For some reason, I’ve always preferred Hong Kong Island over Kowloon but maybe only because I’ve never stayed on the other side. I hate searching for hotels by foot so we took a cab from the MTR and was surprised when the driver seemed to be going in the opposite direction from where I expected the hotel to be. And then it dawned on me that I booked the wrong Butterfly hotel, I had meant to book Butterfly on Morrison but booked Butterfly on Hollywood instead. Ooops.
Not much I can do since I’ve already paid the whole stay, cancelling would mean forfeiting one night. The facade of the hotel seems promising and it seems to be in a nice street, most of the stores seems to be trendy furniture/interior decor stores.
I felt even better when I entered the lobby, small but tastefully decorated — reception counter on the left, chairs on the right, 2 Macs on a high table for their internet/business centre, a short spiral staircase to get to the lifts, beautiful christmas tree. They made the lobby feel airy and bigger by using glass walls.
Being on Hollywood street, the boutique hotel lived up to the same theme. I especially liked the hallway to the lifts — red carpet, painting of photographers and then they smartly added strobe lights so it gives you the illusion of being snapped by paparazzi as you walk and wait for the lifts.
Brownie point 1 for this hotel is they allowed early checkin! They did tell us that the room will not have a queen sized bed but just 2 twin beds put together, we didn’t mind as there is normally no difference. Brownie point 2 is they upgraded us to a hollywood deluxe room (not much difference except additional 20sqft but still an upgrade is an upgrade).
Up to the rooms we go!
The lift opens into a directors chair setup in each floor’s lobby (pretty cute). The rest of the hallway is lit in purple neon lights and the walls have academy award winners listed. The neon-esque ambiance reminds me of a motel and while it doesn’t bother me much, it’s the least that I like of the place.
Like what you would expect in Hong Kong, the room is small. It was however a bit bigger than I expected. So now for the good, the bad, and the ugly…
The room has a trendy design — the celebrity collage and the reel mirrors are a good touch. It’s also equipped with a 40″ flat screen, iphone/ipod dock, personal fridge (smaller than the usual version), safe, hairdryer (though it seems to only have cool and warm settings), and water kettle (for complimentary coffee & tea). Free high-speed wifi is also available anywhere in the hotel and you can connect all your devices!
Now, what are the things that don’t bother me but might bother others? There’s no real bath — shower/toilet looks makeshift like it should have been the dresser (tall and big people will struggle with this one!). The sink is outside the makeshift cabinet in between the fridge/safe and coffee/tea making facility. No dresser, just space with a bar, hangers, and luggage rack.
This is me nitpicking but the elevators are a bit slow… but that does give you decent time to muck around.
Totally enjoyed my stay in this boutique hotel and I will probably be looking at booking Butterfly property every time we’re in HK.
