Having read so many excellent reviews about the Island Shangri-La, I thoroughly expected to enjoy my 3-night stay here. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Let's start with the positives. The hotel itself is housed in a very modern and striking facility, shared by several office buildings. The location is great for shopping and for exploring the city. We felt that the lobby was very spacious and pleasing to the eyes. No faults there, but that was only the surface of the hotel.

My feeling towards the Island Shangri-La is that it's all style and no substance. Upon a long flight from Los Angeles, we were tired and fully expected a quick check-in. This was not the case, as not only did we have to carry our own luggage but also rudely told to wait in a fairly long line. To add insult to injury, our room wasn't even ready when we asked. They offered to give us a room with a city view, but we declined. We had booked one of the harbour view rooms and did not want to leave with anything less. The staff member who handled our check-in seemed kind of put-off by our adamance and grumbled to himself. Not exactly the attitude we were expecting for a 5-star hotel!

After waiting 20 minutes, we were finally called and led up to our room by a bellhop. He offered with false graciousness to carry my wife's suitcase, yet left me holding my rather bulky briefcase. I was hesitant about giving him a tip after this ignorance, but he refused to leave the room when I did not. My wife had to pass off a $HK 50 bill before he left us alone. The room itself was nice enough, although not as elegant as some of Hong Kong's other luxury hotels. And the harbour view was not nearly as nice as those of the hotels along Tsim Sha Tsui, namely the Peninsula and InterContinental. The decor was also rather ambiguous. An odd mix of Oriental and Western stylings that didn't seem nearly as successful as its leading competitors. Not nearly as elegant or tasteful either.

Our two dining experiences at the hotel were memorable but far from exceptional. Dinner at Summer Palace and Restaurant Petrus, two of the most popular restaurants in the hotel, was overpriced and not worth it. One can find much better restaurants in Hong Kong for those prices in their respective categories. For Cantonese cuisine, we prefer Spring Moon and Man Wah at the Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental. For French cuisine, Gaddi's and Pierre at (again) the Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental are our top picks.

After our terrible stay, we doubt that we'll ever return to the Island Shangri-La. Which is a shame, since we fully expected to be blown away by the hotel as the reviews here suggested. Next time, I'm sticking with the venerable Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental.

From the reviews on this hotel I expected to be blown away with an amazing hotel experience but left a little disappointed.

On arrival I was disappointed by the decor being somewhat dated my todays standards. It wasn't run down, but just dated. My bags were promptly delivered to my room and followed shortly afterwards by a welcome pot of tea. Complimentary fruit was also provided during my stay.

Rooms are a good size by HK standards. Quality bathroom toiletries (L'occitane). Bed linen and comfort very good. Slightly noisy air conditioning (rattling vent). Work desk was well lit with desk lamp and fortunately they also had several international power sockets (I had left my converter behind). LCD TV in room plus a small TV in bathroom.

Good quality buffet breakfast at usual high 5-star hotel prices. Chinese restaurant on the bottom floor was fantastic but pricey.

Gym was well appointed. Home made lemonade was refreshing after a workout. I also enjoyed a good quality swedish massage during my stay through the Hotel's spa. Change rooms for gym also include spa, sauna and steamroom.

Location is great. Hotel is positoned above a large shopping mall with upscale stores. Short walk through mall takes you to the MTR station which is awesome. HK have the best trains in the world!

On the negative side, i had some issues with my account on checkout. My room rate included HK$500K per day credit for hotel services (food, spa treatments etc) but their computer system seemed to struggle with how this applied on bills. Took several interations to get the bill right. hotel staff were friendly and couteous through the process but it was time consuming.

My summary would be that this is a very nice hotel but it's priced higher than it deserves - even with the special rate I had.

Just returned from a trip to Hong Kong staying at this fab hotel. The rooms were luxurious and spacious, we had a standard room which had stunning views of the island. Staff extremely helpful, although on check in the receptionist seemed to be unaware of chip and pin credit cards and told us our card had been refused when in fact she had not asked us to put a number in. The hotel smelt wonderful and the facilities were brilliant. The hotel was in an excellent location at the side of the metro and which was also accessible from the lower floor of the hotel, along with a huge and very gorgeous shopping mall. We did n t have the breakfast as there were numerous places to eat close at hand and the jet lag got us on the way out so we would have slept through it anyway. Highly recommend this hotel

Just got back from 2 night stay at this hotel. I did vow never to stay at another Shangri-La after a very bad experience in KL Malaysia (I checked out the same night to the Mandarin across the road and nobody at reception even batted an eyelid). Having given them a 2nd try and in another country I thought I'd be safe but quickly started to realise that was wishful thinking...don't get me wrong it COULD be a great hotel because the investment's there and the facilities are great but in my opinion it all comes down to staff training.
If your staff are not properly trained and are unable to do the basic stuff consistently well then there's no point in trying to deploy all the fancy nice little touches because by that time your guest is thoroughly hacked off (take note senior management if you're reading).
For me it all started to go wrong when at 13:50 our 2pm check-in time was unavailable due to our 2 rooms still being cleaned; when I re-checked at 2:20pm the receptionist told me "I will check right away and come and update you in the looby, where I was forced to wait and take a very posh coffee (not complimentary). At 2:50pm I had to go to reception AGAIN (by this time less than happy and feeling rather meaningless) and was told by the receptionist and the front desk manager that we could have the keys but the rooms were still being hoovered.
Ok no problem (at least we had the keys!!) so we finished our coffees and went up about 15 minutes later when we were assured that our luggage would be waiting for us. Fortunately the cleaners had finished but I had to call down and chase the luggage.
Again at breakfast a similar story...my plate was cleared by 1 waiter and my dirty cutlery taken off my plate and placed by my
side for re-use...my colleague sat opposite me had his cleared by another waiter and the cutlery taken away at the same time???
They appeared paranoid about you signing the breakfast bill too so that was dumped under our noses mid breakfast a bit like a road side cafe`/diner.
Anyway pause for a deep breath and sigh... the Shangri-La has the potential and the assets to be a lot better than it really is which is frustrating. I suggest they send all their staff to the Mandarin Bangkok to attend their in house training school then we might really see a true 5 star hotel instead of a wanna be one.

If you're travelling on business or it's just a 1 night stop over you should be ok; if you're on a special trip and want a bona fide luxury 5 star experience with impeccable service and all the trimmings I suggest you research a more serious player.