Almaty Adventure: 2nd Hong Kong Layover with review of Novotel Citygate Hotel

• Introduction
• Bangkok Layover
• Hong Kong Layover (Novotel Nathan Road & Bo Innovation)
• HKG - ICN on Asiana Business Class with visits to Krisflyer and CNAC Lounges
• Seoul Layover (Grand Ambassador Hotel)
• ICN-FRA on Asiana First Class 
• Frankfurt Layover(Ibis Frankfurt Centrum)
• FRA - ALA on Lufthansa First Class 
• Destination Almaty - Impressions
• Destination Almaty - The Attractions
• Destination Almaty - The Food
• Destination Almaty - The Hotels
• Destination Almaty - The Surprise
• ALA - FRA on Lufthansa First Class
• 2nd Frankfurt Layover
• FRA - BKK on Thai First Class with Lufthansa First Class Lounge visit
• BKK - HKG on Thai First Class
• 2nd Hong Kong Layover with review of Novotel Citygate Hotel
• Conclusion

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We arrived into Hong Kong around 10pm and our flight back home to Penang will not be until 7.30 pm the next day. Instead of staying in town, we decided to just stay at the nearby Novotel Citygate Hotel which we had stayed before on our trip to Russia. Since the price for a regular room was relatively high at close to $180 USD a night, we decided to use our free night that comes with the Accor Advantage Plus program. On top of that, we paid a top up of $50 USD for an upgrade to an executive room since it comes with free internet and breakfast which covered the $50 USD.

The hotel provides a free shuttle from the airport and the trip took a relatively long 30 minutes including wait time for the shuttle. Upon check-in at the main lobby, we were informed that we should check-in on the executive floor. The check-in experience at the executive floor could have been better as we were made to stand while waiting for the lounge attendant to process the check-in. She should have invited us to sit down and maybe served us some drinks while we waited.

We were happy to find out that we had been upgraded to one of their suites due to my Aclub Gold status. As I have complained about multiple times on the Aclub program, upgrades at Novotel is not a standard perk and even then, it's hit and miss on the Pullman, Sofitel and MGallery where upgrades are supposed to be an official Aclub Gold perk.

The room was definitely a nice room and huge for Hong Kong's standard. The room was laid out in an interesting "long" rectangular way instead of the usual square box. The room also comes with huge windows that gave really good views of the surrounding hills and lights.

Work Desk

Sofa

Nespresso Machine

 

 

As we arrived late and checked out of the hotel around 4pm, we didn't get to use the Executive Lounge so can't comment on the offerings. We did however used the pool for a quick swim in the morning and was big enough to do some laps.

What we liked most of the hotel is the location. There's an outlet shopping small just right next door that we spent time in doing last minute shopping before heading back to the airport. Disneyland and Tung Chung where the Big Buddha is also really close by via the MTR. For those looking for off the beaten path activities to do, the hotel is a good starting point to the hiking trails in the Tung Chung area. Would definitely recommend this hotel for those on a long transit or layover in Hong Kong especially those who have already done the typical Hong Kong tourist attractions in town.