Mrs. Selfish and I arrived bleary-eyed and jetlagged at the Hong Kong International Airport at 6:30am, from our 11:30pm flight from San Francisco. After hitting the showers and grabbing a cup of coffee in Cathay Pacific’s Arrival lounge we jumped in the closest cab and headed straight to our first stop, the Intercontinental Hong Kong.
Getting there and Check-in
The Intercontinental Hong Kong is located right off of the Avenue of the Stars and is pretty easy to get to. If you’re low on bags and traveling by yourself, I recommend taking the express train into town and taking a cab from there, which should run you close to $120 HKD total.
If you’re traveling in groups of two or more, a cab is probably more economical (and definitely faster), and should run you closer to $230 HKD ($30 USD). From memory, it took us around 20–25 minutes to get to the Intercontinental, since there was relatively little traffic around 7:30am.
The check-in process was smooth and quick, since I had already arranged everything via email ahead of time. We opted to book an award night for 40,000 IHG points a night instead of paying the ~$400 it would have cost. As an Ambassador member, Mrs. Selfish was granted late check-out, and two drink coupons for the bar.
Intercontinental is pretty stingy when it comes to perks, and doesn’t guarantee their Ambassador members much of anything. They are supposed to upgrade members to a better room upon check-in, but in this case we would have been upgraded to a deluxe room with a view of the Sheraton. Instead, we opted to pay to upgrade to a Superior Harbor View room for an additional $1,200 HKD a night (+10% tax), since the harbor view was the whole reason we chose to stay at the Intercontinental. Otherwise I probably would have chosen the Conrad HK, or the JW Marriott again.
Amazing skyline views of Hong Kong from the lobby.
Impressively, our room was ready at 8 in the morning, so Mrs. Selfish and I headed to our home for the next 36 hours.
Room with a View
The room was tastefully decorated and very modern. The bathroom came with a shower, bath tub, and a separate room for the toilet. The amenities were pretty standard, but nice nonetheless.
The real kicker (and the reason we booked the Intercon HK), was the view. Perched right on the Avenue of the Stars, the Intercontinental has one of the best views of the Hong Kong side of the river.
An Unfortunate Breakfast
After a night on the town, Mrs. Selfish and I woke up to a view of the cruise ship rolling by our window. Incredibly jetlagged, my stomach was not so happy from the food hangover of the previous day. While I was bad, however, Mrs. Selfish was much worse. Like, let’s end the trip, worse.
Given her condition, we decided to avoid Chinese food altogether and order in room service.
Probably not the smartest idea.
I’ve only had the “pleasure” of ordering room service from an Intercontinental once before, in Tahiti. There, $15+ got us a stone cold croque monsieur and stale, tasteless chips. Unfortunately, with limited options we decided to give it a go once again.
Mrs. Selfish ordered the British style hash, while I ordered the American platter – which consisted of 3 waffles, bacon, sausage, and eggs. With a side order of coffee, the total came to ~$50 after taxes and room service fees. Yikes!
The hash was decent, albeit overpriced, and the topping of the poached egg was excellent. The American platter (not sure what the real name is), on the other hand, was down right bizarre.
For whatever reason, all of the toppings were piled like a sandwich on top of the waffles. While delicious in concept, I found it to be a little overwhelming. Furthermore, none of the individual components stood out as being better than
Conclusion
The Intercontinental Hong Kong is a property with amazing views, but flawed service. While the room itself was nice, the premium for the location and was a little high for my liking. Additionally, the breakfast was pretty bad for cost, considering if we had stayed at a Hilton or Hyatt property we would have had breakfast included as part of the cost of the room.
Given the option, I would consider staying here at least once to experience the breathtaking harbor views, but I wouldn’t stay here repeatedly.
Tomorrow, Mrs. Selfish will talk abut some of the food we had during our 36 hours in Hong Kong.
Filed under: Accommodations, Asia, China, IHG Tagged: Hong Kong, Intercontinental Hong Kong, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
