What a surprise this place was. We were arriving about midnight from Narita and I did not want to waste 40,000 points at the Conrad on eight hours of sleep. So I booked the Harbor View room at the YMCA Salisbury for $130USD. Luckily, this place is in Hong Kong—actually Kowloon next to the Peninsula Hotel—and as such will usually upgrade those that pay a higher rate. We ended up in a wonderful Harbor View Executive Suite. This gave us a large living room with two sofas and a large bay window and TV. The bedroom had a quite comfortable king bed but I will say we could have slept on anything after spending around 21 hours in a plane before this. The bathroom was fairly basic although the tub/shower was larger than most hotels'.

We did not use any of the other offerings at this hotel as, in the morning, we went to the Conrad and checked in about 9am, but the room itself was so fantastic I would attempt to stay here again every time I come in from Japan late at night.

It is a corner suite with an –88 series room number where the living room is in one of the rounded towers and the bedroom behind it. Both have a view of Hong Kong Island about the HSBC and IFC area. If you stay here in the evening you also get a good view of the harbor light show that goes on at 8pm each night.

They are only one block from one of the TST entrances to the MTR and walking distance to the Star Ferry.

In short, this is a hotel I was very surprised by and like more than I ever thought I would.

Before arriving in Hong Kong, we had been sleeping in hostels, at other people's houses, or on trains. The Salisbury was a pleasant change.

The rooms were in pristine condition, with all the usual hotel amenities. For the money, I thought it was really good. It wasn't a lot more than a higher-end hostel, and it's in a great location--right on the bottom tip of the Kowloon peninsula, in the thick of all the shops and only two minutes from the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong island.

There's a gym there (which costs extra) and a swimming pool (included, with Jacuzzi). There's a restaurant downstairs which you get discount vouchers for, but you're better off stepping out into the throng of other options outside.

I can't vouch for all the rooms, but ours had a great view over the skyline on Hong Kong island.

For a hotel in such a central location, the Salisbury is definitely worth the money.

The Salisbury YMCA of Hong Kong is like a regular hotel, except that it's run by YMCA. It's still expensive, but cheaper than regular hotels. There's an electronic room safe available and daily maid service. We were upgraded for one night because the room reserved for us was taken, but the place got rather expensive for us after that, so we checked out and went to stay at a guesthouse.