I have been searching for a harbor view room at the Intercontinental for months. The rates keep going up rather than down, currently at ~ 350 USD. Does anyone have a suggestion for another hotel, perhaps with an upgrade room that will produce a similar view? There aren't too many places whose rates are higher than the IC right now. By the way, I am going for 5 nights in mid-November. Thanks.

The IC is at the tip of the Kowloon Peninsula. So, we can just look at what hotels are next to it...

Hotels closest to the IC, and have more or less the same views are:
- YMCA Salisbury
- Peninsula
- Sheraton

To the west of the above, and faces WSW rather than straigh south is:
- Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel
- Royal Pacific (which is quite far away from the Star Ferry)

To the east of the IC in the Tsimshatsui East district, and have a view that faces SE rather than straight south are (from closest to more distant):
- Kowloon Shangri-La
- IC Grand Stanford (was Crowne Plaza)
- Hotel Nikko

And even further to the east in the Hung Hom district is:
- Harbour Plaza

Parrothead-have you looked at Pacific Delight Tours to Hong Kong? They have a number of hotels, including the IC, with air fare (traveling on Cathay Pacific-a good airline), transfers, sightseeing for $1468 air and land from LAX, and just $1568 out of NYC. If you figure around 700USD for air fare, then that works out to a little less than 150USD for the room at the IC, plus you get transfers and sightseeing (which is optional). I'm thinking of using them for a trip to Hong Kong myself, because I don't think I could do better putting a package together on my own, during the time period I want to go. They do individualized tours as well-perhaps if you contact them they could work out the harbor view room for you. www.pacificdelighttours.com is the website.

Parrothead, you've asked an excellent question. The view of the harbour from the Kowloon side is one of the great city sights in the world, one that you'll remember for a long, long time. (I've spent hours just staring at it from my hotel room!)

You can also get an unobstructed view of the harbour from the Kowloon Shangri-La. This is an excellent hotel, and it was fully refurbished last year. The location isn't quite as good as the IC -- it's about a 5-minute walk from the Shangri-La to the IC. The Stanford is another 3 or 4 minutes away and is less expensive, but its harborview rooms are all at an odd angle, unlike the Shangri-La, which all face the harbour and HK Island directly.

The view from the Marco Polo & Royal Pacific are totally inferior. Also, while the Sheraton is only a short distance from the harbour, the IC hotel sits between the Sheraton and the water. Thus, "harbour-view" room from lower floors on the Sheraton area have an excellent view of the IC, but not much of a view of the harbour. (Same for the YMCA.)

Also be very wary of hotels offered by tours: be certain that the hotel rooms are explicitly harbour-view. Every hotel in HK that offers harbour-view rooms also has rooms with no harbour view (possibly excepting the Stanford IC, where all of the rooms might have an angled harbour view).

Also note that with packages, the rates are per person. For example, the package cited by Airlaw: for two people traveling together, that would make the rates at the IC US$300 a night. Sometimes you can get the stated rate for one person, but usually there is a large single supplement. And I agree that with packages, you'll get the least desirable room they can find.

PS I've stayed at the Kowloon Shangri-La and it's a lovely hotel. They also have a fabulous French restaurant (with the harbor view) for a very special meal.

The poster did not indicate whether he/she was looking for a single, so I assumed that it was for two persons, in which case the rates offered by Pacific Delight Tours, including transfers and taxes, would be a considerably better value than what has been found thus far. And believe it or not, you can sometimes work out things like a harbor view room with an established tour company if you are willing to pay extra, or have them design individual travel for you (which I understand they do). It's certainly worth checking out-particularly when looking for a luxury hotel in Hong Kong.

No hotel in Tsimshatsui has a view that can rival the IC. The Sheraton is a large hotel that's pretty close to the IC (but not totally behind it), so the IC blocks part of the view. How much your view is blocked depends on the location of your room. Also, the IC and the Sheraton (and most buildings in Tsimshatsui) are of the same height. The reason the higher room floors are better is that if you're too low, then your view will also be blocked by the buildings in the Cultural Centre on the waterfront.

The YMCA is much further to the West, so its main view isn't blocked by the IC.

The new tower of the Peninsula rises above almost everything in the Tsimshatsui area, so if your room is high enough, you won't care if it's right by the water. Nothing's going to block your view of the Hong Kong Island.

The Harbour Plaza in Hung Hom is a great hotel. We stayed in Mar last year and the room view are breathtaking. You can often get it on priceline.com.sg, not guaranteed though. I would stay there again as the shopping is fabulous in Hung Hom. It is where lots of HK locals shop and the bargains were great. The food at the little local cafes was so fresh and tempting and we saw so few tourists there. Harbour Plaza is used by Chinese Govt. for there top brass' accommodation. The pool & spa overlook the harbour also. An amazing hotel & great value. We paid around US150 per night. www.asiahotels.com have it for US175 to Oct 04.

I also stayed at the Harbour Plaza in March and agree that it is a beautiful hotel with spectacular views. Just beware that it is too far east to get a view of Central (which is what many people are looking for).

I often use www.asiahotels.com but for the Harbour Plaza found www.planetholiday.com to be cheaper (note, the initial price they give doesn't include taxes). I usually check both websites to see which has the better deal - both are very reliable and I've never had a problem booking online.

Hi Parrot.

Maybe it's not available when you're in town, but last week I booked a 21-day advance rate at the IC for a harbourview room for $203 for mid-August on their website. You have to pay in advance but it was a good deal! Hope you find a good deal!

I booked a non-refundable room at I/C in mid-June for $160 USD, about 2 months in advance. Not sure whether I got lower rate because I was I/C member. Room was suppose to be plaza view. We arrived around midnight (previously informed hotel about late plane arrival) and we were upgraded to harbor view, plus private balcony and fruit and tea. My firm also has a corporate discount with I/C and I mentioned that when I arrived. See whether this works for you. Harbor view is awesome, make sure you see the nightly laser light show at 8 pm.

Stayed at Harbour Plaza in April - paid about another US$50 for harbour view upgrade and happy hour drinks and delicious nibblies - perfect view of HK island at night- and excellent hotel. I lived on HK island for years with Kowloon view so this time stayed Kowloon side for different aspect.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I am pretty set on the IC harbor view since this week will be special for hubby & me. Airfare is already booked so I cannot get a hotel only tour package from any company I have talked to so far. The rate on the IC website hasn't changed in 2 months, currently 294 USD without taxes. I'll continue to search though.

Parrothead - could you mail me offline at [email protected] ? I've got some information that you might find useful but that I'd rather not put on the forum.

You should give serious consideration to the new executive harbour view rooms at the Kowloon Shangri La. The hotel has recently undergone a top top bottom makeover.It is right on the harbour front and offers unobstructed views of the harbour. I find it a lot more an inviting hotel than the IC, which I find a bit cold.