Hong Kong Travel Guide
Hotel Openings / China Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Indigo / → All Tags
Enter The Dragon With Hong Kong's New Hotel Indigo
Again, here we are announcing another Chinese hotel. This time, Hong Kong gets to cut the tape on Hotel Indigo Hong Kong the first urban brand that will bring edgy design and funky rooms to the city.
The boutique brand will feature a burnished bronze "dragon" that will wrap around the facade of the new building acting as a screen for shielding the interior from heat and harnessing solar power.
Each of the 138 rooms is individually designed to reflect the flare of the historic Wan Chai neighborhood. Keeping with Hong Kong's colonial heritage, the rooms will marry both Asian and European influences with a modern touch. Along with the unique design, the entire property will offer complimentary WiFi throughout.
Hotel Celebrations / Hong Kong Hotels / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Hotel Packages / → All Tags
Mandarin Oriental HK Throws Year-Long 50th Birthday Bash
Mandarin Oriental is in a serious party-mood these days. We’ve already talked about the $60,000 New Year’s Eve package that lets you ring in 2013 baller-style in Las Vegas, but next year will bring a whole range of celebrations on the other side of the world when Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong turns the big five-o.
Difficult as it may be to imagine, given the maze of skyscrapers in the city today, but when the hotel opened in 1963, its 27 floors made it the tallest building on Hong Kong Island, and the first in Asia with bathtubs in every room.
Hotel Renovations / Hotel Technology / Peninsula Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / → All Tags
The Revamped Peninsula Hong Kong Unveils Serious Tech Toys
A Grand Deluxe Harbour View Suite
At the start of this year, we talked about the planned renovations at The Peninsula Hong Kong, set to overhaul all guestrooms to the tune of HK$450 million ($58 million) .
Six months or so later, the first phase, covering all rooms in the Peninsula Tower, is complete. We love the warm colors and the artwork on the wall in the Harbour View room; inspired by Chinese ink paintings, these are three-dimensional branches, leaves, and blossoms made of laser-cut bronze-lacquered stainless steel. Flora and fauna inspired details show up throughout, with a Grand Deluxe Suite having a similar design woven into the carpet.
Changes in décor may be the first thing you notice, but in-room technology is where the hotel has gotten serious with its upgrades.
Hotel High Tea / Marc Jacobs / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / → All Tags
Marc Jacobs Does Runway Tees and Mandarin Oriental Teas
If you couldn’t make it to Marc Jacobs’ New York City fashion show last night, perhaps you can try his tea instead?
MO Bar, at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong has linked with the designer to create an afternoon tea modeled after…a handbag.
We know it’s early in the week and day and the coffee may not have sunk in yet, so we’re going to try and explain this the best we can. “The Lindy” is a handbag from Jacobs’ Fall 2012 collection and the MO’s Exec Sous Chef Sidney Schutte thought it would be cute to bring some elements of the bag's shape, color, and print into the tea presentation—namely the bow and the mini studs.
Hotel Club Lounges / Conrad Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / → All Tags
Inside the Club Lounge at The Conrad Hong Kong
Over on Jaunted, you can get our inside looks at some of the world’s best airline lounges, so we thought we’d do something similar here and start talking about some of the hotel lounges we’ve frequented lately for our series on Hotel Club Lounges. Today, we're having a look inside the Executive Lounge at the Conrad Hong Kong, and some impressive thunderstorms out the window.
Earlier this year we had a peek at the pool that belongs to the Conrad Hong Kong, a 61-story tall tower attached to the luxury Pacific Place mall on Hong Kong Island. Now we can follow up with a little more detail on the hotel's Executive lounge, located on the 59th floor.
When booked on the Executive floor, you are whisked straight up to the lounge upon arrival for check in, while sitting down and having your first drink. Located on the harbour side of the hotel, the lounge offers fantastic views over Hong Kong Island towards Tsim Tsa Tshui across the water.
Executive floor rooms are from floor 57 and up, but we'd recommend to request a room on floor 58, 59, or 60. Floors 58 and 60 are connected to the lounge via a small spiral staircase, which makes popping to your room much easier than waiting for an elevator for all of two floors.
Hotel Toiletries / Toiletry Kits / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Amenities / → All Tags
Have You Ever Seen This in a Hotel Toiletry Kit Before?
You know how much we obsess over the kind of toiletries we find in hotel bathrooms so when we stayed at the Upper House in Hong Kong last year, we kind of didn't know what to do with ourselves when we opened up their toiletry kit.
The kit, given to every guest in every room category, featured REN facial and body products along with a toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, nail kit and even nail polish remover. Toiletry overload! In a totally awesome way of course.
But the best part of it all was a plastic "Airline Security Bag" in case you want to stash some of these toiletries in your carry-on for the flight home. Being religious users of plastic baggies with TSA-approved sizes, this was an especially nice touch.
So we have to ask...have you ever seen this sort of "toiletry" before? Let us know where in comments below! Or just dish out your favorite hotel toiletry finds. We can never get enough of those!
Guess the Hotel / Conrad Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Pools / → All Tags
Peeping In On The Conrad Hong Kong
Yes, Jetsetcd, it was indeed the heated outdoor swimming pool at The Conrad that we spied on last month during our trip to Hong Kong.
The hotel is attached to Pacific Place, one of many luxury shopping malls in the city. It's also across the way (via an indoor walkway) from the Island Shangri-La Hotel, another traditional luxury hotel.
Since rooms go for about $573 a night here, we made do with peeping in on some of the other parts of the hotel. Sadly, we didn't get inside a room but you can always study those here.
Hotel Renovations / Peninsula Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Technology / → All Tags
Peninsula Hong Kong to Make Over Its Rooms and Tech Offerings
When HotelChatter popped into the Peninsula Hong Kong just over a year ago, there wasn't much that we didn't like at the hotel from the welcome amenities to the in-room telescopes, the bedside tech control panel and the white-gloved service.
But all this "classic lushness" may have been a little too "classic" as the hotel has just announced the start of a major guestroom redesign which will update all 297 rooms in both of the hotel's towers.
Conceived by The Peninsula Hotels in-house design team, the newly enhanced rooms showcase the finest materials and craftsmanship, boasting a bespoke luxury residential feel. With an accent on Classic Modernity, simplicity and chic elegance, the new room aesthetic melds the distinctive design touches and practicality present in today’s luxury yachts, motorcars, and private jets, taking The Peninsula guest experience to the next level.
Hotel Toiletries / Asprey / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / → All Tags
High in the Sky, You'll Be Looking Fly at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong
We've already told you about the glorious bathrooms in the specialty suites at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, the tallest hotel in the world. But down in the other guestrooms, the amenities are just as nice.
For instance, there are Asprey Purple Rain toiletries lining the bathtub and under the sink vanity is a dedicated toiletry drawer which features golden boxes of dental kits (2), a shaving kit, a hairbrush, an emery board, cotton pads, Q-tips, shower cap and mouthwash.
Hong Kong Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Swire Hotels / Hotel Day Trips / → All Tags
How to Make The Upper House Your House in Hong Kong
We love luxury hotels but we can't always afford to stay in them. Thankfully, hotels these days are way more than just rooms for paying hotel guests. Between visiting the lobbies, bars, restaurants, and spas inside these upper echelon hotels, it's practically as good as staying the night. Here's our latest installment of how to quench your champagne tastes on a Coca-Cola budget with a Hotel Day Trip.
You don't have to be a paying hotel guest to enjoy the swank luxury of The Upper House in Hong Kong which sits atop the J.W. Marriott at Pacific Place (There's no connection between the two hotels, just FYI.)
Here's how you can fake it and enjoy some of the best public hotel spaces Hong Kong has to offer while saving yourself about $515 a night:
1. Lay Out on The Lawn: Up on Level 6 (just after you ride escalators up to the elevator bank), there's a rooftop lounge with real grass, a rarity for Hong Kong. Here you can order coffee or cocktails, read the paper, flip through a magazine or check your email using the hotel's free WiFi. No room key necessary!
Hong Kong Hotels / Business Travel Hotels / Geek Hotels / Free WiFi / Guess The Hotel / → All Tags
A Few of Our Favorite Things at East, a 'Business Hotel with a Life'
We got a chance to tour the East Hotel in Hong Kong in the city's Taikoo Shing district which bills itself as a "business hotel with a life" and while the hanging chairs in the suites definitely topped our list of Things We Liked, there's so much more to explore.
Our contributing editor, JetsetCD, did a thorough review of the hotel last year so be sure to read her play-by-play of an overnight stay if you're interested in booking a room here. But for now, allow us to pull out a few of our favorite things about East:
Hotel Construction / Hotel Indigos / Hong Kong Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
Why Hello There, Hotel Indigo Hong Kong
Imagine our surprise yesterday when we stumbled out of the maze of assorted stalls of the Wan Chai Market--which sell clothing, jewelry, toys alongside meat and live, still-flapping-in-a-box fish--came face-to-face with this--the construction site for the upcoming Hotel Indigo Hong Kong.
The project was first announced back in 2009 and the dragon-wrapped hotel on the bustling Queen's Road East will open sometime next year. What's that you say, a dragon-wrapped hotel? Yes, the hotel's exterior will feature a "conspicuous dragon in burnished bronze" that will also function as an eco-screen to counteract hot spots and solar gain.
Inside there will be 150 Feng Shui-designed rooms and since Hotel Indigo is all about the local neighborhood, we're guessing the history of the Wan Chai 'hood will be featured prominently throughout.
