The Langham Place Mongkok is now offering a range of iPads, iPhone 4s and iPods to its guests.
The hotel launched its iPad initiative last year, offering all guests regardless of room type free use of the Apple tablets for 24 hours (for a deposit of HK$7,000). There are currently 30 iPads available to borrow from the hotel's Portal business centre, with another 40 due to arrive soon.
They allow guests to surf the web for free, as well as read preloaded e-books, view maps of Hong Kong and guides to the city's MTR metro system, and access a Cantonese-English translator.
The hotel's “x” concierge team are also equipped with iPads to help provide guests with information on the city's attractions.
In addition Langham has recently introduced a new Essential Place Plus room category (72 rooms located on floors 30 to 33), offering guests Bose docking systems, free wifi, Nespresso machines, and free use of an iPhone 4 during their stay.
The smartphones include a Hong Kong SIM card for free city-wide calling, as well as several of the iPad fuctions mentioned above, including maps, a city guide, translator and 24-hour access to the hotel's concierge team. Essential Place Plus rooms are available for HK$2,000 plus service charge per night.
The Langham Place Mongkok owns more than 1,000 pieces of contemporary Chinese art, and guests can also borrow iPods preloaded with a tour of the hotel's top 21 exhibits, including Red Guards – Going Forward! Making Money! By Jiang Shuo (pictured), the Materialist Series by Wang Guangyi, and As Graceful as a Crane by Yue Minjun.
The tour takes around 45 minutes and is available in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese. The iPods are again available from the business centre on level five, and there is no deposit for hotel guests. Users also receive a free “petite box-set guide” with image prints and written explanations in English and Traditional Chinese.
Finally the hotel has launched The Wine Buff, an iPad app used in its Ming wine cellar, which offers guests an electronic menu of the wines available, as well as “wine-related interactive features”.
For more information visit hongkong.langhamplacehotels.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
