Mongkok luxe

Hong Kong will have yet another five star hotel, but this one will be the first of its kind to be located in Mongkok, an area often associated with cheap fake goods and general seediness. In tourismspeak, Mongkok is "gritty" and "authentic". The Langham Place Hotel opens on 1 August and comes with a brand new shopping mall too. There's also an office tower too but did I mention the SHOPPING?

Reports say that there will be a Seibu department store, UA cinema, another 300 shops and something called Digital Sky which sounds tacky but crowdpleasing. Best of all, there is direct access to the mall from the MTR station so you never ever have go outside. Because this is Hong Kong and having a fair complexion is really really important if you want to go somewhere in life and it is compulsory to carry an umbrella whenver you are outdoors.

The Langham Place Hotel website also has a special introductory offer of HK$888 per night until October 2004 which is a bloody good deal.  However, looking at the travel industry rate confirmed my suspicions about the sort of wonderful discounts they get. Sweet sweet perks. 

At this point, this hotel looks like a better alternative to the newly opened Le Meridien Cyberport which is in the middle of nowhere. And at least it's open for business unlike the the self-described six-star Four Seasons Hong Kong that was scheduled to open in mid-2004, no wait, early 2005, hang on no, maybe mid-2005.