Hotels: Shamrock Hotel

Hotels: Shamrock Hotel

Another popular place that many people will visit in Asia is the city of Hong Kong or more correctly termed as the special administrative region of China, Hong Kong. It is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Hong Kong also has a very comprehensive transport network which makes going around the area pretty easy. Most people go there with the main objective as shopping, with a bit of sightseeing in the itinerary and we will cover this in the review on the place itself. For now, here is the review on the hotel that I stayed in during our visit to Hong Kong. Do note that actually Hong Kong is divided into two regions which is the mainland, which borders China, and Hong Kong Island itself. This hotel is in the mainland Hong Kong.

Details of Hotel

Name: Shamrock Hotel
Location: 223 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Jordan, Hong Kong
Number of Stars: 3 stars
Room of Review: Standard
Highlights of Hotel: Near MTR, Located in tourist area, located in shopping belt, nightlife
Date of Review: Beginning March 2014

This is the hotel's main door and actually its quite easy to spot as long as you go down the correct road. Just try following the map given in this blog and it should be fine. In anycase, this is one of the bigger hotel as it has its own building which is maintained by the hotel itself. There are other hotels that just take a few floors off a residential or shopping building which might or might not look older.

Comfort 3/5

From the pictures of the room here,

Pardon the mess

Even has a cool looking chandelier... interesting location at the aircon vent

Apparently, in Hong Kong, rooms are supposed to be miserably small... i have heard stories about how only one person can be standing at a time and the other must be seated on the bed to have space to move around... Fortunately, this was not the case of Shamrock hotel! In fact, it seems that this hotel room was actually even bigger then my hotel in Taiwan!

So as you can see here, there is more then enough space to leave your bags around. The room also has a control panel right next to the bed that controls the air con temperature and lights and everything else including an in build alarm clock. Of course in the end it all boils down to how much did i pay for this hotel so we will cover that in the last category.

Airconditioning and bed softness was all pretty comfortable with nice thick blankets although it was slightly creeky. Would recommend keeping the windows closed most of the time though as there is nothing nice to see outside the windows and it seems a bit messy. Room was also not entirely new and has a slight bit of musty feel.

Service 3.5/5

Services that i was able to experience in this place was door opening service and also holding on to your luggage before check in and after check out just in case you wanted the additional shopping time.

There is 24 hours service and the staff are able to understand English with little problems. There was also a rack with information on tourist attractions although it was not very detailed. Overall they seem rather profession. There is also the need to put a 300 HKdollars deposit though and checkout was fast and painless.

They do daily cleaning of the rooms as well as replenishment of towels although this is the kind where you need to dump the towels into the bathtub for replacement. They didn't help to tidy up the room however. (I had one hotel whereby the staff actually folded all the clothes that were strewn around and even arranged all the clutter on the table. Not sure if you appreciate that though)

There is no water provided to you though although there was extra pillow and blankets. The lift was quick to get to the floors and there are two lifts so this is a plus for this hotel.

Front desk

Lobby sitting area... or actually WIFI area.

Overall they seem pretty willing to please although they are similar to Puri hotel in that they are not totally able to exceed expectation and go the further distance.

Amenities 3.5/5

Starting at shower amenities, this is what you get for the price.

Yep there is a tub

As you can see, its compact and yet spacious enough for a tub. Didn't manage to utilize it during my stay there too but you can see this hotel does provide quite a bit in terms of amenities. Soap, shampoo and tooth brushes were also provided.

There was also a kettle and cups that you can use to make your tea if you are that kinda person. There was also enough alternate towels for floor mats as well as two big towels for the normal bath.

There was a full bar fridge provided under the television that is permanently switched on that you can use to keep the drinks you buy outside cool. No microwave or other cooking amenities nor was there any laundry capabilities although they did have the laundry bag so you probably can get your things cleaned... for a price.

They do have a closet that you can use to hang your clothes with a safe this time provided with English instructions. THERE IS ALSO NO FREE WIFI IN THE ROOM which is why the lobby is crowded with people looking for internet connection. A sad thing for a hotel in this time and age.. In fact its so sad i shall deduct a 0.5 score right now. This will not be an issue if you are planning to get a data plan for like the 4 or 5 days that you are here in Hong Kong.

Overall, they have slightly better then average amenities. Obviously, pools and other recreational facilities are pretty rare in these kind of cheaper hotels and this is non-existent here.

Location 4/5

There are two aspects of location that are particularly strikingly good. The first is that it is literally almost next to the station for the MTR.. like a bit more then 20-30 steps to the MTR entrance. You probably can see a pattern that I love hotels near the public transport. Also the location of Jordan is between two pretty good shopping area which is Tsim Sa Tsui and Mongkok. Mongkok is where the night market is and TST is the more expensive shopping area. It is also quite easy to get to Hong Kong Island itself from here so this is probably another of the pros of this place. There was actually a night market street called temple street in walking distance from this hotel so it might be an additional plus to the hotel.

The other advantage is that this place is directly along the route of a few buses that come from the airport itself. So instead of spending 100HKD for the fast rail after which you still need to change train, you can actually take a 33 HKD for A21 or 39 HKD for A22 bus straight down ALMOST to the door step of the hotel. The hotel will be like maybe 50 m from the bus stop itself. Just get out when they say Jordan.

Just to make it clear though, because this area is in the shopping belt, meaning that you have small shopping centers all around, it is also apparently located pretty near to the red light district of Hong Kong. That being said, it seems that in Hong Kong, you are not allowed to publicly solicit for business so it is overall pretty safe and I did observe some police presence in my time there.


Cost Efficiency 3/5

The cost of the room was actually just above 300 SGD for 2 nights there whilst in taiwan I got the room at Puri hotel at SGD 330 for 3 nights. Over here you probably have to consider, what are you here in Hong Kong for. Disneyland train stop is actually closer to the airport and there is also an outlet shopping center nearer to the airport and this is about 40 mins away by train. So if you are bringing kids along you might prefer to stay closer to the airport especially if you are not spending too many days there. On the other hand, the public transport to Ocean park as well as Victoria peak which are other popular tourist destinations are on Hong Kong Island itself which is where this hotel is closer to. Young couples might prefer this hotel for the reasons listed above.

The over cost is just SLIGHTLY a tad bit pricy but if you really are conscious about the room size this price might be just right for you.

Comfort: 3 (Does feel slightly old, but not till its uncomfortable. Rooms seem bigger)
Service: 3.5 (Service is there, but not exceeding impressive)
Amenities: 3.5 (No wifi is a big deal, but actually provides quite a bit of good amenities)
Location: 4 (Fabulous central location for most of the activities that one will do here)
Cost Efficiency: 3 (Pricey, probably for room size and location but there is overall a good feel because it is really easy for you to get anywhere.)

Overall: 3.4 (Incidentally, this hotel actually got worse then Puri hotel although it was bigger. Probably because this hotel didn't manage to score in the small parts which was like Wifi and probably the price point too. None the less i would say this score indicates that it is a fabulous place if you want a above average comfortable room to stay in but if you plan to spend alot of time in the room, maybe not a good idea.)

Thats the end of the hotel review section of my Taiwan and Hong Kong trip. Shall start on the other categories soon, probably weekly.