last minute

another random thought occured to me today, in fact, just 2 hours ago.

anyway, one of my pal is not getting married after all in december (luckily i called to check) and ok, i am actually kindda issed cos mum and i had wanted to go to hong kong in end december and stay in the lovely sheraton again a la 2005 but cos that fren was supposed to get hitched. so, in the end we decided to not go anywhere this year.

And, since my taipei trip fell through i was looking around various websites and chanced upon a deal by cathay for a round trip to hong kong in january for only 608 per person inc. taxes. Kindda a deal but hotel was the pain. Sheraton no longer has any rooms available for their promotion and that means if i wanna get my SPG (starwood preferred guest, not my alter ego, the sarong party guy) points, i have to choose the le meridien cyberport in the far fetched remote corner on hong kong island: read, bad location. so i had to loof for other alternatives and cso its soooo darn last mnute, all the better hotels cost horribly expensive for a room that is less than expansive.

anyway, i managed to shorten my chioces to either excelsior (managed by the posh madarin oriental group) or express by holiday inn (a lower end extension by hoiday inn) both of which are located on hong kong island (in my countless times to hong kong, i have always stayed at the Kowloon side). The excelsior is selling at 1500 HKD per night and express at 1300 HKD both exc taxes and i decided to go for the lower class express because the location is superb. It's smack besides Times Square at Causeway Bay meaning I have lots f things to do to entertain myself. And at 1300, its a steal compared to Sheraton's 3000 nightly rate! I remembered a time when I stayed at Sheraton for only 1700 per night and that has a "stay 4 nights get 2 nights free" promo which unfortch is not available this time round.

Anyway, Express is a good choice given that breakfast are ncluded everyday and the MTR is just below the hotel. The website on holiday inn is bare mnimun true to the express brand name, and i trust the brand name cos I once stayed in an express in Spain before (akin to accor's ibis brand) and had a good experience. Besides, the hotel s relatively new having only started operations this year and the room looks nice and simple. though of corse it lacks the overall omph factor of sheraton...

So i will be gone for my annual shopping trip from jan1 to 5 and hopefully, i can get some nice stuff...