We stayed at the CityView on two different occasions during our two weeks vacation in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The first room was a Deluxe Room and the second stay was in a slightly larger Premiere Room. First of all the front lobby and concierge staff are super professional, friendly and well versed in English. Secondly the location is just steps from busy Nathan Road, with the Yau Ma Tei MTR Stations minutes away. Thirdly, the night markets, local eateries on Nathan Road are all within walking distance and fun to check out multiple times.
The rooms themselves are slightly dated but very functional. Bedside controls of the lights and AC were very handy as was having actual drawers, a small fridge, in-room safe and a large closet at your disposal. The restaurant/cafe was being remodeled otherwise it would had been our first choice for breakfast or a late night snack. However we were minutes from a Starbucks, McD's, Burger King and tons of other local eateries just around each corner. The bathroom tile was pretty dated as was the grout, but the rooms and bathrooms were super clean each of the 7 days we stayed there.
Being a "green" hotel, there was only two bath towels and two hand towels, which was challenging but manageable. We stayed at 4 star hotels in mainland China which were much more modern but lacked drawers for our clothes and costs lots more. All the beds we slept on through all of China in 6 different cities were hard, but the CityView was probably the most comfortable.
We booked through Expedia and the cost averaged from $150-250 USD depending on the size of the room and the day of the week. We could had spent lots more staying in Hong Kong or at a more upscale hotel down by Tsim Tsa Tsui harbor, but we wanted to be in the thick of the local experience this trip and the location was great. We chose to walk down to the harbor several times, taking in Nathan Road, and easily traveled to and from Hong Kong by MTR subway several times.
We easily navigated our way from HK International to the convenient Airport Express Train which dropped us off in Kowloon Station in half an hour where we caught one of several convenient Airport Express Shuttle Buses to the CityView. Our return was just the opposite, with shuttle buses running every 20 minutes to the Kowloon Station. Save your cabfare or private limo service and take the Airport Express Train, it's fast, easy, runs a mere $90 HKD (less than $12 USD) and makes you look like a superstar having navigated your way to your HK or Kowloon hotel.
The hotel staff are superstars. I was warmly greeted by one of the bell staffpersons upon our return from our stay in mainland China who recognized us from our stay the week previous. Being Chinese American we spoke in Cantonese and it was heart warming that he was genuinely touched we wanted to go back to the CityView for the second half of our vacation. It was like coming home to a cousin's house instead of checking into "another" hotel.
I realize this was probably a YMCA hostel at one time which was converted into a hotel business (hotel uses the adjoining YMCA swimming pool and gym), and renovations are continually improving the property. The room bathroom tiles and grout could really use some freshening up and the wall mounted hair dryers are rather dated and pretty much useless according to my wife (better to just plan on buying a cheap handheld while in town). I have osteoarthritis in both knees with a severe meniscus root tear, so stepping up into the deep tub was challenging, although the multiple hand rails mounted on the walls were very handy. Looking out the windows weren't as spectacular as a harborside upscale hotel, but we saved a ton of money from staying at one so we could enjoy more of the local scene. We previously stayed in Kowloon at the Park Hotel which is on the water down by Tsim Tsa Tsui, and seriously, it was nice but we only spent enough time in the room for sleeping, so save your money and try the CityView for half what the waterfront hotels charge.
Wi-Fi in the rooms and lobby was a nice touch as well. We woud not hesitate to stay again at the CityView and look forward to continuing renovations. read more