No business facilities available and less than helpful
Jan 22, 2020 ywurry Dewsbury, United Kingdom
With my wife going to Hong Kong on business I thought it a great idea to go along as I had never visited there before. The stay was for around 12 night and her work book them into the City Garden Hotel, which I would have felt would be aimed at business people, especially when looking at their amenities.
The hotel room was on the 22 floor and was…
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With my wife going to Hong Kong on business I thought it a great idea to go along as I had never visited there before. The stay was for around 12 night and her work book them into the City Garden Hotel, which I would have felt would be aimed at business people, especially when looking at their amenities.
The hotel room was on the 22 floor and was clean with a nice large bed. The bed however after a few nights was uncomfortable as the mattress was so hard. There was also a large TV, although only offering News programmes in English (CNN, Sky News etc) which was fine as I did not intend to stay in the room to watch TV.
The issues we had came when my wife looked to us the business lounge. It was closed for refurbishment. It also turns out from discussing with her colleagues that it was closed for refurbishment in August and November 2019. How much refurbishment does it need to go through. This caused a dilemma as the room had a table and chairs but not the sort you'd like to sit and work from. Table was low and the chairs more for comfort. When talking to the staff regarding this there was little they seemed to be able to do to assist although we did find out on the last day the there were rooms with proper desks and work chairs that could have potentially been offered. We were situated about 3 rooms from the lift but could still hear the lift constantly going up/down all day and night. the air conditioning did however help drown this out.
Wifi was available free of charge but was slow and did cut out a fair bit, although this didn't cause too much of an issue but may have done if my wife were able to work from the room.
Outdoor swimming pool was available on the 2nd floor and we were going to relax there. We went down and found it closed for cleaning and then when we returned they had drained the water from the pool, so little relaxation to be had then. Please be aware that we were informed that we would have to change at the side of the swimming pool (we didn't see any changing rooms provided), and bearing in mind there are flats all around the neighbourhood could get a shock.
My wife when working doesn't finish until 10pm as she teaches those who are studying for a degree whilst they are also working, so it was predominantly in the evening. Due to the late finish the restaurants to eat in are closing (mainly close around 10pm) so she was pleased to note that the room service menu was open until midnight. Oh no not the case it closed at 10pm so she was potentially to go hungry. After speaking to the staff once again there was an option to go to McDonalds (not really a fast food fan) or to use a noodle bar and they offered to take me across. It was a bit of a dive, not that clean looking and as my wife is allergic to shell food she chose a vegetable noodle option. It was enough to stave off the hunger pains but not the most appetising. Credit to the staff for be able to offer this but it is such a shame that they couldn't arrange for something from the 'open' room service menu and only went by the fact that the kitchen had closed. It was only 10:15pm so i believe there would still have been someone around.
In you room there are two lights to put on, one for saying the room is available to clean (green) and one that we should not be disturbed (red). When the red one eats on we still got a phone call asking of we wanted the room serviced. I am sure they are trying to be helpful but due to jet lag this was not always welcome.
Breakfast is a buffet and OK, but when you go down 30 minutes to closing I would not really wish to be challenged and be told that I needed to hurry up as the buffet was closing. Similarly the Garden Cafe buffet in the evening closes at 10pm. However it can close earlier if they feel that they want it too. We were there at 9pm to be told that it was closing shortly. perhaps this had something to do with the wedding that was being held in a different area, maybe they needed the staff there.
Overall it was a reasonable stay but could have been made a memorable one if things were open when they said they would be and that arrangements could have been made for my wife to work when not teaching. The staff in the main are friendly when all is going well but if you ask them to do something that may take them out of their comfort zone it it really doesn't work.
It has been reported back to my wife's work and they are looking at alternatives for her next visit in 8 weeks time. Lets hope they manage to do something as I would feel for my wife returning to this hotel if she was not able to eat and/or work
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