ibis Hong Kong Central & Sheung Wan — Hotel in Hong Kong

I think 4 stars is a fair score for this hotel. Some areas are good, some however needs improving.

I'll start with the bad first,

We were a big group so we had multiple rooms on different floors. A common gripe with all of us is the a/c, specifically the loud fan noise. As a result, the light sleepers in our group did not sleep particularly well.

The shower stall is cramped. I'm average Asian sized and I had to keep my elbows tucked so that I won't knock into the glass or walls when washing. The hot water was a bit inconsistent - it varied between lukewarm and hot during our stay. There's no bidet spray, and there's mold in some corners of the toilet as well.

That's about it for the bad. Now comes the good bits.

I came to realize that I've stayed in several Ibis in different countries. My choice of hotels usually comes down to budget, location and ergonomics. So I suppose Ibis often meets my requirements.

This Ibis is located between two MTR stations (Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun on the dark blue line). We got around relatively easily with trams, public buses and MTR. The tram and bus stops are very near the hotel. So we took a direct public bus from the airport to the hotel. And after checking out, we hopped onto a public bus back to the airport. We also visited Macau and usefully the ferry terminal to Macau is walking distance (~10mins).

All the Ibis hotels I've stayed in before share similar decor themes. There are some splashes of cheerful colors, but the general look and feel is utilitarian. This HK Ibis is not roomy, but it also isn't the smallest I've stayed in. The lack of floor area was most evident in our twin rooms. The "twin" beds were almost touching each other. However, general cleanliness was good.

A few of us liked to start our day earlier than sunrise and can't work on an empty stomach. So I'd included breakfast in our rooms as well. Breakfast is on level 6 and starts at 630am. There's a good spread of fresh and cooked Chinese and Western fare. The menu changes slightly day to day so it didn't feel too monotonous. Taste wise I thought it was mostly quite good. So good that we didn't once have breakfast outside the hotel.

My last visit to Hong Kong was over a decade ago. I recall in the past language was a problem unless I spoke Cantonese. But on this trip, I noticed staff speaking Mandarin and English well at many places such as the airport, ferry terminal, malls, etc. Similarly the Ibis staff I interacted with could speak and understand English and Mandarin too.

Overall I think this is a good hotel in a relatively good location if you can get it at a reasonable rate. Like I said, it deserves...

I booked the family room (which is one queen bed room and one twin bed room each with own shower room) with interconnecting doors with harbour view. We stayed a total of 7 nights split between 2 stays. It worked perfectly for the 3 of us as we were visiting our son in Hong Kong and so could spend time together but also have privacy due to interconnecting room. They seemed to be mostly interconnecting rooms on our floors (30th and 31st). Fabulous views of harbour. Rate extremely good for the view. The rooms aren't huge but perfect with 2 interconnecting and both having own bathroom with shower. There was less space in twin room as rooms are the same size and bed takes up more room - only annoyance is that one side of the bed has no side table or sockets - a shelf could easily be added for the convenience of the person on the other bed! The room is pretty dated with orange walls and looks a bit worn but overall loved it. Staff really helpful and stored our luggage for us whilst we went away and came back a week later, which was fabulous service. We thought the hotel was a little out of the way (as we usually walked down Connaught road - exit C from Sheung Wan, which doesn't have a lot on it) until we later discovered the mall at the Macau ferry area which has lots of food outlets and also going out of exit B of Sheung Wan (escalator) takes you past more things such as a Wellcome supermarket. Queen's road also good for more things and McDonalds/more western restaurants. There's a Starbucks in the lobby but was being renovated. Loved getting the tram to Central from virtually right outside. Would definitely return for the views and great value. Get an octopus card to make everything easier. We also did laundry at the nearby laundrette which is 24 hours and there's a 7 eleven open very late close by too. Ubers to/from the airport varied by time. The cheapest was £32 early morning, the most expensive was £42 at midnight for an Uber X. Taxi rank quoted £50 from the airport at 4.30pm, but we got the airport express for £17 for a 2 person ticket instead (plus the subway cost). We then discovered the airport bus A11 which was about £4.50 per person with lots of luggage storage and leaves from a stop just around corner from the hotel, it was much easier than the airport express and having to change to the subway...

I had a really good experience in this hotel. The room was very well appointed and, even though it was small, I had plenty of space I had a really good desk. Heads up.... the mattress was like a rock. I got some extra pillows the first day and literally slept on that night on the mattress. However the next day I asked if there was anything they could do and within two minutes somebody arrived with a nice thick mattress topper. She proceeded to remake the bed, but once she left I in fact undid the remake and I doubled the topper on top of itself. I then had the equivalent of what we would consider a comfortable but still rather firm bed in Australia. Another day I dropped a gold necklace down the drain, and again, within two minutes at 4am ( I was heading to the airport) someone was there to get it out. The service in this hotel is fantastic. As for facilities, it's pretty lacking. The restaurants were only open for a short period of the day and the gym was ... let's say ... rather disappointing. Excellent air conditioning in the room, quiet, and it's nice and dark when the curtains are closed. The fairly priced breakfast buffet was about a 7/10. Really great location especially if you're taking the ferry to Macau. If you're taking the big bus tour, there's a stop about an 8-minute walk away (at the temple). It's about a 20 minute walk to Central ferry. There's a decent little supermarket nearby - but it's tucked away so just ask the hotel staff where to find it. Make sure to hop on one of the ding ding trams outside the hotel. You get on at the back of the tram and you exit from the front where you pay I think it was about the equivalent of $1 Australian. I was only on it for about a minute just to experience it Because I was traveling alone and I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food, I just bought yogurt and bananas etc and kept them in the fridge in my room. At $250 a night Australian I thought this was very good value especially for the location and the fact that I had a Harbour view of Kowloon. Make sure to be up for the sunrise. If you are a member, the Soho Workspace is...