Macau Central Hotel
Mar 31st, 2006
“The tired old Central Hotel has seen better days, but it is just what its name suggests - a short hop northwest of Largo do Senado” - Lonely Planet
That’s what Lonely Planet described Central Hotel in Macau. Central Hotel is very centrally located at Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro (San Ma Lo in Cantonese which means new street), the main street in Macau Peninsula. And it’s less than 50 metres away from Largo do Senado, the main and very charming square in Macau Peninsula.
But it’s also the dirtiest and most ageing hotel I ever stayed. We’re charged MOP $250 for a four-bed rooms (2 rooms linked together) for a half-night (we checked-in only at 3.30 am). It was full rate and no discount for late check-in. Anyway, the rate for most hotels in Macau on weekdays is cheaper than on weekends (Friday and Saturday). The staff of the Macau Central Hotel asked us to squeeze in 5 people into the room, so we’re given only 1 room.
Reception of Central Hotel. It still looked great and grand at the lobby, with few signs of ageing. The ladies on duty in the morning were much more friendly than the senior that took care of hotel overnight when we checked in. They exchanged small changes for our big face value Hong Kong dollars and gave us the exact coins to drop into the bus fare dropping box. And they exchange HKD for HKD. 
But the room was very dirty, under-maintained, ageing and horrible. The lighting was dim.
[...] I went back to Central Hotel after walking for a while, and my family had finished packing their luggage. We’re checking out from the hotel to go to Hong Kong now by ferry. The ladies that manned the reception during out checked out were very friendly, unlike the old guy during the midnight. As I mentioned about the Central Hotel, the ladies gave us clear direction on which bus to take to go to the Jetfoil Terminal, the main ferry terminal to Hong Kong, exchanged our Hong Kong notes to small coins to pay the fares, and even explained that we have to pay a MOP $0.50 more (actually was HKD 50 cents, as we didn’t have any Macau money), as they didn’t have 50 cents coins, and each ticket within Macau Peninsula costs MOP (or HKD) 2.50. [...]
What’s the price for booking a standard room for 2 on Dec. 27, 2008? You can e-mail me at ngai_ming_luk@hotmail.com or call me at 86-13680255256 or 852-31092008. Thanks.