Our 3 night stay at the Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel in Hong Kong was part of an extension package we purchased as part of our group tour visit to China. Overall our stay at this hotel was very pleasant and enjoyable.

Negative: The hotel is designed as a cube with the center cut out for an airshaft. Rooms face out on four sides of this cube, but there is also one row of rooms that overlook into the airshaft (kind of like an inside cabin on a cruise ship). This means that only two sides of the cube have any view of the Hong Kong skyline and harbor. And the other two sides will face directly into other office buildings. But for the unluckly few whose rooms face the airshaft, you will view pretty much nothing at all (see photo). So when you reserve a room, be sure you know what you are getting as far as window views.

Positives: Other than the "inside cabin" issue, the comfort and amenties about this hotel are very positive. The rooms are large and would easily sleep 4 in 2 queen sized beds (see photos). The built-in cabinetry to house the drawers and other room amenties were nicely maintained. Service personnel from housekeepers, desk clerks and the concierge were all excellent and spoke English with no problem.

The lobby is beautiful and was quite busy with both tour groups and business people. Staff were on hand to answer questions and to offer suggestions.

Our package included a great daily buffet breakfast which other reviewers have already highlighted. The wait staff were efficient, the dining room overlooked the harbor, and the food selection was very good and included both western and asian breakfast dishes.

We thoroughly enjoyed using the rooftoop outdoor swimming pool ... a bit small, but not busy during our stay. There are very comfortable cabanas and sun loungers on the rooftop deck and service personnel willing to provide room service. The work out gym was small and there was no spa or sauna.

Access to the HK Museum of History or the HK Science Museum was less than a 5 minute walk, and the immediate area did indeed have a large variety of asian and western restaurants and bakeries. There is a Ruth Chris Steak House and an Outback Steak House a block away, as well as a huge selection of Chinese restaurants. The Circle K and 7-11 marts were also a block away in case we wanted to purchase sodas or waters (hotel charges were outrageous for sodas).

The subway station (Tsim Sha Tsui East) was about 5 minutes away and accessed the major lines to take us further up Nathan Road to visit the night markets and to get us to HK Disneyland. The hotel is also along the waterfront promenade that leads to the Star Ferry, the Avenue of the Stars, the HK Space Museum, the HK Museum of Art and the HK Cultural Center within a 15 minute stroll.

Taxis are inexpensive and plentiful in Kowloon as well. We used the taxi to get us to the huge Ocean Terminal shopping center in Kowloon. We then caught the Harbor light show at 8 PM and then leisurely walked back to our hotel.

Would I stay here again? Yes as long as I get a harbor view room. It is a very nice hotel in a very pleasant location away from the traffic, noise and crowds of Nathan Road in Kowloon.

I upgraded to a harbour view room. Well worth the extra $ when staying a week. Great to watch harbour traffic in early morning with a coffee and a free newspaper and I never got tired of the night lights across the harbour. Pool was a welcome oasis during hot July days
Only had 2 breakfasts in hotel. Lots of selection but staff very busy and not so attentative. Had the Hungarian Gulash for lunch one day and it was delicious. Ditto for the afternoon tea.
Lots of nice restaurants in the area ranging from Thai to Italian to the Aussie outback. Coffee shops and delis for snacks and breakfast also handy.
I was hesitant having read reviews about out of the way locale but I ( even being close to 60 ) could make the walk to the Nathan street metro in about 10 minutes. Use the undergrand subway with moving sidewalks outside Shangri La to escape having to walk outside.
Taxi to Star Ferry less than $20 HK.
My only complaint which was brought to the attention of management ( but I never received a reply) was the tour sold by the independent operator in the lobby to Lantau. Able Tours also never responded.

Stayed for two nights. Check was ok but not the same friendliness we experienced at the Disneyland Hotel. Room was nice with a bad view - looked into an office block.
When we checked in we requested transport to the hotel when we leave. We paid and everything was confirmed. On our departure when we got on the bus, we were requested tickets. Nothing was given to me by the hotel. I had to rush back, stand in a long queue before I could get my tickets. I felt so humiliated us the whole bus was delayed by about 30 minutes because someone at the hotel forgot to gave our tickets.
Everything was else was average

We stayed five night at the Grand Stanford on two visits as stopovers on the way to and from the USA in June/July 2008. We took an airport shuttle bus from the airport direct to the hotel, which was relatively cheap, but so very easy early in the morning in a strange country. This is well advised.

On arrival we were checked in within 10 minutes, on both visits, and straight to our room, even though check-in was advised as 2-00pm. This was excellent as we had travelled all night on the red-eye with our 5 year old daughter. After a really great shower, we headed off to the Rendezvous Restaurant for the buffet breakfast. What a feast. And service from waiting staff is so good. The cost was HK$180 each for adults, and HK$135 for kids. There is a huge food selection, cereals of all kinds, milk of all kinds, many fruit juices, a large cooked selection including sausages, eggs, tomatoes, fish, rice, noodles etc. There is also a great choce of cold meats, fish and cheeses, and selection of breads and rolls/bagels for toasting, and fresh fruit and yoghurts. Great value as you can really have a feast and set yourself up for a good day of sightseeing.

We had a cheapo room with 2 double beds and a city view first time, but were upgraded to harbour view second trip. Both were very nicely furnished with comfortable beds, excellent marble tiled bathrooms and plasma TVs. The Movies were quite expensive at $98 per film. Mini bar also not cheap as you would expect, but we bought beer, chocolate and water at the 7/11 shop down the road and put it in the fridge, and put the hotel's stuff back in as we left!!! The room was cleaned and the beds made each day. We opted not to have clean sheets every day to save unnecessary costs, a good option offered by the hotel we thought.

My daughter and I adored the gorgeous roof top pool and sundeck. It is very nicely maintained and clean, and there is a waiter service bar for a freezing cold Heineken or two!! The pool is quite large and the water was warm enough to not freeze you, but cool enough to be refreshing in the heat and humidity. And the sunbeds are excellent quality timber with big thick cushions on..... a great way to spend a couple of hours.

The hotel is in a great spot on the harbour, with a 5 minute walk to TST MTR station, and another 5 minutes along the harbour front "Walk of the stars" to the ferry terminal, shops and a great light show viewing area.This area of Kowloon offers a brilliant view of Honk Kong Island, the skyscrapers, harbour boats and cruise ships, and the mountains etc. Quite spectacular. All around the TST area is very clean with an army of cleaners out at all hours cleaning up the small amount of litter dropped (big fines for littering/smoking in Hong Kong!!! Excellent!!!) Also here there are many museums and other attractions. Taxis are also very cheap and easy as there are billions of them.

Altogether an excellent hotel, nicely presented with a great foyer area, bar and restaurants. And not excessively expensive compared to the facilities offered by other hotels. We will definitely stay again on our next trip to HK.