After an incredible night’s stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong I needed to switch hotels. While I loved the Ritz-Carlton I simply couldn’t afford spending two nights on the property. I paid 70,000 Marriott points for a single night stay and cash rates were in excess of $500/night. Instead of burning even more Marriott Rewards points I instead decided to book a much more affordable hotel.
When searching for hotels I quickly realized just how expensive hotels in Hong Kong are. If you’re willing to go into mainland China (and have the proper travel visa) hotel rates are significantly more affordable. However, I don’t have a China visa so I had to stay in Hong Kong. As I searched for hotels I couldn’t find many properties for under $200/night.
Eventually I discovered The Mira Hong Kong. The property stuck out for two primary reasons. The first reason I loved this property was the price. Nightly rates at The Mira averaged about $190 a night which was extremely reasonable for Hong Kong. Secondly, the property is a member of Design Hotels which is affiliated with the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program. As I maintain SPG Gold status from my American Express Platinum card I would be able to enjoy several elite benefits when staying at the property. Once I realized how perfect this hotel would be I didn’t hesitate to book.
Arriving At The Mira Hong Kong
One of the things that stuck out about this property when I was booking my stay was the location. The Mira Hong Kong is located directly across the street from Kowloon Park in the TST area of Hong Kong. This part of Hong Kong is full of tourists and big brand name shops, but is also a great place to get familiar and comfortable with Hong Kong.
Getting to the hotel is easy enough by car, but the property is also very easy to reach by public transit. If arriving from the airport all you need to do is take the Airport Express into Central Hong Kong. From there, you must transfer to the Tsuen Wan Line headed for Tsim Sha Tsui Station. After you exit the train at the Tsim Sha Tsui Station it’s just a short walk to the stunning entrance to the hotel.
The hotel resides within the larger Mira Place shopping mall and is accessible from the mall. However, arriving guest should use the front entrance to more easy reach the hotel’s reception desk.
Checking In To The Mira Hong Kong
As you enter the property the same wavy design featured on the exterior of the building continues within. Just after passing through the main entrance the hotel’s reception desk is straight ahead and impossible to miss.
Just before reaching the hotel reception desk there is a small cafe to the right.
To the left and behind the hotel reception desk is a second smaller restaurant.
Between both dining areas are the hotel reception desks. Checking in went extremely smoothly given that I had already pre-paid my night stay. However, I was still required to put down a credit card for a deposit. It seems all hotels in Hong Kong require a refundable deposit of a few hundred HKD for incidentals during your stay.
As I was checking in the hotel receptionist informed me that I had been upgraded to a City View room with a view of Kowloon Park thanks to my SPG Gold elite status. I maintain SPG Gold status from my American Express Platinum card and typically only stay at SPG properties a few times each year. Even though I rarely stay at SPG properties I still get the same benefits who earn SPG Gold by staying at SPG properties each year.
Finding My Room Within The Mira Hong Kong
Although I booked a Studio Room I had been upgrade to a City View Room which featured a little extra space and a better view of Kowloon Park. After checking in I made my way to the 10th floor of the property to find my room.
As I exited the elevator I found a small lobby with a decorative sculpture and a hotel phone.
The hotel features a traditional square design, however you can only access the park view rooms in one direction. My room, 1008 was quite a long walk from the elevator.
The hotel hallways are lined with a dark, black, reflective surface and are dimly lit. It makes it a bit difficult to see exactly where you are going as you try to find your room.
Eventually however I finally found my hotel room for the night, room 1008.
The room numbers are found on the backlit panels located next to each door. There are also traditional room numbers on the wall next to the door.
The Mira Hong Kong City View Room
Eventually I made it into the small, but impressive hotel room. As you enter the hotel room you must pass through the bathroom (more on that in a minute) to enter the bedroom. As you enter the bedroom you’ll immediately find a large desk below the wall mounted television set.
Across from the desk is the king bed sits between two bedside tables adorned with decorative lamps.
The lamps next to the bed provided plenty of light at night while not overwhelming bright.
Next to the bed are the lighting controls for the entire room and the temperature controls. There were no US or USB outlets next to the bed which is something I’ve come to expect from more modern hotels.
On the other bedside table was the hotel phone, an alarm clock, a writing pad, and even more light switches.
The light switches on this side of the bed also came with “mood” settings which featured various preprogrammed lighting settings. One of the things I liked most about this hotel room were the subtle accent lights. There were a lot of under surface lights which provided enough light to navigate the room at night without being obnoxiously bright.
The Mira Hong Kong City View Bathroom
Perhaps the most impressive part of this hotel room was the awesome bathroom. In fact, the bathroom area took up about 1/3rd of the entire hotel room if not a bit more.
The bathroom consists of two sections. There is bathtub, toilet, and shower section which is completely enclosed by glass and the sing section which is open to the rest of the room.
Perhaps the coolest feature of this hotel room were the window shades which surrounded the bathtub. The shades could be controlled by switches next to the bathtub. You can open and close the shades, but also adjust the tilt of the shades once lowered.
With the shades completely lowered and the door to this area of the bathroom closed the bathtub, toilet, and shower are completely private to the rest of the room.
Next to the bathtub is the toilet and shower.
I personally like when hotels offer this setup because it’s possible to turn the entire room into a relaxing steam-room of sorts.
Just outside of the smaller enclosed room is the sink and vanity. Next to the sink is a sliding tabletop which featured a small tray of various amenities. This tabletop could be moved to completely cover the sink to provide ample countertop space which isn’t otherwise available.
On the small tray were two complimentary bottles of water, a box of tissues, and a few amenities. This area of the bathroom also featured a 110v outlet for a hairdryer which also worked for US devices.
The Mira Hong Kong City View Room Features
Within the room there were also a few other items which were impressive given the small size of the hotel room. First, hidden beneath the large desk was a (locked) mini-fridge.
Next to the fridge was an electric kettle. Right above the mini-fridge was a drawer which was filled with drinkware, utensils, a bottle opener, a few snaks, and various packets of tea.
On the counter of the desk was a QWERTY keyboard which connected to the television. Also on the desk when arriving to the room were two packages of complimentary biscuits.
Next to the biscuits was perhaps the most impressive feature of the room.
Each Mira Hotel room came complete with a WiFi Buddy. This little hotspot was in addition to the hi-speed WiFi found throughout the hotel. You could take this hotspot with you when exploring the city so you’d have WiFi on the go.
I love this feature when traveling, although I have international cell service thanks to my T-Mobile One plan. Most Design Hotel’s offer connectivity items like this. During my stay at a Design Hotel in Paris the room came with a Samsung Smartphone instead of a hotspot.
In one of the other drawers of the large desk was the hotel safe and an emergency flashlight. I rarely use the hotel safe, but I thought the flashlight was useful feature in case of emergency.
The Mira Hong Kong Fitness Center And Spa
Located in the basement of the hotel is the impressive fitness center and spa.
As you exit the elevator it’s a short walk to the incredible basement pool.
When I reached the entrance to the pool and fitness center the host informed me that I could not take pictures in this area. There were guests swimming and working out so I was not allowed to take photos. However, here are a few stock photos of the space from the hotels website.
The pool and hot tub are beneath a ceiling of ever changing LED lights. The entire space is quite impressive and above is the view as you enter the Mira Spa and fitness center.
The fitness center isn’t all that large (appears larger thanks to the placement of mirrors), but offers all of the exercise equipment you need when traveling.
Exploring Hong Kong
As I mentioned, the Mira Hong Kong is in an incredible location. From the property you can walk to several incredible sights of Hong Kong.
As you walk around TST you’ll find several streets that have more of a mainland China feel.
After just a few minutes of walking you’ll quickly find much more open areas of Hong Kong to explore.
Then, just a little bit further you’ll quickly reach the Hong Kong clock tower and the Avenue of Stars.
From the Clock Tower you’ll find some of the most impressive views of Hong Kong available at ground sea level.
After stopping at the Clock Tower it was time to head back to the hotel. I decided to walk up Canton Road which is essentially the 5th Avenue of Hong Kong.
Toward the beginning of Canton Road is this wonderful outdoor shopping mall which resembles Rodeo Drive. Further North are shops which more closely resemble storefronts found on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.
Finally, after exploring Canton drive I cut through Kowloon Park, formerly the Walled City of Hong Kong, to head back to the Mira Hong Kong.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely loved my say at the Mira Hong Kong. The hotel is fantastic, but the location was perfect for exploring Hong Kong. While the hotel is located in a somewhat touristy part of Hong Kong, the hotel is also very close to public transportation so it’s easy to get nearly anywhere around Hong Kong quickly.
Another thing I loved about this hotel was the bathroom. Not only was the bathroom very attractive, but it also offered a lot of privacy not found in other glass enclosed hotel bathrooms. With the shades drawn and sliding door closed you can separate the bathroom from the rest of the hotel room. This is great for people traveling together who aren’t romantic partners. Often hotels seem to fail to realize that the people who share hotel rooms don’t always want to see the other person nude.
I would definitely stay at this hotel again in the future. While the rooms are a bit on the small side, the price is unbeatable. Besides, when in Hong Kong I doubt you’ll be spending much time in your hotel room anyway as there is so much to see!
