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A great transit hotel at HKG
When we booked our $600 roundtrip tickets in business class to Bangkok for the weekend we knew we’d have to stay the night in Hong Kong on the way back. There were a few options that would have facilitated avoiding this option, but with a limited time window to book and limited vacation time for my girlfriend, if things went sideways getting out of Hong Kong we’d have plenty of options to get back home worst case scenario. Enter…the SkyCity Marriott which is located at the Hong Kong airport.
If you have a long layover during the day I would highly recommend venturing into the city, but if you have a layover that you’d like to get a night’s sleep and eliminate transiting into the city, this is a great option.
Stay Details:
- When: August 2018
- Where: Hong Kong Airport, HKG
- Loyalty: Marriott Rewards ( Now Bonvoy )
- Category: Category 5, 35k points, or free night cert
- Cost: $160
Getting to the Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott
The hotel sent me the following map with instructions. There was a part of me that thought we could walk it, but arriving after midnight…wasn’t going to happen. It would be quite a hike in the daylight and tons of construction.
- Go to Counter B05 at Arrival Hall B Terminal 1
When you get here you’ll wait and hop on a bus.
Check-in
If you’re arriving late at night, I would highly recommend mobile check-in regardless, but particularly if you’re on a crowded bus late at night. Look at that line. Luckily, I pulled up the app walking into the lobby and checked us in. We were in the room within 10 mins.
The Lobby in the daylight:
The hotel has sweeping views of the airport, a great lobby bar vibe, and
The Room:
I was really impressed. Far from the typical airport hotel, I’d put SkyCity on par with the Grand Hyatt DFW, but shy of the Crowne Plaza Singapore. Nonetheless, it was a nice room with a big flat screen. We had roughly 8 hours before we’d need to head back to the airport.
A nice full bathroom, robes, and modern aesthetic. In fact, I would have been happy with this hotel in just about any location for $160 a night.
Gym, spa, and pool
There was a lot of people in the gym and using the pool when I swung by, and no one wants some dude carrying a stuffed monkey taking pictures of them while they swim so the hotel pics will have to suffice. It was a solid facility though and one if I had longer to enjoy I would have done so.
Overall:
I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again while transiting, and its a category 5 hotel which means you can use free night certificates acquired through cobranded credit cards issued from Amex and Chase. There is an executive lounge, but my status would gain us admission and given the limited amount of time we had I don’t known that we would have used it much anyway. The room was modern, uber comfortable, and had a massive TV which can come in VERY handy if you’re jetlagged. The integration of a plush spa, fitness center, and pool make overcoming jetlag a bit easier.
Personally, I think this hotel would be best used arriving between 8 and 9pm and departing the next day between 10 and 11. A layover that isn’t long enough to make sense of going into the city, but long enough that you need somewhere to rest.
- Los Angeles International Lounge
- Hong Kong Airlines Business Class A350 Los Angeles to Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Airlines business class lounge – Club Autus
- American Express Centurion Lounge – Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Airlines A330 Business Class Hong Kong to Bangkok
- Waldorf Astoria Bangkok during its soft opening
- What it’s like eating in Asia’s #1 Restaurant – Gaggan
- Bangkok’s floating markets – Dumnoen
- Diora Spa – Thai massage and Ayurvedic treatments
- Peninsula Bangkok – Grand Deluxe Suite with River View
- Smalls Bar – the hidden Sathorn IT bar
- Miracle Lounge Bangkok BKK
- Sky City Marriott Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Airlines Business Class A350 Hong Kong to Los Angeles
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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