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Khaosan Samurai Hostel (Tokyo, Japan)
by ilovemycat
Khaosan Tokyo Samurai
Khaosan Tokyo Samurai is one of a chain of relatively new hostels in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. Recently, a friend and I stayed there for two nights.
One quick word about Tokyo - unless you sleep rough or find a 24 hour internet café, sleeping in Tokyo is not cheap. Even capsule hotels, ... those coffin-shaped places of Japanese legend (some are actually quite pleasant) will set you back about 4000 yen a night (currently about 30 quid). Youth Hostels are rare in Japan and those that do exist have shockingly early curfews. The one in my city of Nagano, for example, has a doors locked at 9pm, lights out at 9.30pm policy. So strict the Lonely Planet dropped it.
On both respects, Khoasan Tokyo is a refreshing change. We paid 2500 yen/person for a twin room (a bunkbed) with shared bathroom. It was basic like all hostels are, but this is Japan of course so it was spotlessly clean. The beds were even quite comfortable. For the price you'll certainly get nothing better in Tokyo.
Khoasan Tokyo Samurai is part of a chain, with the others in the group, Khaosan Original, Annex and Ninja all within the same area. There is also a Khaosan Bar, for which you get a free drink ticket on arrival (it was basically a shoebox a couple of streets from the hostel where we found other tourists drinking their free drink before moving on. Certainly not a place for a party).
The staff were very friendly, there was A LOT of information about the surrounding area and day trips, etc., plus lots of useful multi-language information sheets you could pick up, such as how to get to the airport, how to get around town, the times of the last trains from every area of Tokyo, how to say "I have an allergy to ___" if you go to a restaurant. Although I have lived in Japan for seven years and didn't need much of the info, I was very impressed. As a newcomer to Japan, it would be the perfect place to stay.
The only downside was its slightly out-of-the-way location. Asakusa has a few shops and bars but nothing much to get excited about. If you want to go for a drink then Ueno was about a 30min walk, or a couple of subway stops, but if you wanted to really live it up somewhere like Roppongi, Shinjuku or Shibuya, you would probably want to stay somewhere else as each of those places was as good thirty minute train ride away. It is, however, near to the soon-to-be-opened Tokyo Sky Tree, at 634m the second tallest building in the world.
I would definitely recommend this hostel and its chain to someone on a budget or a newcomer to Japan. It was a good place to get information and work out your orientation, and really on a budget that is unmatched in Tokyo.
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Ibis North Point Hotel Hong Kong (China)
by kingbeerex
I'll start by saying that I have a gripe with those who complain about cheap hotels in Hong Kong having small rooms- it's Hong Kong! Most places I've stayed in have tiny rooms there- excepting the 5 star hotels, of course.
This hotel is in a great location- it is literally seconds away from the MTR station and a few minutes ... walk to the main road with the trams. Admittedly it's a few stops down to Central, but there's plenty of places around to shop and eat. Also, having a room with a harbour view is a plus.
The service is good, if not basic. The reception is very small (manned by only 2 or 3 people every time I've been) but I've never been failed by them. The English spoken is very good, and most of the staff seem tri-lingual (Mandarin, Cantonese and English).
The added extras cost, well, extra. Internet was around 100 dollars for 24 hours when I was last there (why don't hotels supply this for free?!) and breakfast, although costly, was great- a Western buffet with all the trimmings, served from 630 AM (perfect with my jetlag!).
Now, the rooms ARE small. As a single traveler, this wasn't too much of an issue, but the double bed and lack of floor space might be trouble for couples. The TV is tiny and in a shelf in the wall, and there's a small kettle with basic teas and coffees. No baths, of course. One gripe was that the walls/ doors seem paper thin- no disturbances from other rooms, but from the corridors.
All in all, you get what you pay for- small room, decent service, no frills.
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Don Carlos Ibiza (Spain)
by elaine_cart1
We went to the Don Carlos hotel last June.
The hotel is slightly out of the way but is only a short walk down the road and over a bridge from the main sea front strip of Santa Eulalia.
The hotel has a large reception area with tables and sofas for you to sit on, there are 2 lifts and a stair case to go to your ... rooms, to the right is the bar where the entertainment is held out of season and then it goes onto the outside stage in peak season.
There are a few computers in the lobby that if you go on they give you information about places to go on the island and some print off coupons for money off.
The rooms are spacious, clean and beds are comfortable, the rooms walls are quite thin though so if you have noisy neighbours then I'm afraid you will hear them!!!
The pool is clean but quite small, there are plenty of loungers and umbrellas around the pool but if you want an ideal spot then you need to get up early! There is a seperate shallow childrens pool next to the main one.
There is a pool side bar which also does snacks like pizza, toasties etc which they will bring to your sun lounger for you when cooked!
There is a snack bar just down a few steps on the left of the pool which opens at lunch time which has a larger menu but the waitress english is not the best and we ended up with different meals to what we ordered a few times!!!
There are a few gates which go down to the beach, its not your typical white sandy beach but its nice for a change, there is a big concrete space on the way down and when we looked at a brochure for the hotel in reception there use to be a building there which looked like it was a bar so why they have took it down I don't know because it would have been ideal to not have to climb all the steps back up to the hotel for a drink.
We went half board so the we had our breakfast and main meal included.
The main restaurant entrance is next to the indoor bar, there was always plenty of tables and there is some tables on an outside balcony to sit on which we use to enjoy sitting out for breakfast.
The breakfast was good, they had a variety of hot and cold breakfasts and the orange juice was proper orange juice not the normal watered down squash you normally get abroad! They also had tea and coffee.
The dinner was amazing! There was such a variety and you never had the same thing day after day! There was a varirty of meats, vegetables, loads of salads and my favourite was the fresh fruit they had, a couple of times they had some fresh strawberries but if you didn't get them quick then they would run out! They had a good selection for desserts which is not ideal if you are on a diet! (but who sticks to their diets on holiday)
The entertainment was the downside it was quite poor, they had childrens entertainment earlier on in the evening which was ok but the adult entertainment was shocking, we use to walk into Santa Eulalia on an evening and it was much better!
The bottles of wine are very reasonable at the bar, you can get a decent bottle of rose from £5 - £10, but if you order a lager and lime then they charge you more for the lime then the lager!!!!!! There is also a shop just over the road from the hotel that sells alcohol so if you wanted it for your room then would probably best to go there, the shop also sells a selection of mouth watering cakes!!!!
Myself and my partner are in our 20's so we wanted to go to the nightspots, which a taxi to San Antonio was about 30euros and on the way back they had never heard of the hotel so they had to radio in the find out where it was!
It's not ideally located if you want to experience the nightlife but if you are just after a relaxing holiday then this is an ideal hotel and location.
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