Regal Hongkong Hotel - Hong Kong, Hong Kong 

"A good standard hotel with excellent location."
Posted: Mon, Nov 23 2009
Being a well travelled travel agent, I have stayed in some of the best hotels in the world. For example, the last two times I was in Honk Kong for work, I stayed in both the Shangri La and the Peninsula. I moved to the Regal after being displeased with a previous hotel for a 4 night stay, and although its not anywhere near the standard of some of the other higher rated hotels, it is still worthy of its 4* status. The location is excellrent, within easy walking distance of Causeway Bay. The gym is need of a little work but I have seen a lot worse. The rooftpop pool is very pleasent. The decor is not old-fashioned, it is in a 'Regal' style. It is the way they want it to look and I felt that although it was nice, it was trying to be a little too opulent for its own good. I don't know about what type of room the previous reviewer stayed in because my room was very large, with two double beds, floor to ceiling windows and a very spacious bathroom, which had a corner bathtub and seperate shower. Apparently each room has a huge individually commisioned painting above each bed, above ours was one of a butterfly, which at first I thought was a little garish but grew to rather enjoy it. I would stay here again.

An average hotel for business travel
Posted: Sun, Jul 06 2008
Stayed two nights for business in Hong Kong. Overall an older property with older bathrooms, OK for a business trip but probably better suited as a tourist hotel, with a its great location in Causeway Bay. Pros - Fitness center has new equipment, is reasonably sized for a hotel and has been recently renovated. Includes 3 treadmills as well as other cardio equipment and some free weights and machines. - Bell service efficient for arrivals and catching taxis. - Served by airport express bus from Central or a HK$40 taxi ride from the airport express train station at Central (at HK$100 the airport express is generally the fastest way from Hong Kong airport compared to HK$400 for a taxi). Regal also has a bus direct from the airport but that only runs every 60-120 minutes and can take over 90 minutes for the trip. - Good breakfast buffet with a selection of hot and cold western breakfast items plus some asian food choices. - Housekeeping was prompt when an iron and ironing board was requested. Cons - Didn't find the bed that comfortable, and despite air conditioning the room was humid in June. - No complimentary bottled water in the room and tap water not recommended. Instead hotel minibar charges HK$45 for a 500ml bottle of Evian (by comparison, HK$6 will buy a 1,500 ml generic bottled water at the local Wellcome grocery store a 5 min walk from the hotel). - Hotel laundry is also expensive, at HK$75 for a shirt. With the humidity,if you wash anything yourself it may not dry in 24 hrs. In summary, hotel somewhat overhypes itself on their web site and reminded me of an older, somewhat tired out Vegas hotel. That said, for the price of the room it can be a fine stay in a great location on Hong Kong island.

Exploding Toilet and more
Posted: Sun, Mar 09 2008
I stayed at this establishment last summer with my wife for about 5 days. First off, when we arrived at the entrance, no one offered to help with our bags, even though there were several bell boys standing around chatting - a first sign of doubt for a supposedly 5 star hotel. We went to check in, the staff at the reception were trying to avoid contact with the guests - forget smiles and hospitality, we waited for 10 minutes just for them to "get around" to us, even though there was no line. The girl that checked us in clearly had her mind somewhere else, as I told her at least twice I wanted a smoking room, and she had to ask me again as if she had not heard what I said. So we got to the room, to be fair, housekeeping was not bad, the room was clean. However, just when we were putting down our bags, we heard a strange sound coming from the bathroom. I went in to check, and I was rewarded in awe with a view of black liquid was spewing out of the toilet, flooding the bathroom, with the authentic stench of the Victoria Harbor's shelter area. Needless to say, we had to change the room. I went down to the reception and explained the situation, but rather than apologizing, the reception guy sounded accusingly as if WE broke the toilet - I don't think even the top terrorists in the world can make a toilet spew sewage upon 2 minutes of entering a room. Anyway, I threatened to call the manager and the very rude and unhelpful reception guy reluctantly gave us a different, but smaller room. The toilet in the new room worked, at least that night. The next morning, the flush was having problems again, the water was black and it stank. And then, at around 11am, the water just stopped. That's right, a 5 star hotel with no water. We had to leave the hotel to go to the nearby Sogo department store to use the toilet. My wife was so scared that the toilet would explode on her that she did not use the room toilet once during our 5-day stay. The hotel obviously has serious problems with its plumbing. Next, we move on to the noise. They were apparently working on the rooftop pool or something during our stay, and every morning we would hear drilling and hammering from 9am, and that would last for the whole day, everyday, during our entire stay, except for one day when a typhoon shut down the city. Most respectable hotels would close down at least sections of the building when they renovate so the noise would not bother the guests, but the Regal is too "cost efficient" for that. And to top it off, the WiFi was down, and there was no ethernet cable in the room. I tried to shop for one around Causeway Bay, but it was getting late in the evening and we had a dinner appointment. So we had to BUY one from the hotel through room service, at an appalling premium. I've stayed at youth hostels during my college days that were better than this filth of a hotel.