Hong Kong

Holidays by Destination Asia Hong Kong Accommodation 

If your budget will cover it, it is well worth staying somewhere central, ideally on Hong Kong island, though here most accommodation is expensive, or failing that on the mainland immediately to the north in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon. The main attraction of the second is shopping, likely to pall for most children. Hong Kong Island has shops if you want them, but also plenty of alternative draws, and easy access to other areas.

There is a complete range of accommodation in Hong Kong, from one or two of the very best hotels in the world, down to some of the slummiest backpacking dives imaginable. Most of the latter are in Chungking Mansions, although there are cleaner exceptions, or there is the slighter better Mirador Mansions and a choice of seven official youth hostels - although none of these will confirm if they welcome families.

The reason for the plethora of backpacking options is that even cheap hotel accommodation is not very cheap. For this reason it may be worth booking accommodation in advance with an operator whose bargaining power often achieves better prices than you can get going direct.

Although adjoining rooms are fairly common in hotels, the US configuration of two queen-sized beds, which is a cheap option for families, is less so. Furthermore, as room sizes are on the small side, standard rooms generally only have space for one extra bed and perhaps a cot so offers of two children sharing free may be less useful than it sounds. Furthermore, pricing for the extra bed is occasionally such that it would anyway be cheaper to go for a second room. Suites do exist, but generally in the most expensive hotels so are not always an answer.

Given that smoking is still very common in the Far East it is also well worth looking for somewhere which offers non-smoking rooms.

Service is still part of the culture in Hong Kong so around half of all larger hotels can arrange childcare and babysitting. Given that many hotels are basically geared to business travellers a quick check that this service is offered is probably the best way of checking that the hotel is reasonably child-friendly.
If you want to go for somewhere really outstanding, hotels welcoming children include the Ritz Carlton, the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, and the Mandarin Oriental, all in Central, or the Peninsula in Tsimshatsui. For something a little cheaper there are a number of chain hotels like the Novotels, Marriott, Grand Hyatt, Renaissance, and Ramada which also offer babysitting services, as do a large number of less internationally recognised names.

If you need accommodation right next to the airport the Regal Airport Hotel offers a play area known as a Kiddi Wonderland.