Okay, here's my deal:  I have an upcoming trip to Hong Kong (late October time frame) that will likely be for about 3 weeks or so.  I was looking for one of those monthly stay places to rent for a month, to see if that is worth it.  Most of them so far have told me to get lost, they won't do a single month.  The biggest ones are all 6 months and more.

Anyone have any ideas?  I look at the rate of 10k or so dollars a month as much cheaper than the average hotel (where I could easily drop 30k in a month), and would also allow me to live like I am "at home" typically with at least a small kitchen area and such.  

Ideas and options on this would be appreciated... the more money I save, the more I can monger!

Go to Asiaxpat.com and search the section on Serviced Apts/Flats. They have a large listing of buildings that offer the type of housing you want.

Thanks.  Some of those are seriously pricey, in the range of a mid to higher end hotel.  A few better ones. Still looking!

Alternatively you can try flat share / short term lease.

try Gumtree.hk, geoexpat.com

Good luck

I know someone who was very successful on http://www.airbnb.com/

He got a short term stay in an appartment just above Central for a very reasonable cost.  

give them a try ... and if not, try searching for other home-exchange databases ...

Try Chi Residences. They have some places that are in punting convenient districts such as Jordan and Yaumatei.

http://www.chi-residences.com/en

I know friends who've had luck with Cozy Studios.

But failing that, you can try bargaining with some of the 2/3 star hotels. Just go to tripadvisor & read the reviews.

Good ideas guys, working on them.  Trying to stay a short period (not years) while staying longer than the average trip ( a few days) seems to not fit into anyone's business model.  It's a bit of work, but hopefully worth it.

Keep the ideas coming!

I know of a place called Studio Studio.  It's in Wanchai.  The rooms are not soo big, but its pretty cheap for a month long stay.  Alot of jr/up and coming models stay at this place, and sometimes a group of working girls will rent from them as well.  

http://www.studiostudio.com.hk/index.html

[ Last edited by  scootermonger at 3-7-2011 14:54 ]

yes it is...craigslist Hong Kong:

http://hongkong.craigslist.hk/hhh/

has multiple daily listings for monthly flats in the HK$5-6K price range. u must check individual ads to see idealized pictures of the rooms for rent.

u want a PRIVATE room, but even those will be in subdivided flats. they will be small and as for "kitchen area," you'll be lucky to get a fridge and microwave. better places will include utilities and WiFi, worse places will be in shabby buildings with nightly mobs of mainlanders having all-nite alcohol+cigarette parties.

yes, in my long and checkered career i have stayed in a couple of these places. many are in the North Point area, those in Causeway Bay may seem more attractive until u consider how crowded CWB is. the setup is a lot like 141: one agent may have several rooms. if you check the area u want (i assume u know HK, if not, get on Google Maps--u do NOT want to be out in Tsuen Wan unless yr biz is out there). the most crowded areas are CWB-Central HKside and TST-MKK Kowloonside. that said, a decent place in YMT wd be convenient in many ways!

the places advertised now will be gone by the time u get here, so decide on a neighborhood, and look for agents with multiple listings in that neighborhood. if flying from North America, book a reasonable hotel for a couple of nights while u recover from jetlag and check out monthly places.

these are useful for monthly rentals but they are NOT posh. it depends on u: i'm sure any five-star hotel will give u a monthly discount. maybe. check agoda.com or asiatravel.com to find out what cheap hotels cost in HK. u can get a nice silk-thread count, or u can sleep in a safe but not-primo sub-divide and spend the difference on lovely Chinese girls. up to u.

JtB

My needs are a little weird this time, because I am balancing off my GF, a young kid (oops!), and family style obligations along with the usual fun and games.  So the idea in part is to get away from hotel living.  It's a weird situation, for sure.  The good part is that in the end, it is all part of my getting my HKID so that I can blend in better!

CanuckGuy,  I just got done with a 9 month consulting gig in HK this March and the firm I was working with had me check out apartments with the providers listed above, studio studio, and cozy and I ended up choosing a place in Sheung Wan at 115 Wing Lok St, and if I would have known about 141 before I left, I would probably not returned to the US with much money as their are plenty of WG flats all within walking distance.  

The City loft  apt http://www.cityloft.com.hk/ i took was one of the larger more functional layouts of all the ones I looked at with an actual shower separated from the toilet, most of the wan chai and causway bay ones I saw were decent but i was planning originally on a 3 month stay so wanted something I would be comfortable in.

City loft offers full cable, movie channels, internet (non wifi) dvd player, wet bar,  my company let my lease expire twice, and being as cheap as they were, had me stay in the The Anne Black YMCA in Mong Kok for a few days until they could find another apt, and also the IBIS in North Point so I assume those are budget hotels that might be priced ok.

After the first time I had to hotel it I was able to return to my same building, but when they forgot to renew again, I did check out another City loft building a few blocks down on Wing Lok, (which im quite certain has WG in there now after looking at 141, but it wasnt too nice and ended up in a studio studio apt a few blocks up on queens road central.  decent layout, had a lounge chair, but shower and toilet were combined but no second sink outside of the bathroom sink....wifi, dvd, but only THREE channels on tv.

hope this helps as someone who is VERY familiar with the service apartments after 9 months in them!

Both providers are easy to deal with and I think you could just contact them with your price range and they can let you know what they have if you dont mind exactly what part of the island you are in or what the layout of the room is, otherwise you would want to maybe to a day or two in a hotel and make appointments with all the providers to show you what they have as they can be quite different or even odd in small size and layout.