Hotel review: The St. Regis Hong Kong

The St. Regis Hong Kong, which opened in April 2019 as Marriott’s 7,000th property worldwide, is the first St. Regis-branded property in Hong Kong. It’s also the fourth St. Regis hotel in the Greater Bay Area, joining the other three properties in Macau, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

The luxury hotel is located in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district, a major business district in Hong Kong. Wan Chai MTR Station, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Wan Chai Pier from which you can take a ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui, are all within walking distance.

For those who plan to take the MTR to the hotel, take the Exit A5 of Wan Chai Station and walk all the way along the footbridge following the overhead instruction signs. This takes around eight minutes.

The hotel, conceived as a private mansion, doesn’t have a very prominent entrance, but I feel this adds some privacy and a sense of mystery. There’s a waterfall besides the entrance with water cascading from the top (see the main picture above).

At the helm of the hotel’s interior design is the renowned interior designer André Fu, whose works in Hong Kong include The Upper House, Kerry Hotel and K11 Artus serviced residence in Tsim Sha Tsui. The design of the luxury hotel was inspired by both his memories of growing up in the city and the residential elements from The St. Regis New York.

The hotel’s lobby, named the Great Room, is on the second floor. You can already discover some local elements here; for example, the lamps – think of the historic gas lamps at Duddell Street in Central. A spiral staircase, which is a signature element in St. Regis hotels, connects the lobby with the hotel’s French restaurant L’Envol on Level 3.

The St. Regis Hong Kong has 129 guestrooms, including 17 suites that come in four categories: St. Regis Suite, Metropolitan Suite, Governor’s Suite and Presidential Suite. Each level has only around nine rooms. This time, I was staying in Room 1809, a 94-sqm St. Regis Suite with a king-sized bed.

The hotel offers in-room check-in service for all guestrooms and suites. Soon after I arrived at the hotel lobby and asked to check in, a butler came to me and led me to take another set of lifts to go to my room. The in-room check-in was fast. After that, my butler offered to show me around my room and gave a brief introduction of the in-room amenities and services.

The suite has a parlour, a bedroom and an en-suite bathroom. The parlour, divided from the suite entrance with a wooden panel, is outfitted with a lounge sofa, an armchair and a wall-mounted TV with Bang & Olufsen sound systems. There’s also a table with a sofa on one side and two chairs on the other, which can accommodate a small group of people and thus can be used for group work.

The mini bar, fully stocked with drinks and snacks for a fee, is placed behind the table. Highlights of the mini bar include three craft liquors (gin, vodka and rum) produced exclusively for the hotel by French brand Distillerie de Paris, as well as four types of juices (strawberry, pineapple, mandarin and apple) by French brand Alain Milliat.

There’s also a Nespresso Creatista Plus stainless steel coffee machine, though my butler said he would not recommend me to use it myself because he could provide beverage service – and I did ask him to prepare some hot tea for me in the evening.

Next to the mini bar is a washroom. My butler said this can be used when there are visitors.

More local touches can be found in the bedroom design, like the headboard whose design was inspired by the traditional shutters in Hong Kong – an immediate example can be found at the entrance of Kong Wan Fire Station opposite the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The bed features linen products from Italian brand Frette. I had some good sleep during my two-night stay. Also, there was always a tiny card placed on my bed showing the weather forecast of the following day as part of the turndown service when I returned to my room in the evening.

There are two bedside tables. Both of them are equipped with a control panel, which has a socket, two USB plugs and buttons that can be used to control curtains, gauze and lighting. What’s more, both control panels face the bed, so I found it very convenient to use, because I could just use it for in-room control while lying on the bed. The two USB plugs also met my needs to charge my phone and tablet at the same time.

On one side of the bed, there’s a lounge chair and a shelf where four pieces of artwork are displayed. A second TV is placed in front of the bed.

On the other side, there’s a small round table equipped with a chair and a quarter-circle sofa with two cushions, which can be used for in-room dining or work. A stationery kit is provided, containing a pencil, a yellow highlighter, an eraser, two paper clips, a binder clip and a yellow sticky note. There are two USB plugs near the phone placed beside the table and a socket is hidden in the case beneath.

The lighting in both the parlour and the bedroom offers three levels of brightness and can be manually adjusted. Particularly, the dim lighting made the room exude a cozy atmosphere that I really liked.

Both the parlour and the bedroom are equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows. However, it’s a pity that I could hardly see the Victoria Harbour. If you aim for a better view, you may want to book a room or suite at a higher floor. What’s more, one side of my room was facing a high-rise office building, so in the evening I would keep the curtain and gauze down for privacy.

This is the view from the window in the parlour of my suite:

The en-suite bathroom is quite spacious with dual sinks and even two cloakrooms – my butler told me that one of them was designed for male guests and the other one with a wall-mounted mirror was for female guests.

The bathroom has both a bathtub and a standing shower room. The Claybrook bathtub is quite sizeable. At a length of 172 cm (5 feet and 7.7 inches), I could almost lie flat inside.

I asked my butler to prepare a bubble bath for me for both nights. My butler prepared some petals of French hydrangea and spread them on the bubbles. He said the flower they use would depend on the season or special request from guests. What’s more, on the first night, he even wrote me a card with a hand-drawn bathtub and colourful bubbles. I was very surprised when I saw the card and was delighted by this personal touch.

Other bathroom amenities include a Dyson hairdryer, a full set of Remede toiletries including face wash, as well as bathrobes and slippers from Italian linen brand Frette.

The hotel has four dining outlets: Chinese restaurant Rùn, French restaurant L’Envol, The Drawing Room and The St. Regis Bar.

I had my breakfast at Rùn, the hotel’s Chinese restaurant located behind the spiral staircase in the lobby. It’s open for breakfast (6:30-10:30am), lunch (12-2:30pm) and dinner (6-10:30pm).

The breakfast was served in a semi-buffet style. This means you can choose a main course from the menu first. Options include congee, fresh eggs, omelette, pancakes and waffles. Meanwhile, bread, fruits, juices, cold cuts and cheeses are presented in a buffet style. There’s also 12 types of jams by the French jam brand Andresy, which you can choose from on the table.

I opted for the abalone and chicken congee, which was served with peanuts, spring onion, crisp fritter and preserved radish. Alternatively, you can choose scallop with conpoy congee.

A dim sum platter was also included in the same course with four types of dim sum: lobster and black truffle spring roll, steamed pork and shrimp dumpling, steamed shrimp dumpling and steamed glutinous rice wrapped in a lotus leaf. The whole course was nicely presented and made a hearty breakfast for me.

L’Envol is the hotel’s French restaurant located on the third floor, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Oliver Elzer. You can just walk upstairs from the lobby using the spiral staircase. It’s open for lunch (12-2:30pm) and dinner (6:30-10:30pm) from Monday to Saturday (closed on Sunday). The restaurant features an open kitchen, as well as a private dining room that can accommodate six to eight guests.

I had a set lunch here. Guests can choose three to five courses from the set lunch menu, which would be updated around every two weeks. The food and the service were both good. A waiter, when seeing our bread basket was emptied, got us a new one immediately. Another waiter also helped clean up the table as soon as we finished each dish.

The Drawing Room, situated next to the lobby on the second floor, serves lunch (12-2:30pm), afternoon tea (2:30-5:30pm) and à la carte dinner (6-10:30pm). There’s also an open-air terrace with al fresco seating. The St. Regis brand’s iconic Champagne Sabering ritual, which celebrates the transition from day to night, is also held here every afternoon at 5:30pm.

The afternoon tea is a major highlight here. Instead of being served on a traditional three-tier curate stand, it is served from two different trolleys, which were inspired by the traditional dim sum carts in local restaurants. One trolley contains eight types of sweets and the other serves eight kinds of savouries, which allows guests to choose the ones they like based on their preferences.

What’s more, there’s a jazz band performing inside The Drawing Room during dinner hours every Thursday to Saturday.

The St. Regis Bar, open from 11am to midnight, is located inside The Drawing Room. Guests can try signature cocktails inspired by the subway in New York (where the first St. Regis hotel was founded) and the tram in Hong Kong. Also available are the St. Regis brand’s classic cocktail Bloody Mary and the local rendition Canto Mary, made with dried tangerine peel, spices and soy sauce.

There’s a large mural inside the bar, which, conceptualised by Beijing-born artist Zhang Gong, takes the centre stage behind the bar table and depicts the historical and cultural elements of Wan Chai, where the hotel is located.

The hotel’s wellness facilities are all located on the seventh floor.

The 24-hour fitness centre features cardio and weight-training equipment from Technogym with personal TV screens and docking stations. There’s an Inbody machine that can measure your body composition as well. The gym room is staffed from 6am to 10pm.

Besides, there’s a swimming pool equipped with a few lounge chairs and a poolside bar in the outdoor verandah, open from 6am to 10pm daily; as well as a spa offering facial and body treatments from 10am to 10pm.

The hotel has over 1,115 sqm of event space across four venues located inside the adjacent China Resources Building.

The event venues include the 518-sqm Astor Ballroom that features a pre-function foyer, a 6.5m-high ceiling and pillar-free space for up to 450 guests; the 156-sqm Rockefeller Room that can be split into two smaller rooms with audiovisual equipment installed such as a large mounted LED screen and digital flip boards; as well as the Caroline Astor Suite that is designed for pre-bridal gatherings and includes a private powder room, walk-in closet as well as make-up area and lounge.

Guests have private elevator access to all the meeting spaces from the hotel entrance and basement car park. Alternatively, they can take the lift from the lobby to the sixth floor and walk through an indoor bridge linking the two buildings.

Last year, we threw out a question on our forum asking our readers what they are looking for in a hotel suite. Some of them said they would upgrade to a hotel suite for some additional space to hold meetings or work with other colleagues in a more private manner, while others think such larger space in suites that always offer additional amenities (like a second TV) can also be used for relaxing and entertaining after work.

I think the suite that I stayed at in The St. Regis Hong Kong answers most of their requirements, such as the parlour equipped with a guest washroom that is suitable for work and group meetings, sufficient sockets and USB plugs inside the suite, as well as the St. Regis brand’s signature butler service.

Speaking of the butler service, I found my butler very nice and he always responded to my requests quickly during my stay. The hotel’s butlers also provide garment pressing and baggage packing/unpacking services, which business travellers might find useful. E-butler service is also available.

What’s more, the hotel’s location in one of Hong Kong’s major business districts makes it a new and decent choice for business travellers visiting Hong Kong, especially those attending exhibitions at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is only a five-minute walk from the hotel. The four distinctive F&B outlets all offer good food and services, and are definitely worth trying.

• Best for… good location in the city and practical in-room amenities that well cater to needs for business travellers
• Don’t miss… trying the semi-buffet breakfast at Rùn and the afternoon tea served from dim sum-inspired trolleys at The Drawing Room
• Price Internet rates for a St. Regis Suite in mid-February start from HK$5,940 (US$764), tax and service charge not included
• Contact 1 Harbour Drive, Hong Kong; +852 2138 6888; stregishongkong.com