Best Western’s Rosedale on the Park is a unique hotel offering guests what it dubs "the Cyber Boutique Hotel" experience. I was totally unaware of this hotel genre when I made the reservations. However, upon arrival, I quickly became completely au fait on this the latest of hotel fads. From check-in to check-out, a stay at Rosedale on the Park is a constant barrage of pleas from the modern world to reconnect. Let me put it to this way: there are sattelite plasma TVs, cordless telephones, broadband connections, and novelty reminders of the IT-dot-COM turn of the millennium eccentricity everywhere one looks. Vacationing IgoUgo writers may find the high-speed internet and 24 hour on-site IT support not only convenient, but also a refreshing change of pace from all the hotels that still rely on dial-up connections and clueless troubleshooting hotel staff.
Although this hotel is very smartly furnished and offers great views of Causway Bay and Victoria Park, I couldn’t help but be distracted back to the cyber reality of my hotel stay. I was curious as I was laying in bed: is the broadband on the nightstand intended to comfort jet-lagged overworked business travelers, or is it just this generation’s answer to the vibrating bed? You can draw your own conclusions.
Hotel staff are extremely friendly and helpful. On-site dining is well presented and offers a variety of choices from Chinese to Western fare, with a skyline bar on the top floor. But as is typical with large hotels, all menu items are very pricey, so I opted for the considerably cheaper Pizza Hut delivery.
With all the bells and whistles attached to this hotel, the greatest compliment to the guest and most redeeming factor in choosing this hotel is the free hotel shuttle to and from HK International Airport. I was surprised and disappointed that there is not an on-site pool, but the exercise room is well-appointed--and comes complete with its own broadband connection.