Review: The Mira Hotel Hong Kong

All I see is "see-through" glass with these pictures.....I thought I was watching the end of "Enter the Dragon" for a second. I'll stick with Le Méridien at Computer City.....although I stay at the IC Grand Stanford.

"The level of English among the staff impressed me..." You're in Hong Kong you twat! Editors!!!!

What about Snowden?

As featured in "Citizenfour"

Surprised you didn't mention this was where all the Edward Snowden stuff went down. He leaked the docs to the reporters and did video interviews from a room exactly like yours. Could've been same room.

My dude: if you're going to post menu photos, could you please post them at a high enough resolution that they can actually be read?

Nice job with this review. The content was in depth enough and I enjoyed the description of the room with all the pictures. I thought it was comprehensive and you provided a thorough impression of the hotel and the services. I now know what this property would be like.

@Rick you sound like a bloody twat

I was so happy when my phone pinged with your weekly email review, especially when I saw you'd stayed at The Mira . My curiosity in this hotel had been piqued over the last week and your thorough photo-tour and feedback is awesome. I will absolutely stay here when I pass through HK in the spring. Thank you!

Good review but tbh sometimes you do come off as an ignorant American tourist... "The level of English among the hotel staff also impressed me"

@Chris, no that's not true. He comes off as an arrogant European tourist denigrating cultures not his own.

"the opinions expressed about my stay are entirely my own"
You forgot to write "and influenced by the free night."

So many lackluster photos. Quantity does not make up for poor photography.

Daniel is not at the level of this blog. Please erase his posts like his other arrogant & angry rant.

I believe those would be bird's/swallow's nest egg custard tarts in the last photo. While beautiful and expensive, I'm always amazed what my fellow Cantonese people will spend on just for prized, hard to find items for the texture. After all, bird's nest, like shark fin, is rather tasteless.

Did you not know Hong Kong was British until 1997?

Please stop coming to Hong Kong.

Geez, what's with all the hateful comments? Merry Christmas everyone. 🙂

Thanks for the review.

I recently stayed in Hong Kong for five nights on the way to Australia and seven nights on the way back. I am going back for close to three weeks on Chinese New Year.

I stayed at Buttefly on Prat for five on the outgoing trip and at Butterfly on Morrison on the return trip. I will stay at Butterfly on Prat for eleven nights and Butterfly on Morrison for seven nights. Cost of the stays will be a little over $2000 USD, with a cancellation provision of about two weeks prior to arrival without penalty.

I applaud your effort to educate people on this website about the range of travel issues you address.

I pay out of pocket for about 60 percent of my overseas fares and pay for all lodging. I use booking.com and get some discounts as a repeat booker. I checked Mira Kong versus Butterfly on Prat for the night of my arrival in January and see that the Butterfly on Prat is about half the cost of Mira Kong. Both are in Kowloon and offer the ambience of the location, access to ferries and the TST and East TST stations. Many hotels have access to the shuttle that goes to Kowloon Station where you can drop off checked luggage and check in up to 24 hours before a flight out.

I will try the Mira Kong at some point. Advantages over Butterfly would be the amenities within the hotel such as the restaurant and probably the bar, because Butterfly hotels don't have them. Showers and bathrooms are modern and clean. Staff behind the desk are cordial and helpful.

I get no benefits from writing about these positive experiences with the Butterfly hotels I stayed at. I love Hong Kong and can't wait to get back. It offers so much outside of the hotel that I don't see being in luxury as a plus. I love the MTR. With my elder Octopus card I probably spent less than $15 USD for ferries and subways. The Airport Express cost a little over $25 USD round trip.

Greatest city in the world with the best public transportation system I have ever seen.

I for one HATE this trend of see-through bathrooms, especially where the toilet is visible from the bed. Yes, even when my wife and I travel as a couple. Much as I love her, the thought of waking up in the middle of the night taking care of number two when she forgets to lower the blinds is...disturbing.

@MeanMeosh - I'm with you on the stupid see-through bathrooms. Maybe not quite so bad when the toilet is in a separate, opaque room. But still, what's the point?

Also, too many mirrored/reflective surfaces in the room for my tastes, although otherwise it looks pretty good.

And yes, Daniel's remark about the English of the staff is a little ridiculous,

Great review Daniel. Ignore the nonsensical criticism. Many hotels in East Asia look just like this and I love them. So much more stylish than 99% of hotels in the states. It's one of the reasons I tolerate the negatives of living in Beijing.

As an expat who lives in Hong Kong, I find these "don't you know HK was a British colony, of course their English is good" comments laughable. 1997 was nearly twenty years ago and English standards and willingness to speak English, particularly outside central HK Island, are woeful. Before I moved here I visited HK a lot and stayed at decent hotels where staff had a poor grasp of English, and while one would expect a property like the Mira to have multilingual staff, it cannot be taken for granted everywhere. Mandarin is spoken more.
The room looks fine (not a fan of see through bathrooms either), but SMALL considering the likely rates.

A gushing review due to being invited for a free night...hmmm. Well, at least he was upfront about it.

"Next to the bed there was a bright red chair, which seemed randomly placed. Ironically, that’s where I ended up sitting for most of my time in the room."

Well, that's the spot where most hotels place their non-desk chairs, especially when the desk and TV are placed on the wall opposite to the bed. So not so random, really.

I suppose it would be ironic to spend most of one's time sitting in a chair.

And this guy actually made it a point to mention the level of English among the staff. Now THAT is ironic.

SPG hotel with a lounge that is not open to 'elites'. That will cause mega confusion. They will need to sort it out quick smart.

For English being the official language of the territory (together with Mandarin and Cantonese), I always find that the locals more than struggle with their former colonizers' mother tongue.

"During my 10 day trip to Hong Kong, I stayed in four different hotels."

With how many different people?

It's amazing how many people are after authors rather than the content. People who visited Hong Kong at least once will notice that English is not really so widely spoken. And comparing Le Meridian in Cyber City with Mira is totally out of line.
Thanks for the Informative review. It is definitely fair review of this property.

Why are so many readers trying to correct, educate or admonish the writer for his comments about staff's English? Why is saying so makes him arragont? I'm Asian and if some Americans say i speak good English, it's a compliment. I'll say the same to Americans who study Chinese. Political correctness is just hypocritical and has no place in a travel report.

Another terrible post from this clueless guy. Ben, show him the door and ban him from posting again. Shocking quality consistently on everything this guy posts.

Given that English is the official language of Hong Kong, that's one hell of an ignorant statement. I wonder if the author is similarly surprised by the level of English spoken by hotel staff in the US and UK.

For me, posts like these are a waste of time. There is no way I can trust a review that was bought and paid for. To be fair, I stopped reading as soon as I saw that the hotel had paid for the review, so as long as that is up front, no great loss for me

Why not just say "I'm surprised Asian people can speak English so well" because that's how it comes across. Anyone in a professional capacity in HK will speak fluent English.

Yet again Daniel's reviews are just not up to the required standard of the site. I will not comment about the level of English spoken other than it is a shame Daniel's own command of the vernacular is so poor:

How does a table greet you?

The single most impressive comment and the World wide scoop from Daniel: "The elevators were right in the lobby"...WOW.

Unfortunately, this adolescent would have us believe he has some talent to offer....shame it is not in the written form.

I agree about the bathrooms. I avoid all hotels that have glassed-in bathrooms. If nothing else it's bad when one of you has to get up in the middle of the night to use the toilet and when you turn the light on it also lights up the sleeping area of the room. Stupid design, why are so many hotels doing this?

I had a remarkably different experience on my paid stay at the Mira, unfortunately.

It all started with the booking process, where I had selected a room with the Kowloon Park view. In the comments section, I specifically noted I wanted a king bed. Not once did the hotel confirm the king bed. Nor did they offer a solution such as booking a different room grade. At check in, I was told rooms with king beds were all gone. I was offered an "upgrade" to a suite if I agreed to buy a bottle of champagne (Moet). Since I value the king bed, I agreed to buy a bottle of Moet, but only to find out the "upgraded" room did not have the Kowloon Park view. I called reception and they told me suites with Kowloon Park view were not available.

Yes, the hotel's interior design is modern and snazzy, but seemed to be overdone to me. Look closely and you'll notice materials used are not hard-wearing, and seem used and tired. My room's bathroom ambient music did not work. I did not get a jar of bath salts next to my bath tub. My shower amenities were Mira branded and were rather awful for a hotel at this level.

Overall, I was rather disappointed by the hype of the Mira. One stay was enough for me.

Huge fan of the blog. Not of reviews like this. When a stay is free there is simply no way to be impartial. I look to this blog for reviews that have no bias. This isn't it. Lucky, this content just isn't on brand for you. Yes, I know I can simply not read the articles which don't interest me. My point is about your (Lucky) overall brand. Anything on your site is a representation of you, regardless of the author. You and your website are better than this. It reads like the review of TGI Friday's I wrote for my high school newspaper...when I was 16...after they comped my meal. Might as well print the press release from the hotel.

Staying at the Mira Hong Kong right now and find it to be subpar in almost every way . Furniture is worn, bed has stains, tacky decor, very low ceilings, non-existent service and zero SPG platinum benefits. I wouldn't stay here again even if it was free. One of the worst hotels I've ever visited. Yuck!