Review: Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo – a superb location to soak in the city
This is our review of the Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo hotel in Sheung Wan, part of Hilton Honors.
If you’ve never heard of the Motto brand, don’t worry. Launched in 2018, the first Motto in Europe opened in Rotterdam (I reviewed it here in 2023) and since then it has quietly been picking up steam.
Unlike the recent deluge of other new hotel brands, Motto is something genuinely new. It is aimed at family groups or friends that are happy to share rooms but don’t want to stay in a hostel. Motto hotels generally feature a large proportion of connecting rooms as well as rooms with unconventional sleeping arrangements, such as bunk beds and wall beds.
Motto Hong Kong SoHo marks the brand’s entry into the Asia Pacific market. With its small room sizes, it feels like the perfect fit for Hong Kong where space is at a premium.
Thanks to Hilton who arranged my stay for review purposes. As always, we paid all other expenses.
Where is Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo?
The Motto hotel is located on Hong Kong Island, rather than the Kowloon side. This is the part of Hong Kong that dominates the tourist imagination: think the Hong Kong skyline, with its iconic corporate headquarters, as well as the many concrete residential towers that creep up the mountain.
More specifically, it is located in SoHo and Sheung Wan, one of my favourite Hong Kong neighbourhoods. This is a bustling area with lots of restaurants, bars, coffee shops and more, giving you all the Hong Kong vibes you could ever ask for. As such, it’s also popular with expats and tourists.
Sheung Wan station is a short walk away giving you access to Hong Kong’s Island Line metro line. The Mid Level Escalators – a unique Hong Kong experience – are just ten minutes walk, whilst PMQ, the old Police headquarters that is now home to a myriad of boutique shops and cafes, is just round the corner. Man Mo Temple, another popular attraction, is a slightly further walk up the hill.
The Motto’s location is one of the best things about it and (in my opinion) better than many of the high-end hotels which are often part of sterile complexes. The Motto Hong Kong SoHo, in contrast, puts you right in the middle of the action.
Inside Motto Hong Kong SoHo
The Motto is located in a skinny 38-storey tower. This was formerly a Holiday Inn hotel that underwent a total refurbishment, and stepping inside you wouldn’t know it had ever been anything other than a Motto.
There’s a small reception area with a room and some sofas at the back:
A bank of three lifts whizzes you up and down the building.
Rooms at Motto Hong Kong SoHo
Being a classically skinny Hong Kong skyscraper, each floor only has a handful of rooms – around eight. I was given a room on the 16th floor, about midway up. There are 274 room in total.
Rooms, as is typical for the Motto brand, are small. They are a standard 20 square metres and top out at 40 sqm for a single bunk bed over a queen and sofa bed.
An open wardrobe and mini bar with kettle (no coffee machine) is on the left, with a built-in luggage rack:
and
A small bathroom just about manages to squeeze in a walk-in shower, wash basin and toilet, but you’d be hard-pressed to fit more than one person in here at a time:
It does, at least, look stylish with mustard yellow tiling, fluted glass and bronze fittings. The shower pressure is excellent and toiletries are by a brand called Ink & Water.
The rest of the room is equally small but manages to pack a lot in. Here’s the queen bed with bedside tables on each side:
Plus a small desk in the right hand corner:
Getting round the bed is a bit of a challenge – the clearance between it and the TV on the wall is very narrow. The one annoyance I had with this room was every time I opened and closed the (cheap feeling, but nevertheless blackout) blinds.
Here’s the view – some come with a sea view, mine didn’t:
The designers have made a bit of an effort with the design – it’s definitely not as plain as it could have been, and as many similarly priced brands (such as Marriott’s Courtyard) can be. The bathroom is the standout, but in the room there’s also plenty of wood veneer as well as a strange wood-patterned carpet.
Other hotel amenities
In addition to the small lobby-cum-waiting room on the ground floor, the hotel also offers a lounge and gym on the first floor. The lounge looks like this and is a decent spot to work from, if you want to escape your room.
The gym is at the very rear in a small glass box. It is a very small gym (one treadmill, one bench, some weights and not much else):
Restaurants and breakfast at Motto Hong Kong SoHo
The hotel has two restaurants.
On the third floor you’ll find The Nams, a Chinese restaurant. This appears to be an internal space with no real windows.
Club 38 is on the top floor and is where breakfast is served. The space itself is …. interesting, and reminded me a bit of a spaceship canteen. The curved grey walls made it feel like I was a Starfleet officer dining with Spock and Captain Kirk.
If you’re lucky enough to get a window then you’ll have excellent views of the International Commerce Centre across the Harbour, home to The Ritz-Carlton.
For breakfast, you have a choice from several options: Japanese, Western, Chinese, Halal and Sunrise breakfasts. Each comes with several dishes and coffee / juice. Not being a particular fan of congee, I skpped the Chinese breakfast and tried the Japanese and Western style ones instead.
The Japanese breakfast was excellent, with a big piece of teryaki chicken accompanied by miso soup, vegetable stew and an egg:
The Western breakfast was ok, although I would’ve liked some baked beans:
At dinner the restaurant has a surprisingly extensive menu, from set menus (four courses for around £32) to bar snacks. The set menu is surprisingly elevated, starting with a ‘wild mushroom cappuccino’ soup:
Mains ranged from duck breast, miso cod, lamb rack and a variety of steaks. I went for the duck and was pleasantly surprised:
The food was good, but again the ambience of the space was strange. The top floor has a lot of potential but I don’t really know what the designers were thinking!
Conclusion
Depending on your requirements for a hotel in Hong Kong, Motto SoHo could be the perfect fit. It certainly was for my stay.
I loved the neighbourhood, which put me slap bang in the middle of a lively and bustling streetscape. In fact I loved it so much I barely left although, to be fair, this is my fifth time in Hong Kong and I’ve done a lot of the classic touristy stuff already. Nevertheless, I’d rather be in Sheung Wan than where some of the city’s top luxury hotels are.
The rooms are basic but certainly not characterless. As a solo traveller I didn’t mind the small size, apart from the squeeze to get around the bed. It is tighter, I admit, if you are travelling with someone.
The lack of amenities such as a pool or spa didn’t bother me, although if they are important to you then you’ll want to find somewhere else. It’ll cost you, though.
Overall, I wouldn’t hesitate to return to the Motto for a trip where I’m predominantly out and about exploring the city.
Room rates start at around HK$1,000 per night, which is around £100. That’s a bargain here. Alternatively, you can use your Hilton Honors points from 39,000 points per night.
You can find out more, and book, on the Hilton website here.