Features

Stylish seclusion

30 Apr 2006 by intern11

Andrew Dembina tours Hongkong’s deluxe properties for a glimpse of the latest enhancements to their top-tier room inventory. The results are commendable

Executive floors have certainly evolved, especially in a high-stakes town like Hongkong. With business travellers willing to pay top dollar for some peace and quiet – and no-fuss broadband internet access – hotel managers have been encouraged to refine this section of their inventory, producing stylish aeries worthy of profile in the best design journals.Here are a bevy of notable productions from major players as well as some newcomers to the Hongkong hotel scene.

HONGKONG ISLAND

FOUR SEASONS

8 Finance Street, Central tel 852 3196 8888, www.fourseasons.com

Living room, en suite master bedroom, guest powder room and a very spacious bathroom, all add up to 91.14sq m, in the first tier category of suites at this recent addition to Hongkong’s hotel scene.

This, the one-bedroom suite and all above it qualify for complementary use of the Executive Club,which comprises a business centre and executive lounge, lodged on the hotel’s 45th floor,with sweeping views of the harbour that can be enjoyed from its breezy balcony – a popular spot with cigar smokers.  Guests staying at the Deluxe Peak View and Deluxe Harbour View (pictured above) can add an extra US$90 to access the lounge and take advantage of the unlimited complimentary phone calls and garment pressing.

The bar here is stocked with premium wines and spirits and champagne. Also included in this spacious and serene lounge’s privileges are breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and canapés and all-day tea, coffee, juices and softdrinks.

A dedicated CNN screen runs permanently, allowing guests to view this news channel without disturbing others who share their room.Check in and check out takes place in the Club area.

Rooms all contain multiple function printers, fitted next to large desks, 42-inch plasma TV sets and a quality AV system. Suites feature Acca Cappa bathroom amenities.  Décor throughout exudes modern luxury.

PRICE: Doubles from US$1,154.

GRAND HYATT HONGKONG

1 Harbour Road, Wanchai tel 852 2588 1234, www.hyatt.com

Grand Hyatt’s Grand Club executive floors comprise a veritable boutique hotel in scale.  Consisting of 84 rooms, 13 suites and the expansive deco-flavoured Grand Club lounge, it occupies the top eight storeys of the hotel.  These floors have a team of 15 multi lingual guest services staff and butlers who are constantly on standby for guests’ needs.  Check in and check out begin at an exclusive relaxed lower foyer.Up a staircase in the art upper lounge, which has superb harbour views.Grand Club residents can enjoy buffet breakfast, evening cocktails with deluxe canapes and coffee and tea throughout the day – all are complimentary. In this vicinity, four function rooms for meetings of up to 18 people and a private office are available for an hour’s free use per day per guestroom.Guestrooms are served here by two private executive floor lifts.

Too busy or self-conscious to get to the hotel gym? Each Grand Club room and suite is equipped with a step machine. A few discs accompany in-room DVD/CD player; though a library in the Grand Club Lounge offers plenty more. Each room’s fax machine can be assigned a private number upon request.

L’Occitane products are used in the bathrooms.

All specialty suites on these floors feature an espresso machine. Some of these suites are more contemporary than others, and their configurations and striking original work make them feel like residential apartments.

PRICE: Doubles from US$679.

HOTEL LKF

33 Wyndham Street, Central, tel 852 3518 9688, www.hotel-lkf.com.hk

Soft launched recently, this boutique 95-room establishment bills itself as an entirely executive-floor hotel.

Though lodged in the hub of Hongkong’s drinking and dining mecca, Lan Kwai Fong –after which it is named – accommodation stretches from the 12th floor up to the 28th –so is well above the hubub.

Rooms are spacious, from 46.45sq m to 88.26sq m m and have an earthy masculine decor. Chocolate brown and ochre are dominant; the former colours one of each room’s pair of very “collectible” in-room slippers. Bulgari bathroom amenities are used.

A butler is at every guest’s beck and call at the touch of a button, eliminating the dialing dilemmas when deciding whether to call room service, reception, housekeeping and the like.  LKF allows guests to order takeaway food via their butler, from anywhere they choose but special discounted rates are offered for the six restaurants found below guest floors in the same building. If the standard in-room espresso machine, broadband connection, Herman Miller desk chair and large-screen TV (rooms: 42-inch plasma; the 15 suites: 37-inch LCD) feel insular, head for the lounge, where inclusive breakfasts are served and guests may use computers,which spill onto a rooftop garden. There is also a small business centre.  PRICE: Doubles from US$385.

KOWLOON

INTERCONTINENTAL HONGKONG

18 Salisbury Road, Tsimshatsui tel 852 2721 1211, www.ichg.com

In this hotel, there are two floor plans for its 23 executive suites, all with harbour views. One is a large (69.68sq m) open-plan suite,with sitting area at one end of the room and the bed at the other. The other is the L-shaped and also spacious (67.82sq m). Interiors are comfortably contemporary: some in an earthy palette and others with warm red, orange and purple highlights. Large marble bathrooms, with showers that double up as steam room, and Jacuzzi tub, are standard.

New 37-inch Sharp LCD TVs with Bose home entertainment sound systems are in place, as are iPod docking stations,wireless internet access and oversized desks. Local phone calls are free and bathroom amenities are by Bulgari.

Around-the-clock services include 24-hour butler service, in-room dining, business and concierge services and the fitness centre.  Executive suites have access to Club Intercontinental, which can also be purchased by other guests for a US$90 daily charge. This lounge’s wall of windows takes in the buzz of the lobby lounge below and a sweeping view of the harbour. Its ambience at nighttime comes into its own, when quality cocktails and snacks amount to meal, making it an ideal spot for the solo or female traveller. Internet, music listening stations and a meeting room also feature.

PRICE: Doubles from US$1,025.

KOWLOON SHANGRI-LA

64 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East tel 852 2721 2111, www.shangri-la.com

A little larger than rooms elsewhere in the hotel, spanning the top two levels of the hotel,Horizon Club executive rooms average at 41.81sq m.A Herman Miller ergonomic chair presides at an expansive desk; there is a four-in-one fax/ scanner/ printer machine,wireless broadband internet access, personal voice mail and a DECT wireless telephone,which allows guest to receive telephone calls throughout the hotel.A Corby trouser presser is standard, in-room DVD player has full surround sound system and there is an LCD television in bathroom.Horizon Club floors feature Aigner quality bathroom amenities.

The swish brand new Horizon Club Lounge was renovated at a cost of US$600,000. Quite modern in appearance the vibe is definitely “hotel within a hotel”,with pursers, discreetly on hand to offer personal assistance and wireless LAN service is in place.

Besides private check in and check out (extendable to till 1800), complimentary pressing service, unlimited use of health club facilities, two hours of free use of the Horizon Club lounge’s conference room is offered.  Here too, complimentary breakfast is served, as are evening cocktails and canapés; throughout the day, free fruit juices, soft drinks, tea and coffee are available. 

PRICE: Doubles from US$397.

LANGHAM PLACE

555 Shanghai Street, Mongkok tel 852 3552 3388, www.langhamhotels.com

Executive floors here are called the Langham Hotel Club and offer glorious efficiently serviced seclusion in this newish property.  Room configurations are the same as elsewhere in the hotel, except for its recently launched Chuan Spa floor.Long-staying guests will appreciate a decent sized self-contained study in some the residence suites,which is lined with bookshelves, and has a spacious desk with broadband terminal.These suites also have fully equipped kitchenette with bar counter that leads into a lounge where small meetings can be conducted.A large wall-mounted flat-screen is hooked up to a DVD player in this area.  Room controls are high-tech here, using touch pads in both living room and bedroom.  Three different pillow types are available, as part of this hotel’s Blissful Bed concept that also presents high thread-count linen and several additional cushions.

All-day lounge access makes complimentary drinks and internet and computer use available; printing and faxing is also possible from here, incurring charges.  This is also the venue for impressive complimentary breakfast, evening cocktails and snacks.Complimentary use of Club Boardroom is allowed for two hours per stay.  This hotel adjoins a mall that wants for nothing and surrounding streets heave with Hongkong character.

PRICE: Doubles from US$404.

HOTEL NIKKO

72 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East tel 852 2739 1111, www.hotelnikko.com.hk

Located on four levels of the hotel, that is as near to Hung Hom as it is Tsimshatsui, are the recently re-fitted Nikko Floors, or executive floors, where privacy,well equipped rooms and the exclusive Nikko Lounge are all found.

Express check-in,wireless broadband connectivity, complimentary breakfast, all-day refreshments and daily pre-dinner drinks, including champagne, are all available for Nikko Floor guests in the cosy harbour-view lounge.Here, too, is a conference room that each guest may use free for two hours during their stay, as well as a well-stocked international magazine and newspaper library.  There are four categories of clean lined contemporary rooms on these floors, varying modestly in size; two types have harbour views. Three tiers of suite are also found on the Nikko Floors.

All room categories include wall-mounted flat-screen LCD TV sets and high-tech inroom controls from a bedside console that incorporates, among other functions, all rooms’ electric silk curtains. Fast broadband connectivity hooks up from in-room desks.  Neutrogena amenities are used in bright bathrooms.

With 50% of this hotel’s guests falling into the “Japanese business” category, many staff are fluent in Nihonggo and its Kyoto cuisineinspired Sagano restaurant has long been a quiet but well-respected purveyor of quality Japanese fare.

PRICE: Doubles from US$308.

REGAL KOWLOON HOTEL

71 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East tel 852 2313 8639, www.regalkowloon.com

There are 88 Regal Club rooms, over two floors (with one designated a smoking floor) –all recently and extensively renovated to a fresh and light no-nonsense modern, fairly minimalist design.

Large LCD TV sets, free unlimited in-room broadband, local phone calls and daily international newspapers (from the UK, Japan, France and the US) all feature.  Complimentary pressing of one suit or dress per day is offered, express dry cleaning is charged at regular rates and late check out is guaranteed until 1800.

Express check in is conducted at the Club lounge, which offers American breakfast and either evening cocktails with snacks or two drinks in the hotel bar.

The lounge offers free tea, coffee, soft drinks and pastries and snacks throughout the day, as well as free internet access.

Complimentary breakfast for executive floor guests can be taken here or at the hotel’s ground floor coffee shop, Le Grand Cafe. (Its steakhouse, LA Brasserie, is a lively watering hole.)

The hotel fitness centre may be used free of charge. A conference room at the Regal’s business centre may be used by executive floors guests free for up to two hours during one stay; outgoing faxes from the business centre are offered free.

PRICE: Doubles from US$423, although currently, an Executive Choice package of US$385 with Regal Class Superior accommodation that includes automatic upgrade to the Regal Club floor plus a dining voucher lowers the rack rate.

THE ROYAL GARDEN

69 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui tel 852 2721 5215, www.rghk.com.hk

Spread over two floors, this hotel’s 65 executive rooms are collectively known as the Crown Club. Its dedicated reception and concierge greets arriving guests on one level, while the other is connected by an internal staircase. The two floors are Wi-Fi efficient –utilising fast and secure VPN broadband, and all contain private fax number, flat-screen wall-mounted Samsung plasma 37-inch TV sets. Rooms carry Neutrogena amenities, while suites on these levels are stocked with Bulgari.  In keeping with The Royal Garden’s refurbishment, all rooms feature customdesigned Sealy mattresses, specially made for the hotel, featuring luxurious, three-layered cotton cladding, offering pillow-like cocooning with maximum support and fine European Frette bed linen.At the Crown Club’s lounge, expecting renovation by yearend, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are served every evening and breakfast can be taken here or in the hotel coffee shop. For an additional fee of US$51, hotel guests in other room categories may enjoy this executive lounge and its food and beverage and other privileges.  The hotel’s rooftop Sky Club is quite a find in Hongkong.Here, guests can use a gymnasium, a year-round swimming pool and Jacuzzi, massage and sauna facilities, and more unusually, a tennis court and a real turf golf putting green.

PRICE: Doubles from US$397.

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