hotel within easy access. With that in mind, a circuit of Hong Kong’s outer districts reveals a surprising wealth of accommodation options.
LANTAU & CHEK LAP KOK
Room demand at airport locations has grown from an average of 55 million room nights in 2010 to 65 million in 2015, according to US hotel data and research firm STR. As a result, airport stays are better than they’ve ever been – and in a bid to attract discerning clientele, facilities like spas and good restaurants are increasingly commonplace.
Indeed, staying in or around the airport doesn’t have to be the dreary experience you imagine, and there are two resort-style hotels worth considering on Lantau Island, the site of Hong Kong International Airport. Designed by architect heavyweights Aedas, the 658room Hong Kong Skycity Marriott Hotel (marriott. com) is directly connected to Asia-World-Expo and houses a branch of its signature Chinese restaurant Man Ho, renowned for its dim sum. The Regal Airport
Hotel (regalhotel.com) is another quality option, with Spa Deluxe and Spa Cabana rooms in the Om Spa – the latter have their own patio and outdoor Jacuzzi. Situated ten minutes away by taxi from the airport,
Novotel Citygate (novotelcitygate.com) in Tung Chung is connected to the Citygate Outlets shopping mall, where locals come to shop for discounted clothing from brands such as Ralph Lauren and Adidas. Overlooking the airport and the Ngong Ping cable car, guests in Executive Premier rooms can access the Premier lounge on the 21st floor.
Part of Hong Kong’s Harbour Plaza Group (harbourplaza.com), the Rambler hotels – named for their views over the Rambler Channel, a body of water separating Tsing Yi Island from the mainland Kowloon Peninsula – offer affordable if basic rooms in Tsing Yi two stops from the airport on the Airport Express line. Rambler
Oasis lays claim to having the longest outdoor swimming pool in Southeast Asia, while Rambler Garden has business hotel rooms with harbour views on the 30th floor. Lastly, a 25-minute bus journey from the airport is the Auberge Discovery Bay (aubergediscoverybay.com) offering a resort feel. Central on Hong Kong Island is also just 25 minutes away by ferry.
WESTERN NEW TERRITORIES
Once Hong Kong’s garment manufacturing heartland – Nan Fung’s textile mill was established here in the 1950s – Tsuen Wan hopes to rise once again, and development is being spearheaded by the conversion of its most renowned factory into the Mills Project, which will house an incubator and springboard for tech start-ups, retail area and an arts/cultural space when it debuts in 2018.
Situated between Tai Wo Hau and Tsuen Wan MTR stations, themed property Panda Hotel (pandahotel.com.hk) debuted new meeting space The Crystal in December and is a popular choice with Korean and Australian visitors in addition to mainland guests. Director of marketing communications Virginia Cheung believes staying in an area like Tsuen Wan is a good option for those who want to experience authentic Hong Kong culture. “Many places here sell traditional street food and there are lots of local restaurants with dishes like steamed lobster on the menu,” she says. The property is also well placed – a footbridge connects the hotel with Tsuen Wan MTR station and the hotel sits atop a travel-themed shopping mall, Panda Place.
Another hotel within walking distance of Tsuen Wan MTR is Silka Far East (silkahotels.com/fareast), a budget hotel that nevertheless boasts a free Handy smartphone service and complimentary shuttle bus to Mongkok. Similarly budget-friendly is the 547-room
Dorsett Tsuen Wan (dorsetthotels.com), a five-minute walk from Tai Wo Hau MTR with a club lounge on the 22nd floor. Located near to Tsuen Wan West, L’hotel Nina
et Convention Centre (lhotelgroup.com) is one of the largest hotels in Hong Kong with 1,608 rooms. Connected by an arching sky bridge, the twin-tower property has extensive meeting spaces and its own shopping mall. Head west along Castle Peak Road and you’ll find
Bay Bridge Hong Kong by Hotel G (baybridgehong
kong.com), a trendy serviced apartment property in Yau Kom Tau, around ten minutes by shuttle bus from Tsuen Wan. A little farther west is the Royal View
Hotel (royalview.com.hk), which has a club floor room and offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom serviced apartments.
Over in Tuen Mun, the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel (www.sino-hotels.com/hk/gold-coast) is one of the few hotels in Hong Kong to have a genuine resort feel, as it overlooks a marina that recently hosted the Gold Coast Boat Show, where super-yachts priced upwards of HK$90 million (US$11.5 million) were on display.
Those doing business in Yuen Long or the mainland, meanwhile, should consider Harbour Plaza Resort
City (harbour-plaza.com/resortcity) in Tin Shui Wai, which offers rooms and serviced suites. “The advantage of staying in this area for business travellers is that we are very close [11km] to Shenzhen,” says assistant director of marketing communications Polly Law.
SHA TIN
Switching to the eastern side of Hong Kong’s New Territories we arrive in Sha Tin, a “New Town” area that has grown exponentially since the 1970s, until today more than one million people call it home. At University MTR is the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha
Tin (hongkong.shatin.hyatt.com), next to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Many of its corporate clients are academics and companies based at the nearby Science Park, a five-minute taxi ride away, says marketing communications manager Emily Wong. With a club lounge overlooking peaceful Tolo Harbour, it offers close proximity to many of Hong Kong’s hiking trails and the Ma Lui Shui pier to access outlying islands including Tung Ping Chau, which is renowned for its rugged rock formations and dramatic cliffs.
“The hotel’s outdoor event space is popular with cosmetics clients as it offers good lighting for photos,” says Wong, while its in-house patisserie serves those who don’t have time to linger over breakfast, and stocks everything from wine to instant noodles to save making the five-minute walk to the nearest convenience store. The hotel recently introduced Handy phones to rooms, which have free wifi, unlimited data and free calls to the US, China and Singapore. A ten-minute walk from Shek Mun MTR, Courtyard
by Marriott Sha Tin (marriott.com) is another well-known international brand; it recently upgraded
its 30th floor facilities, which include a lounge and bar, private rooms, meeting suites and a presidential suite.
Also in the area, the Royal Park Hotel (royalpark.com.hk) is situated next to the MTR station in Sha Tin’s city centre; its 443 rooms and suites are furnished in a clean, contemporary style, and it boasts an indoor/ outdoor pool that is heated in the cold season. Finally, overlooking the Shing Mun River is the huge, 1,138room Regal Riverside (regalhotel.com). Its size, excellent F&B offerings, resort-style facilities and event credentials have seen it win a number of plaudits from the business and conventions community.
KOWLOON BAY
We now head south, through Lion Rock tunnel and into the Kowloon Bay area, where gleaming high-rises such as the Manulife Financial Centre and Standard Chartered Tower are situated, along with industrial buildings staffed by IT businesses and garment sourcing firms. This part of Hong Kong has been earmarked for development as the SAR’s “second CBD”, and hotel groups have been quick to see the potential.
A five-minute walk from Ngau Tau Kok MTR, guests at L’hotel Elan (lhotelelan.com) check in on the 35th floor, where the pool and gym are located. In-room fossils acknowledge the hotel’s status as a Geopark hotel, and the hotel reception can arrange guided tours of Hong Kong’s designated Unesco Geopark area for guests, says L’hotel’s executive vice president Sylvia Chung.
“Another advantage of staying in this area is there are many large shopping malls nearby including Apm, Megabox and Telford Shopping Centre,” she adds. Long-stay visitors looking for a homy ambience can book into one of two duplexes, which feature Japanesestyle bathtubs. All 254 rooms in the hotel have their own iPad. Located close to the Kwun Tong promenade, the
Newton Place Hotel (newtonplacehotel.com) offers views of Victoria Harbour from most rooms, while over in Diamond Hill, Pentahotel Kowloon (pentahotels. com) tags itself as “your neighbourhood lifestyle hotel”, its hip design aiming to engage travellers with trendy ideas like a reception area that doubles as a bar/café.
Sitting atop the Tseung Kwan O MTR and Popcorn shopping mall, in facing tower blocks, are two greatvalue hotel options. The Holiday Inn Express Hong
Kong Kowloon East (ihg.com/holidayinnexpress) is in Tower 4 – reliably consistent in its service and comforts; in Tower 5 is the equally reputable Crowne Plaza
Hong Kong Kowloon East (ihg.com/crowneplaza), which is worth checking out for the seven private spa rooms from local wellness brand Sense of Touch.
Finally, on Kowloon City Road near the entrance to the old Kai Tak airport, Harbour Plaza 8 Degrees (harbour-plaza.com) offers serviced suites from its location in To Kwa Wan, as well as a free shuttle bus to Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui.
HONG KONG ISLAND SOUTH
We now hop across the harbour to Hong Kong Island, but instead of the crowded north shore, our route takes us through the 1.9km-long Aberdeen Tunnel to Wong Chuk Hang, location of the marine-themed Ocean Park and another fast-growing district, filled with old factory buildings that are being refurbished and upgraded alongside new-build tower blocks like One Island South. The neighbourhood is gearing up for the arrival of the South Island MTR line this December, when Wong Chuk Hang will connect to Admiralty in four minutes.
Here you will find Ovolo Southside (ovolohotels.com) on the left and L’hotel Island South (lhotelislandsouth.com) on the right. Both hotels are popular with fashion retail corporates as luxury department store Lane Crawford has a showroom and home store in One Island South. L’hotel’s Chung says, “Guests can go hiking in Aberdeen Country Park or visit the Aberdeen fishing village nearby, while shopping hub Times Square is only a 15-minute bus ride away. L’hotel Island South is not like a city hotel – it’s an oasis with views of lush green slopes and a tranquil atmosphere.”
A converted warehouse where raw concrete and exposed pipes are part of the design, hip property Ovolo Southside is currently hosting the Mojo Nomad initiative, which provides local and international start-ups with a co-working space in its Lo Lounge and affordable room rates in partnership with start-up incubator Nest.
General manager Tim Alpes admits that one of its biggest challenges is getting people to make the trip through the tunnel, but says that they are pleasantly surprised when they do. “It doesn’t feel like Hong Kong to frequent travellers, yet it’s not that far away from the centre. On the bus, it’s two stops to Causeway Bay, but we’re also close to [picturesque beachside area] Stanley,” he says. Southside’s corner room overlooking Ocean Park and Deepwater Bay is one of its most popular, while the corner deluxe with coffee table and sofa gives business travellers a bit more space to spread out.
Carry on along the main road and you reach the one-time fishing village of Aberdeen, where trawlers moor when they’re not fishing the South China Sea. These days the whole area is surrounded by residential high-rises, but Ovolo has another hotel in the area,
Ovolo Aberdeen Harbour (ovolohotels.com), which like Southside has a 24-hour gym and flexible check-in/out – and Aberdeen’s town centre is compact, easygoing, and well connected to all the city’s main districts by a plethora of buses.
Heading west towards Pokfulam is the Cyberport mixed-use, “creative digital cluster” complex. Here you’ll find Le Meridien Cyberport (starwoodhotels. com/lemeridien), where the PSI bar is a great spot for watching the sun set over the South China Sea with a pint of locally brewed Gweilo ale, according to marketing communications manager Connie Tam. Those concerned about Hong Kong’s air pollution can book into one of the hotel’s 20 Pure rooms, whose air purifiers and hypoallergenic bedding give comfort to asthma and allergy sufferers. Another health-related concept is the recent changing of minibar contents, which forego the Ferrero Rochers and Pringles for healthy organic snacks.
Cyberport is home to big IT names including IBM and Microsoft, and the hotel is popular with those looking to host team-building activities in a resort environment, with coffee-making classes among the options, says Tam. With bohemian Lamma Island just 30 minutes away by boat (from Aberdeen), business travellers with a free window could even kick back at a beachside bar before returning to the airport.