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Island Shangri La, Hong Kong

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Status
  
Complete

Architectural style
  
High-rise

Completed
  
1991

Type
  
Hotel

Construction started
  
1986

Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong

Address
  
88 Queensway, Pacific Place, Supreme Court Road, Central, Hong Kong

Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong (Chinese: 港島香格里拉大酒店) is a five-star luxury hotel of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. It is located in the Admiralty area of Hong Kong and is the sister hotel to the Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong, on Mody Road in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon. This 213-meter and 57-floor-tall skyscraper was opened on 1 March 1991.

Contents

The hotel has been named the "Best Business Hotel in Hong Kong" for three consecutive years (2011-2013) by Business Traveller.

History

The Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong, was opened on 1 March 1991 in the second phase of development of Pacific Place, a complex of office towers, hotels and a shopping centre situated at 88 Queensway, in Admiralty, Hong Kong. The hotel was part of phase two out of three, the initial phase having opened in 1988, and the final third phase in 2004. It contains 565 guestrooms which start at USD $606 per night, of which 34 are suites which start at USD $1,041 per night., spread through the top half of the tallest tower of the complex, which is 213 meters high. The hotel also contains eight restaurants, a business centre, a 24-hour health club, a 645-square-metre ballroom and seven function rooms, as well as a fleet of limousines. The bottom half of the tower contains office space known as "Two Pacific Place".

Pacific Place contains two other luxury hotels, the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong and the Conrad Hong Kong. The complex is directly connected to Admiralty Station, part of Hong Hong's Mass Transit Railway that opened in 1979 and is located in Admiralty, at the eastern extension of Hong Kong's central business district.

Design and construction

The hotel's interior was designed by Leese Robertson Freeman Designers and features a 16-story silk mural in the atrium — titled "The Great Motherland of China" — the largest indoor Chinese silk mural. The silk painting, created by 40 artists from Beijing, can be viewed from an internal glass elevator that accompanies the entrée journey from the 41st to 56th floor. 771 Viennese chandeliers are used throughout the interior, while carpets are provided by Tai Ping, whose hand-knotted carpets are handwoven in independent factories in China and Nepal.

The proximity of the Hong Kong Park, covering 80,000 m² has meant that the hotel has become popular with leisure travellers who are able to jog there in the mornings, according to former VP and GM Wolfgang Krueger.

Art Collection

"The Great Motherland of China," which contains 250 panels and took six months for the 40 artists to complete, is the centrepiece of the hotel's art collection. It scales an internal wall of over 20 floors and can only be seen by guests riding the elevator in the centre of the hotel. The hotel also holds over 900 artworks and hosts art fairs and auctions.

As well as auctions in its ballroom by the likes of Bonhams that focus on contemporary Asian art, the hotel was also selected as the venue for art entrepreneur Dong Myeong Kim's Bank Art Fair, which showcased over 100 emerging Korean artists on floors 41 and 42 as part of Art Basel Hong Kong from 23–26 May 2013.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 531 standard rooms of 479 square feet, 17 executive suites at 880 square feet, 14 Harbour View Suites at 944 square feet, two speciality suites at 1,416 square feet and a Presidential Suite of 2,253 square feet. Each has floor to ceiling glass windows with views of either the Victoria Harbour, or Victoria Peak. The rooms are all scented with the hotel's own brand fragrance, which it has made available for sale.

Restaurants

The hotel contains eight restaurants. Fine dining facilities includes the two-Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Summer Palace and the former one-Michelin-starred French cuisine Restaurant Petrus, both of which received the recognition in the guide's inaugural 2009 Hong Kong and Macau edition. Summer Palace maintained its 2-star Michelin Guide rating in the 2014 edition.

Health Club

Located on Level 8, the Health Club offers yoga and pilates circuit classes. Treatment's include the signature Caviar Crystal Soothing Treatment, using the European approach of entrusting selected products such as jojoba, almond, peppermint and rosemary oil for spa treatments in order to be unobtrusive. The club contains five treatment rooms, two for women, two for couples and one for men.

Awards

  • Gold List, Condé Nast Traveler (USA), 2005–13
  • "Top 25 Hotels in China for Service," "Top 25 Luxury Hotels in China" and "Top 25 Hotels in China" by TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Award 2012-13
  • "Best Business Hotel in Hong Kong" for three consecutive years and "Best Business Hotel in Asia Pacific" for two consecutive years, Business Traveller (Asia Pacific), 2012
  • "Best Business Hotel in Hong Kong," Business Traveller (China), 2011-12
  • "Top 35 Hotels in China," Condé Nast Traveler (USA), 2012
  • "Top 100 Hotels in China," Travel + Leisure (China), 2007-12
  • "Best Hotels in Asia," Travel + Leisure (USA) 500 World's Best Hotels, 2003-12
  • Certificate of Merit, Hotels and Recreational Clubs category, Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence, 2012
  • "Top 125 Asian Hotels", Condé Nast Traveler (USA), 2011
  • References

    Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong Wikipedia