We booked the 4* Harbour Plaza North Point for our 6 night stay in Hong Kong, the hotel was celebrating it’s 17th anniversary on our arrival.
We were invited to a breakfast meeting on our first morning by Billy Wan, the Director of Business Development for this hotel. It was fascinating to learn the history and portfolio of properties including within the hotel group, understand their clientele and seasons, as well as gaining lots of local knowledge about Hong Kong.
The Harbour Plaza North Point is situated across the road from the MTR Quarry Bay (exit C) metro station, the “Ding Ding” trams and local buses run constantly along King’s Road, and North Point Ferry is a 10 minute walk away, so it’s extremely easy to travel around the island from this location.
The Harbour Plaza North Point Hotel has 714 rooms situated in one tower block, the lift has 33 floors, although there is no 13th, 14th & 24th floor as is local custom. The guest room views offered are City, Hill or Harbour.
Our room was 3203, located on the 32nd floor and classed as a Superior Side Harbour View Room. We had an amazing view across the Eastern side of Victoria Harbour to the old Kai Tak airport and Kowloon.
The bathroom includes a walk in shower and toiletries, we had a large and comfortable double bed with good quality linen and plump pillows. The flat screen TV had a selection of English language channels.
Our daily service included the South China Morning Post newspaper, tea, coffee, distilled water and a plate of fresh fruit all of which were appreciated. As was the Ferrero Rocher hand wrapped chocolate left each night as part of the turn down service. The desk had an abundance of sockets, broadband internet connection as well as a free WiFi connection for two devices. We also had a kitchenette in our room, which although we didn’t plan to prepare any meals, the full size fridge freezer was very handy for keeping our personal food & drinks cool.
During our tour of the hotel with Billy, we saw a selection of guest rooms and suites available. We particularly liked the new Premier Rooms, these are decorated and furnished in a modern style in grey and pink, rather than the traditional brown furniture of the Superior Rooms.
The one bedroom suite was also a nice option for business travellers or families as they offered a kitchen, dining & lounge area, bathroom and bedroom.
There is a 25m swimming pool which is great for our swim training, and had just opened for use after the winter, plus a fitness centre with gym and instructor on hand for any guidance.
We ate a buffet breakfast most mornings in Greens Café, personally I liked the Asian savoury selection, there was also full English style breakfast dishes, an egg chef, fresh fruit, cereals and a small continental selection. The Hoi Yat Heen Chinese Restaurant also offers a popular dim sum menu. The lobby bar has a happy hour and live music each evening.
Our stay at the Harbour Plaza North Point was very comfortable, we slept like the dead every evening for 7-8 hours a night and woke up to an amazing harbour view every morning. The WiFi worked well, we had to log in again each day, but the speed and signal was excellent throughout our stay, which is very important for us, so we can still work during our travels.
The Harbour Plaza North Point might not be in Central Hong Kong, however the location was really good, there’s a supermarket and Starbucks opposite plus Pizza Express and McDonalds for more Western food options close by. The MTR station was literally a 1 minute walk to the entrance opposite the hotel reception. We never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a train and could be in downtown Hong Kong or Tsim Sha Sui within 20 minutes.
We also took time out of our holiday to visit the 5* Harbour Grand Kowloon to meet Martin Cheung, their Director of Sales for a tour of this sister hotel which offers fantastic value accommodation with five star service. We’ve quoted this hotel on several occasions and I was keen to see it personally.
The Harbour Grand Kowloon is situated directly on the waterfront, the MTR Whampoa station is a moment away and 2 minutes walk from the Hunghom Ferry Pier. The glass fronted floor to ceiling lobby is impressive, with a beautiful staircase, café and The Promenade buffet restaurant.
We started our tour on the roof of the hotel, there’s a stunning swimming pool & jacuzzi with an awesome view of the city. The fitness centre also faces out over Victoria Harbour, so you can watch the boats and admire the view whilst working out on the cardio machines.
This hotel has 555 guest rooms and suites, the interior furnishings and decor were comparable to the Harbour Plaza North Point, the main room difference is that the bathrooms have baths as well as a walk in shower. It’s worth mentioning that the older hotels in Hong Kong have larger guest rooms with high ceilings, compared to the new modern ones where space is optimised.
The Courtview rooms are 36m2 and look out to Whampoa, the Harbourview rooms are slightly bigger at 40m2 with floor to ceiling glass view of the waterfront. There is a choice of 5 restaurants at the Harbour Grand Kowloon, offering international cuisine from buffet to fine dining. Harbour Club deluxe rooms are situated on the higher floors 17-20, these guests have their own check in area, buffet breakfast and refreshments are available in a private dining area amongst other benefits.
The Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa shopping centre with over 300 food and retail outlets is a few minutes walk away from this location. At the end of our tour, we browsed the local shops, had lunch and caught the ferry back to North Point.
The company has a choice of 9 hotels in Hong Kong & Kowloon, please visit their websites for more information:
www.harbourgrand.com
www.harbour-plaza.com
