Groundbreaking Hotels Cater for an Internet-Savvy Generation

Nov 14, 12 | 12:05 am

By Rahul Jacob

From the Peninsula's fabled Rolls-Royce transfers from the airport to the Mandarin Oriental's almost over-attentive service, Hong Kong's hotels are a hard act to follow.

Yet in the past couple of years, two luxury hotels that are not part of big chains have come out of nowhere to offer contemporary Asian design and a new twist on hotel management, updated for the 21st century.

In the heart of the city is the 117-room Upper House, owned by the Swire group, which owns Cathay Pacific. The group had never run a hotel until the Upper House opened three years ago.

The other is the 262-room Hotel Icon, which opened last autumn in Kowloon on the grounds of the Polytechnic University whose students undertake extended internships there.

Within a couple of months of the Upper House's opening, the FT's exacting hotel reviewer Claire Wrathall declared: "I don't know that I have ever been as impressed by a new hotel." The Hotel Icon has made it to Condé Nast Traveler's hottest new hotels list for 2012.

Both focus on things younger, more media-centric and internet-savvy travellers want.

Swire's management had three years to plan the hotel. "They asked questions like, do we really need four separate desks in the lobby?" says Dean Winter area general manager for Swire Hotels Hong Kong.

The management finally decided to make do with one instead of having a concierge, reception, cashier, et al.

The person who checks in a guest becomes their first port of call for everything, from restaurant suggestions to arranging limos.

Both hotels offer free WiFi, recognising few things annoy today's frequent fliers than being charged for usage.

Source for full article: Financial Times