Cityview Hotel

I decided to go ahead and booked 2 Superior rooms with The Cityview after reading many good reviews on the internet.

I had booked the rooms in March for the June trip as I knew the compelling need for accommodation right after the flight booking. For my early booking, I paid HK5236 (Approx S$955)riding on its “15% off 14 days Advance Purchase” promotion . However, I was shocked to realise that 2 months later, it cost only HK4114 (Approx S$750) for the same rooms I paid for.

A lesson learnt: Book your rooms later. Not earlier.

How the hotel looks from the outside

The conceirge

The service was alright. I wouldn't say it's excellent as we rarely interacted with them. We used a mixture of Mandarin and English to speak with them as sometimes I couldn't understand their English or Mandarin.

The cosy bar area, with an electric grand piano at the corner. It plays on its own every evening to night.

The bar area at night.

They gave us the highest floor, with free upgrade to Premium rooms.

The double bed and the big window which can't be opened.

On the other side of the bed.
The small cabinet which contains a safe, a fridge and compartments for clothes and pillows. A bit small I thought. It could only squeeze in one person's belongings.

The bathroom in all its glory

The view from our unit

The back of the hotel, with a 7-eleven in the reflection, just across the road.

The hotel used to be a YMCA hostel. It probably takes too much of a trouble to remove the sign and most people won't bother to look up anyway.

Overall, I think the hotel stay had been a pleasant experience. We had a few unpleasant run-ins with the hotel over a few issues ie. I asked for a 'connecting room' and they replied me saying they 'will arrange an adjoining room for you'. Thinking that perhaps it's just a different word which carries the same meaning, I left it at that, but we were surprised that their 'adjoining' simply meant 'joining' without a connecting door.

The hotel rooms were not ready when we reached there at 12.30pm. I guess I had high expectations when they emailed me asking me for the time of arrival. I thought they would arrange for an early check-in, but apparently, it was for some administrative purpose. When we returned from our hanging around the area at 3pm, only 1 room was ready. The other room was only ready at 4pm. I thought that was very late.

But apart from those issues, we had no problem with the hotel. They were ready to answer questions when you need something, like I was asking one of the staff if there was any good eating places around for wanton noodles.

The guy recommended a char can ting (明苑茶餐厅) nearby.

I asked,"Is it famous for wanton noodles?"

He said,"Everywhere the same. No famous."