Room Check: Regal Airport Hotel, Hong Kong

An Executive Room at the Regal Airport Hotel.

Winston Aldworth checks into the Regal Airport Hotel in Hong Kong.

Location: The hotel is a short walk from Terminal 1, all of it along an air-conditioned bridge.

Price: My standard room cost $245. Happily, I was bumped up to an Executive Room. The upgrade didn't come with access to the Executive Lounge.

Room: The Executive Room is 27 sqm - a good size for a crash pad and the desk has decent space around it.

Bathroom: Compact, but with modern fittings and - crucially for the weary traveller on a 14-hour stopover - it has a bathtub.

How big: There are 1171 rooms and a heap of meeting and conference facilities. This is a busy, working property.

Check-in experience: Swift for us. But a fellow guest who's stayed there before reports that, given the size of the place and sheer volume of guests that can all arrive at once when two or three planes disgorge at the same time (particularly when there's a couple of delayed flights), the check-in queue can stretch a long way. It all takes place in a cavernous foyer edged by cafes, restaurants a bit of retail space and corridors shooting off to various areas such as the pool.

Food and drink:

If you can ace access to the Executive Lounge, there are nibbles all day. The food joints in the foyer looked uninspiring, but I had a spot in a Cathay Pacific lounge waiting for me.

The Regal Airport Hotel, Hong Kong.

Entertainment:

The TV was huge, but I couldn't figure out how to get it working properly - that'll be more my fault than the TV's. Either way, the local sports channels didn't seem to have the Hong Kong Sevens showing, despite it being on while I was there.

A room with a view? I had a good view of planes approaching, but they disappeared out of sight around the corner of the building just before the wheels touch. If I'd thought about it, I'd have asked for a room facing the runway so I could nerd out.

The bed: I slept well.

Noise: Given that there's an A380 landing every few minutes, the sound-proofing did an admirable job.

Exercise: Nothing extensive. But a swim is a nice way to break up a longhaul and the two pools (they've just finished maintenance work on the outdoor one) are pretty good for a dip.

Contact: regalhotel.com

Perfect for: You're knackered, got 14 hours to kill and you don't want to see the Ladies Market again.