Hotel review: The Mira Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong on Easter Sunday in 2011 on Dragonair! It was a great flight, as you can read about it in my previous review. From Hong Kong, I will proceed to Singapore to attend a meeting. The flight with Cathay Pacific was scheduled at noon of the next day. So, finally, I was in Hong Kong, the pearl of the Orient, the jewel of Asia, for the very first time. I had about 23 hours to explore the city.

A little hazy out there.

While I was still planning for this trip, I put more thoughts into booking the hotel than the flights. I was not looking for a hostel, or a cheap hotel located in places that are a little bit "off". I wanted to find a place that could give me: 

1. Easy access to attractions in the city.
2. Good facility and services so that the hotel itself wouldn't become the reason I hate this city
3. And, last but not least, I wanted it to be a bang for my buck.

In terms of easy access to attractions, I was looking for hotels within reasonable walking range from MTR. It would be better if the hotel was near Tsim Sha Tsui, but InterContinental was quite expensive at the time. I actually had the option of living for free in a double deluxe room in Marriott Sky City. However, it was way off and so, I saved the option for the next time.

I had heard about other people talking about the horrible things they had experienced in hotels/hostels in Hong Kong, like rats, cockroaches, creepy people, tiny room and so forth. One of my close friends mentioned the infamous Chungking Mansions. He dared me to give it a shot at the "best" but I decided to save the "best" for the next time.

Inside Chungking Mansions. A lot of things are going on at the same time there.

I always feel it's best to save something and not do it so that I will have a good reason to return to the place. And so, for my first visit, I was surprised by myself that I was willing to spend some extra money for a better hotel.

After searching various booking engines and hotel websites, I narrowed down to two options:

a. City Garden Hotel
b. The Mira Hong Kong

Both hotels were offering decent three-day advance booking deal for the Easter weekend. The cheapest room, called Deluxe Room, in City Garden Hotel cost about $150 U.S. dollar per night for the night I wanted, and the cheapest in The Mira Hong Kong, known as Studio, was a little over $180 U.S. dollar.

Both deals were great, and both came with free Internet access and Wifi, which was fabulous. Furthermore, City Garden Hotel offered free breakfast, while The Mira is a boutique hotel and a member of Design Hotel.

So, for me, I was a very tough call. I looked at the reviews and pictures, I watched videos and I read history of both properties. I ran the pros and cons list again and again just to help me decide whether or not to spend an extra 30 bucks.

It was an extremely intense night. Long story short, I pulled the trigger and booked a night at The Mira because it's closer to many key attractions, and, it was on sale. A Studio normally costs over $210 per night, and can go up to over $250 sometimes.

In the end, as it turned out, I think I made the right move. I wanted to see as many attractions in one day as possible. And The Mira Hong Kong itself is a gorgeous attraction.

When I asked a volunteer for direction to The Mira at the information desk of Hong Kong Tourism Board, she gasped and said:"Wow! It's a nice hotel!"

And, indeed, it is.

Lobby area at night.

Lobby area during the day.

The hotel, formerly Hotel Miramar, reopened in 2009 after a renovation, is chic, sleek and modern. The décor looks very class. The lobby area is quite dark, compared to most of the hotels, but it was not a problem. In fact, I found this kind of darkness very classy.

Very comfortable, queen-sized bed

The Studio room is very small. Actually, a lot smaller than I had expected. However, I was well-aware of the fact that I was in Hong Kong and since I was traveling alone and didn't have a lot of luggage, the size of the room was not a major concern. The size of the bed was quite big.

The major drawback of the Studio is the bathroom. There is not enough space to fit in a bathtub. So only shower is provided. But again, the shower room is well-equipped. Along with the traditional shower head, it comes with a rain forest shower head.

Shower room

The size and the shower room may be a little disappointing. I felt that maybe larger, more pricey rooms and suites will be superb. So I decided to call room service and ask them what kind of loyalty membership program they have. As I was looking for a phone, I found a cell phone instead. Calling the hotel front desk is free, but if you call a local number, say, a restaurant, standard charges apply. It's a nice idea. Guests, especially those who are transiting, can carry the phone all over Hong Kong during their stay and don't have to worry about hefty roaming fees from using their own cell phone.

So I called the front desk, the staff told me that they don't have a loyalty program yet. Their only airline partner, up to that day, was Finnair.

Well, what can I say, they portrait themselves as an upscale boutique hotel. They are one-of-a-kind. Maybe a loyalty program is not needed.

Internet inside the room is very stable and fast. The room is also equipped with tons of high-tech gadgets.

Inside the mini-bar, there were an array of non-alcoholic, such as tea and coffee, and many miniature alcoholic drinks. There were also a few bags of Doritos and some chips. Bottled water is free and so I put them in the fridge and take them out later when I walked around the city.

Foodies'paradise

I set out to explore in the city for most of the afternoon, evening and the night. When I came back, I had a warm, nice shower and went to bed. The bed, duvet and the pillows were very comfortable. I had a dreamless night.

I checked out early the next morning and kept my bags at the concierge, so that I can spend the morning walking around without the burden of my backpack. I found the city very interesting and worth visiting multiple times in future.

The Mira Hong Kong

To wrap up my impression of The Mira Hong Kong, I think it's a great hotel and I would definitely recommend it to people to give it a try. Next time, I would probably stay in one of their larger rooms. If you feeling size of the Studio is not a big issue, paying under $200 after tax for a chic boutique hotel with great staff, central location that gives you easy access to just anywhere, super modern, clean and awesome ambiance is totally worth it.

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Trip planning: Hong Kong and Singapore on Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, The Mira Hong Kong and Mandarin Orchard

I returned from Singapore via Hong Kong on May 1st, 2011. My experience with Cathay Pacific and its affiliate, Dragonair, was hit-and-miss, but I love Hong Kong and Singapore a lot, especially both their outstanding airports. Since Singapore Airlines is always pricey, and low-cost carriers sells fast, chances are I may fly with Cathay Pacific again.

This trip was not meant to be frugal because I was there to attend a meeting, which lasted for a week, and I already saved some money for this trip. By the time I was about to plan this itinerary, I was still based in Shanghai, going to school and writing for an expat magazine. This was my first job. My monthly salary at that time was 3,000 Chinese Yuan or around $466 U.S. dollar. The costs of the trip will be partly covered by my school, but in order to get the most out of this experience, I had to save as much as humanly possible.

When the details of the meeting and the schedule got finalized, it was around mid-March. I only have about a month and a half to plan for this trip. Popular low-cost airlines such as AirAsia and JetStar were no longer a feasible option because cheap fare had sold out several months, if not a year ago. I shopped around a little on many websites, including Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, as well as airline websites, and found that my options were pretty straightforward for this simple round trip between Shanghai and Singapore:

1. Fly coach on Singapore Airlines (SQ). SQ operates this route with Boeing 777-200ER and has several departure slots from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG).

2. Fly coach on China Eastern (MU). MU had bought out Shanghai Airlines (FM) earlier this year. There's the possibility of flying on either MU's old A300 or a FM's equipment.

3. Fly coach on Cathay Pacific (CX) and Dragonair (KA), with a connection in Hong Kong. CX and KA operates PVG (SHA) to HKG with many different types of aircraft, including A330, A320 and Boeing 777-300. For HKG to SIN, CX offers the choice of A330 and Boeing 777-300.

Now it seems that burning 20,000 United MileagePlus miles would have been the way to go. But I didn't pull the trigger because I want to save these miles for another trip I am planning. I am not sure where to go but Guam or Jakarta are on the list now.

Since I only have a little miles banked with Korean Air (KE). I didn't want to redeem them and, at this time, China Eastern is not a full-fledged SkyTeam member yet, though they will eventually join the alliance in June 2011. I used to have terrible experience flying on China Eastern. Onboard one of their A320s, the cabin pressure on this SHA-CAN flight was not adjusted to a comfortable level and my ears hurt like they were about to drop off. That was in December 2009. I searched for their fare and it was not attractive at all. 3,600 Chinese Yuan in their ancient A300? No, I decided to stay away from them.

I have not traveled on any Oneworld airlines before, hence, zero mileage. With redemption out of the picture, I bought the ticket with Cathay Pacific for 2,959 Chinese Yuan, including taxes and fees. I signed up for Asia Miles, only later to find my fare class did not qualify for any mile.

Soon, I hit another, much bigger, problem. The transaction simply did not go through. I got an email from Cathay's e-Service saying they were unable to issue my ticket because of a "technical glitch".

I was very concerned. This meant that my bank account had been debited while I got nothing confirmed. The email from Cathay failed to provide me with any useful reference, like reservation number, order number and so forth.

So I called the e-Service center. The number they listed on the website is always busy. I was put of hold for ages while listening to their theme song, Feel, by Robbie Williams. I tried to call with two different phones, one for English service, the other for Mandarin, just to pick the one that would talk to me first.

Finally, after a horrendously long hold, longer than any other hold I had ever experienced in my life, I got through the English service. I described my issue with the agent and she said that since I cannot give her any reference, she could not locate my information in their system. I asked her to give me a callback after she talks to my bank first, she said she could not do that for me.

So I had to contact my bank, which help me locate a transaction number. Again, I called Cathay and I was put on hold, same background music. Thirty minutes later, I was on the verge of going crazy with Robbie Williams when I was finally connected to an agent who was able to locate my information with the transaction number. I was worried that the fare on my canceled booking may not be honored now, for fare fluctuates all the time. Fortunately, this agent rebooked me on the same flights with the same fare. By the end of the day, I didn't know whether I was happy with them or not.

The next day, I wrote a complaint to Cathay Pacific and I got an auto-reply. It reads:

This is to confirm that we have received your e-mail. We will look into

the matter and revert our findings to you as soon as possible.

I was worried that my complaint will not get anywhere and the issue of long holding at their call center will not be addressed. But anyways, I had a confirmed flight schedule now. I have two stop-overs in Hong Kong. For the outbound leg, I have 23 hours in Hong Kong so I need to book a hotel. And for the return, I have 8 hours. The inbound flight from SIN arrives at midnight, so I might as well just spend the night wandering around the city for some street food in Kowloon.

For five nights in Singapore, I didn't need to worry about accommodations. The host of the meeting booked me in Mandarin Orchard, located in the middle of the city.

So for that night in Hong Kong, I spotted a deal for The Mira Hong Kong three days before departure and I jumped at it. This hotel used to me the old Hotel Miramar, but they renovated it and it's now a Design Hotels hotel. I booked a studio room for $180, which came with complimentary Internet! A last minute three-day advance booking plus Easter Sunday deal secured!

I have heard a lot about this hotel. On the night of its reopening, they invited Katy Perry to sing at the party. And I had never stayed in a Design Hotels property before. So I thought it would be very interesting to try out this relatively new, chic place.

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