Stanford Hillview

A simple hotel with tidy rooms, comfortable beds, clean bathrooms with amenity kits and plush towels, fast internet, and an electric kettle. There’s also a desk and lamp, handy if you’re traveling for work. Staff were efficient and discreet, and check-in and checkout were quick and easy. It’s especially good value for solo travelers. The location is a strong point, within walking distance of Tsim Sha Tsui, aka TST, MTR station and Koowlon Park, right in the lively TST shopping and F&B area. The downside is weak sound insulation, though that wasn’t a problem when other guests were quiet.

The rooms have been renovated recently, are very clean, and feel like great value for money in TST. The bathroom is thoughtfully designed, and having a travel adapter in the room was convenient. The check-in felt cold. The staff seemed grumpy and unhappy to have me as a customer, which was a sharp contrast with how warm and welcoming my check-ins at hotels in China had been. It would also help to have sliding doors from the lobby, like Bauhinia hotel, so it’s easier to bring luggage inside. The hotel is up a hill with steps, but the route from Knutsford terrace has no steps if you use the elevator from their basement.

The rooms were comfortable and clean, the location was good, and the WiFi worked well. Still, there were a lot of downsides. The small half-window in corner rooms was disappointing, and doors slammed loudly enough to wake me in the morning. Avoid rooms by the cleaner closet, where staff make noise getting things early in the day. The “don’t disturb” sign was ignored most times. Once, a cleaner opened my door and came in ten minutes before checkout while the sign was still up. Breakfast wasn’t good. The coffee machines were turned off right at 10:00. Vegetable choices were limited, for example you could have tomatoes or cucumbers, not both, and there wasn’t much variety of fruit either. The juices tasted watered down, with only a faint juice flavor.

It’s a good location close to metro stations. Don’t be nervous about taking the metro, it’s easy to figure out and good value for getting around the city. When we asked to switch rooms, staff handled it promptly. They did struggle, though, to quiet noisy guests in the hallways after 11 pm, several nights in a row.