Thanks, Elainee! The rate I found on their site includes breakfast in the lounge, so that must be the bar area. It does not mention a buffet, I was just expecting one like at the other top Asian hotels I've visited.

I can save 300$HK if I just go for the room and forget the breakfast. (4200$HK room alone vs 4500$HK for the B&B)

I do have the direct e-mail now so I can write to them and double check about breakfast.

If there is no buffet, it is not worth the 38US$ more per night!

Are there any dim sum places in the adjacent mall? Can you access the mall wiithout going outside?

I think you can access the mall without going outside from the second floor. We just went thru lobby and a few feet outside to entrance. The mall has every highend store from US, France, Italy, England. I saw very few Chinese or HK stores, but it is so big I could have missed whole sections. But lots of "Western" places for breakfast. Maybe excellent dim sum places I did not see.

Thanks again! Would you say that this was a good area for a tourist? My main interests are eating good local food, and of course, shopping, but not for those types of designer goods unless prices are a bargain and I am pretty sure this is not the case!!

I don't care about the spa, but I do care about the pool,of course. Since I'll be taking the leap to this price range, at least I should have a good location, even if I don't get breakfast!!

I've been to HK 2-3 times but last time was about 20 years ago!

I'm not the shopping person. The stuff in the mall had very high prices. I'm sure others know where to shop. But the spa in the 3s is a must. Not the treatments but the bath with the water pouring down on you when seated. No extra charge to use these spa facilities. Really relaxing and super luxury.
4s great location. Star ferry nearby. HK is all good.

OK...almost at the end of this thread...

Just received an offer from the Peninsula; rates for their (non harbor view) room are a lot less than the Four Seasons.

Question: What are the good and bad points of the Peninsula location? Are there great places to eat nearby or are they all really touristy chain restaurants in that area? Not interested in western food.

Big mistake to stay in TST?

Hi EKS,
I expect you really need Cicerone or Rkkwan to reply, but we've stayed both on Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island, I much prefer the latter, we have eaten at some good restaurants, on both, near to the Peninsula is Aqua, both Chinese and Western restaurants, but not cheap. I remember we ate on the (I think) 11th floor of the same building which was a Chinese restaurant recommended in one of Rkkwan's postings I seem to remember that we were the only westerners there! Food was good, very reasonable prices. We also ate at another mostly Chinese restaurant well known for its Peking Duck, one of Cicerones reccos I think on Kowloon side. We weren't too impressed with the area around Knutsford steps though...
We also had a good meal at the intercontintal and afternoon tea at the Peninsula was very good!
Pauline

Only a two year old thread. She's getting better. I suspect the "start a new topic" button has been deleted from her Fodors screen.

I thought this post has a "do not resuscitate" instruction.

Madam Eks,

Peninsula is a stand alone property not connected to any malls, underground etc. Only the best rooms are nice as the cheaper rooms are with no view and very small. I would opt for a lesser star hotels but in their better rooms.

Agent Hanuman: Good of you to break cover to assist one of your own. I will take your advice, as usual, and revert to the original plan, in which it appears that the Four Seasons is in the lead for the pleasure of hosting Ekscrunchy and party. One can only hope that they leave the ice cubes out of the pool in March.

"Ekscunchy and party" is a phrase that appears to be an oxymoron.

Gpanda was this to me ?
"Only a two year old thread. She's getting better. I suspect the "start a new topic" button has been deleted from her Fodors screen."
see, now I know why I'm too scared to do a trip review! but you won't scare me forever!
Pauline - snowed in in Berkshire U.K., hopefully away at end of March somewhere but not sure where!

Pauline-no, the target was Ekscrunchy herself. She has demonstrated a prediliction for reviving long dead threads dealing with past trips rather than starting a new thread about an upcoming trip. It's sort of like she's saving twine.

One is forgiven many indiscretions when filing a trip report.

Saving twine??!! Twine???? Who the heck uses that term anymore??

You should see my drawers and cabinets!

I revive the old threads when the topic is so boring and so indicative of my obsessive tendencies that I cannot bear to inflict a new topic on everyone else.

Please tell me you two know each other and this is all in jest!

sdtravels-I'm afraid that we do know each other. Most of the back and forth is in jest. The rule is that one should only tease those whom one likes. To do otherwise is a waste of precious panda time. Over the years, we have grown accustomed to the foibles of the persistent posters. These are great fuel for folly.

A string is just a peice of thread
It breaks and then the tie is dead.
But twine is strong,
However long,
And binds forever to the shed*.

*This is a referennce to a beloved domicile. The prosaic usage was forced by the requirements of rhyme.

Sorry for late reply to this revived thread.

I've spent a little more time during this trip in TST because one of my friends is staying in that area. Locals will shop and dine at Harbour City, or Knutsford Terrace. But the rest of TST seems to be a weird place. I noticed two main types of people there in the evening - tourists/shoppers from Mainland China, and southern Asians trying to sell them (and other tourists) something.

But hey, if I get a good deal at the Peninsula, I'll definitely stay there! But I'm not a big fan of some parts of TST.

We stayed at the Langham last March and it has a heated lap pool on the roof, if memory serves (didn't use it; it was cool and rainy aand I prefer sunshine swimming) We were quite pleased with the hotel. Excellent breakfasts and a decent gym. Good service. Believe we paid $250HK, which included breakfast. TA couldn't match that Internet advance-pay rate. Plus 10% service chg. Close to the Y and Peninsula. Not as swank as latter, but very nice, great TTT location.

Thank you very much, Ray and Leslie. I am currently investigating to see if I can get a travel agent to get me some kind of package at the Four Seasons. The Peninsula actually has some interesting offers in their Winter Escapes package but of course, these expire the week before we arrive in HK. For our dates, I would be "confined" to the last expensive room category.

The Langham is a good tip. I will take a look, but from Ray's comments and from what I've read, HK island is the better location.

I've stayed in both TST (former Regent Hotel and former New WorldHotel) and HK (MO) in the past but as you can see from the name changes on the hotels, my last visit was more than 20 years ago. I am amazed at how littleI remember. But I do recall that I adored HongKong and I am over the moon with excitement with the idea of returning!

I do know that the swimming pool fixation strikes others as evidence of my mild derangement. Thank you all for bearing with me all these years!!

Mild derangement? Don't sell yourself short.

EK,
We stayed at both Pen and FS on our trip in Nov/Dec. We actually liked Pen slightly better, but we splurged on Grand Harbor View room. It was worth it for us. View was amazing and saved us from looking for bars with a view as we would have our pre dinner drinks in the room with the best view in town! View from Kowloon back to HK is far superior to the other way around but then you need to ferry over to HK a lot. The ferry is fun with great views in its own right. We found the Kowloon side not so great for sight seeing etc. But you could catch ferry and be on HK side in 20 minutes. Pool at FS is best urban pool I have ever used. There are 2 pools, only one was heated in Dec. Great views and all the typical FS service. It is certainly long enough for laps which we took advantage of. Pen pool is indoors but the sun deck has great views. I thought the pool was too warm and a little cave like! It reminded me of an old YMCA pool of my youth except people wait on you hand and foot.