Mirador Hostel

Comment by Shawn, USA

May 2007

Let's get this out right from the start. The Mirador Hostel is nothing more than a scam intended to mislead unsuspecting travelers like myself, and people who find themselves of being in the miserable situation of having nowhere to stay in an unfamiliar country (the owners prey on western travelers and any hostel or website that willing allows their misinformation to stand should be ashamed). The hostel is one of many located in the very same rundown, filthy building located on Nathan Road. In reality, it seems that the Mirador Hostel is also called New Garden and variety of other misleading names so watch out, but actually it's just a series of rooms spread throughout one big, ugly, unclean, and unsafe building. There is no lobby, but when I had called beforehand to ask if internet was available, I was told their lobby had internet but it cost a fee. Nor is there a restaurant as claimed. But you will be offered a host of girls to choose from, if you catch my meaning (not why I was visiting Hong Kong, by the way!). However, the location is great, close to the MTR, but I promise you that that is its only positive quality. The photographs posted here don't exist in that location. And while there is a claim of three-star quality, that too is a complete and utter lie (a one-star ranking would be beyond generous). My room had no towels. No soap. No toilet paper. Yep! The room I had booked was not the room I got. I was told it had a shower, but my shower consisted of nothing more than a hose and a bucket (I'm not kidding). The final indignity being that I had to sleep in bed that was dangerously close to a smear of snot left on the wall by someone. Needless to say, I stayed only one night and then ended up paying a lot more for a hotel that was exactly everything it claimed to be. So please beware. You are being scammed by the Mirador and its various offshoots. When you check in, the staff (if you want to call them that) are pushy and make you sit on a bench or fold-out chair until they can scrounge up a room for you -- any room, by the way, not the one you had booked! When you pay, you will pay everything in advance and the guy at the desk will put your cash in his own wallet, like a pimp would do. When you decide to leave because you are disgusted and angry at having been scammed, you'll be lucky to get back about 10% of what you had paid. A painful lesson.

Yau Tsim Mong District (Tsim Sha Tsui)