Lander Hotel Prince Edward — Hotel in Hong Kong

If you thought NYC hotel rooms are small, you have no idea what "small" looks like.||||I booked this hotel via Hotwire, using their M.O, where I chose a location (in broad terms) and a standard of hotel. Having booked rooms this way with Hotwire successfully previously, I did not expect to be incredibly disappointed. And boy oh boy, was I!||||What's good about the Lander?||||The good:||||
1) By HKG standards the room is cheap, about USD 75; 
||2) Location. If you know where you're going and you have no baggage, it's a 10 min walk to Prince Edward MTR (subway station) and from there, most places in Kowloon or Hong Kong Island are within easy reach. But if you have a suitcase or you're new to the area, you're not going to take the train from the airport only to swap to the subway (Line 1) to Prince Edward, because you'll still have a 15 min walk with luggage. Instead I took the airport train to Kowloon Station (HKD 105) and a cab from there to the hotel (HKD 50);||3) Staff member Ralf speaks good English and is very pleasant;
||4) Bathroom was mostly clean. Parts of the shower recess were grubby; and||5) A/C is great. 
|||| 
The bad:||||1. The accommodation is truthfully the size of a prison cell. It is not a "room" in any meaningful sense of the word. My "room", 609, was a few cm longer than the single bed and the room's width was 1.5 (one and a half) times as wide as the bed. I travel with a tape measure but could not access it to measure the room because I could barely open my suitcase when it was placed on the floor, let alone search my suitcase for the tape; ||2. Bathroom is so small that (a) you'll have the shower curtain hitting your skin as you shower; (b) you'll wet the toilet as you shower and (c) if you want a long shower, you must stop the water pretty soon after you turn the water on, soap yourself and then turn the water back on to rinse yourself or you'll end up flooding the room;||3. In room safe was locked and not accessable;||4. I am usually ok with confined spaces, but felt claustrophobic in the room. Many I know would have a panic attack in such a confined space. In fact I was there one night only and that was enough. I took my suitcase down to the lobby an hour before checking out, so I could have space to work on my Mac in the room. The relief I felt when my suitcase was removed from the room and I finally had even minimal space to myself was palpable;||5. Many local restaurants have menus in Mandarin or Cantonese and not in English;||6. Noise travels through the door and walls. I flew in from Sydney and was up for 18 hours before checking in. I went to bed only to be awaken many, many times by Chinese shouting at each other in the corridor, oblivious to how others were being disturbed by their shouting;||7. There are several TV channels all, as far as I can see in Mandarin or Cantonese. Nothing in English apart from financial and economic statistics (no audio just the statistics) on Pearl TV; and||8. Breakfast is not served in the hotel, but I did find a cafe called Cafe de Coral near Prince Edward Station. Just exit the hotel, turn left into Tai Nan St and walk towards Prince Edward Road West. At Prince Edward Road West turn left and walk to the next cross street, Portland Street. Turn left into Portland. The cafe is on the right. Usually with a queue of folk lining up to get in. It's no more than a 8-10 min walk from the hotel. 15 mins if like me you are not in a rush. There you'll find set dishes eg fish, toast, eggs and coffee for HKD 40. The upside is that the coffee is good!||9. The hotel seems to cater to Mainland Chinese and not westerners.||||Even though it was cheap, the tiny cell at the Lander was too frustrating for me. Even for one night. Next time, which is in 2 weeks, I will stay in a decent size room that is close to the subway or bus lines, safe in the knowledge it will cost double as much. So be it.||||Tip: 
Choose you room wisely. While mine in the rear of the hotel had NO street noise, which is a worry of some reviewers, my cell was adjacent to the lift/elevator and it was very hard to...

The Lander hotel is in what might be called the back streets, not far from Nathan Road and Prince Edward MTR ( tube, underground, Metro, subway). Bear in mind that there is only one lift from ground level at Prince Edward station. Carting suitcases up and down busy stairs and escalators is no fun and frowned upon. The area around the hotel is less than pretty but has the authentic feel of "real" Hong Kong, with many small businesses operating from lockups and bustling street corner markets are just a short walk north, close to the very "local" Dragon Centre, with its fast food outlets, supermarket and many of the usual mall type shops. The famous flower market is only a 10 to 15-minute walk from the hotel. Mongkok is one MTR stop south, with the very modern, jaw-dropping, upmarket Langham Place shopping mall right outside the station.|| Let's not beat around the bush. The hotel rooms are small. I was in a really tiny single room with ensuite shower and loo. Being medium build, I just about managed to fit in the shower without having the plastic shower curtain clinging to me. Bear in mind that the Chinese are petite on the whole and space is very much at a premium in this densely populated city. Larger travellers would be advised to book a more expensive hotel, with concomitant larger rooms.There is very little space for luggage.|| That said, the staff I encountered were very helpful and polite. I had an issue with the room safe which they quickly attended to. The room was in good order and cleaned every day with clean towels and bed linen provided daily if needed. The free wifi worked well for me, though other reviewers have had issues with it.|| Considering the slightly down at heel appearance of the area, I felt safe even when returning late in the evening. Be prepared for dense crowds; however, the Cantonese are very relaxed and going with the flow made negotiating the MTR and main streets a lot less uncomfortable. I was there just before Chinese New Year. It was frenetic as preparations were made for the festivities. I loved the vibe. Your...

This hotel is certainly not for westerners - the rooms are so small I can barely fit my luggage in the room, let alone unpack anything. My single room is about 4 m2 + 1m2 shower+WC: 2 of the single beds wouldn't fit in the room, the shower curtain sticks to my back while having a shower, and I can't fit on the toilet, the wall is too close. There are no compartments of any kind - I even had to utilize the space in the safe to store my stuff. Noise is terrible - I have trouble sleeping because the machinery around give a loud, randomly changing noise. The air is not very good - AC is working, but it either freezes me to death, or it won't de-moisturize the air. Cleaning is OK as hotels go around here, WIFI is working, but overused as usual. You can see the attached photo of what you'll see outside the window - the heavy curtain on it is there for a reason.

So if you're a poor student, traveling light, and only need it for a night, it is OK. Otherwise, rather spend a little more to avoid a...