It feels like you can’t move for flashy hotels in ultra-moneyed Hong Kong, but even in a city where standards of hospitality are so high there’s a selling point at the Regent Hong Kong that can’t be matched by any of its competitors: that view. When I spoke to staff at rival properties, wistful praise for that panorama came up repeatedly. I understood why as soon as I checked in.
The property sweeps so closely to the lapping waters of Victoria Harbour that you almost think you might get your feet wet at breakfast, and huge windows throughout dramatically frame that mesmerising channel - with its convoys of cargo ships, candy-pink leisure cruisers and bobbing Star Ferries - alongside the neon-flecked skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island and the verdant mountains that lie just beyond it. Most rooms face the waterfront and the vista is almost indecent. I felt guilty when I turned my back on it; I slept with my blinds open so I wouldn’t miss it.
It’s just as well the hotel makes such an impactful impression as it’s a Very Important Property. The original Regent Hong Kong opened in 1980. In 2001 the building was converted into an InterContinental. Then IHG, which owns InterContinental, bought the Regent name to use for the company’s new line of ultra-luxury hotels and the decision was made to create Regent Hong Kong 2.0 in the same building and to baptise it as the global flagship for this reconceived brand.
A few months after the hotel’s soft opening, I attended the November grand gala that heralded its official debut. But before that big-budget party I’d time to enjoy the property. The lobby serves a popular afternoon tea that again comes with those showstopper views; there’s a diamond-shaped outdoor pool on the third floor; and this being Hong Kong, it’s impossible to go hungry. Alongside a Nobu - a crossover from the hotel’s InterCon days that was an institution in the city - there’s The Steak House (expect superb meat and weighty New York-style cheesecake); Michelined Cantonese restaurant Lai Ching Heen and posh-buffet Harbourside. In sandy tones, bedrooms feature deep-set soaking tubs and Perricone MD toiletries. For Hong Kong high-rollers, the duplex presidential suite, with its outdoor infinity pool, is staggering.
But back to the party. On the big night, we walked past a perfumed boulevard of congratulatory bouquets and up the original white-marble staircase to a ballroom where dinner was served as ballerinas pirouetted between tables. MCs enthused about what the revived Regent means for IHG’s future prosperity - alongside other next-generation Regents now open in Cannes and Vietnam, there are plans to launch properties everywhere from Santa Monica to Bali.
But again that view came calling, and so when dessert was done we returned to the lobby. There was a memorable surprise after a champagne toast when the DJ stopped playing and abseiling acrobats stationed outside plummeted into view and danced against those triple-height windows in time to Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor. And yet even that couldn’t quite supersede the cinematic dazzle of the city.
