Drawing upon nearly a decade of local experience, Forbes Australia‘s lifestyle correspondent reveals his own black book of best-in-class luxury accom in the +852…
It’s no exaggeration to say there have been dozens of travel lists dedicated to Hong Kong hotels written over the past several years. With resources such as our very own star-rated Forbes Travel Guide to hand, the possibility of penning yet another listicle — with the goal of it being both exhaustive and materially novel — feels vageuly futile.
That is unless, of course, it comes spring-loaded with an informed point of view.
Inspired by their lived insights, and the power of a strong opinion (albeit loosely held), I’ve opted to unpack five luxury properties in Hong Kong worthy of our readers’ time and money.
All things considered, my calculus for each hotel’s inclusion is fairly straightforward. In contrast to a lot of the ‘best hotel’ coverage you’ll see concerning the Asian financial hub (especially in Australia), every detail recounted below stems from repeated, personal experience.
Point in fact: there isn’t a single name to crack this shortlist that I haven’t stayed at on at least three occasions — over the course of half a decade living and working in Hong Kong. By design, that means you’ll find a few of the typical suspects — grand dames and shouty newcomers — conspicuously absent.
That hardly means they are not Forbes ‘Five Star’ material. Rather, simply that I have no useful anecdotes about those omissions to share. And if the essence of a great recommendation, particularly in the age of generic AI-rendered slop, rests in specificity then it follows that firsthand insights are the most valuable kind left in the realm of travel writing. Possibly the only valuable kind…
Mandarin Oriental, The Landmark (Central)
The X-factor: A glittery new façade and public spaces, masterminded by veteran hospitality designer Joyce Wang.
Who’s checking in? A younger, more dynamic breed of MO fan keen to distance themselves from their parents’ generation. Ladies who lunch, the fashion set, influencers with a million-strong following.
Pricing (starting at): $1,132 per night
While its sibling property on Connaught Road — one of two legendary flagbearers for the Mandarin Oriental imprint globally — undergoes the final phase in a “transformative” US$100 million renovation, the newly reopened Landmark Mandarin Oriental finds itself holding down the fort for the eponymous Asian hospitality group in Hong Kong. At least until 2027.
Still the discrete and fashionable bolthole it has been since initially opening in 2005, Mandarin Oriental The Landmark (or ‘LMO’ colloquially) returns to the city’s fold of high-end hotels after its own moderate facelift. The property underwent 18 months of ‘enhancement’ works in 2025, with the ministrations of Joyce Wang Studio — the hotel’s original designers — now at their most resplendent in public spaces, like the foyer and perennially buzzy reception.
Both the hotel’s striking vermilion-red facade and cosy liminal entrance are inspired by “grand residences of Hong Kong’s past”, conjuring the air of stepping into a modern-day tai pan’s mansion and away from the onslaught of the city.
Behind closed doors — in one of LMO’s signature L600 rooms — a more minimal ethos of intervention prevails. Returning guests will recall the fan-like floorplan, with Wang and her co-designers focusing their attention on “soft touches”: new furniture, redesigned carpeting, and metal-embellished wallpapers.
The decision, more than two decades ago, to anchor each guestroom around its own wet space remains ingenious: especially since they’re all now kitted with toiletries made expressly for Mandarin Oriental by Omani perfumer Amouage.
Being that LMO is attached, almost arterially, to the surrounding Landmark shopping precinct, it would be madness not to sortie out in search of Central’s many acclaimed bars and restaurants. However, outlay one occasion for dinner at Amber, Richard Ekkebus’s three-Michelin-starred fine diner that goes big on sustainability, local ingredients from Hong Kong’s New Territories, and an immersive ‘cellar experience’ that breaks up the ritual of the textbook degustation.
Four Seasons Hong Kong (Central)
The X-factor: Nearly everything you could want as an executive traveller. Unbeatable poolside views, a location that allows you to fast-travel to HKIA, and an F&B offering that will push the limits of most expense accounts. Plus, for guests staying on club floors: an almost comical amount of complimentary garment pressing.
Who’s checking in? Elite corporate types in law, finance, and tech — the kind of guest who assesses a hotel on the quality of its club sandwich and early check-in availability.
Pricing (starting at): $1,646 per night
Sharing a massive stretch of reclaimed land with Hong Kong’s towering IFC commercial development, Four Seasons’ profile on paper should be that it is, overwhelmingly, a hotel for business executives.
Such personalities definitely figure prominently in the hotel’s reservations, but it would be a disservice to the Hong Kong flagship of North America’s most acclaimed luxury hotelier to reduce it to a hotspot for the Bloomberg-terminal-and-burgundy crowd.
The reality is that Four Seasons Hong Kong manages to harness excellence on every possible front. See: its starry F&B offering, (surprisingly) dynamic wellness program, sky-high executive club, and assured guest services team. Here, every ingredient in the consummate five-star experience comes together — quietly, confidently, without showboating.
The hotel’s ‘superior’ harbour-view suites exude this ethos in action, combining yacht-like interiors swathed in soft neutrals and traditional Chinese textiles with square footage so vast — a relative concept in space-challenged Hong Kong — you can do cartwheels in it.
For epicures, meticulously made dim sum at Lung King Heen or a sundowner at Argo are both worthwhile excursions. At the latter, try one of the team’s signature martinis: made, for added resonance, with South Australian gin.
Offset time spent grazing on the hotel’s massive culinary roster (11 bars & restaurants, to be exact) with a visit to the outdoor pool. Cloistered at one end by Central’s skyscrapers, and unbroken views of the Kowloon waterfront on the other, it makes a persuasive case for this property having the most cinematic swim-up view of any hotel on Hong Kong Island.
Rosewood Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui)
The X-factor: Named ‘World’s Best Hotel’ by the William Reed set for two consecutive years.
Who’s checking in? A broad church of overseas visitors and Hong Kong regulars. Unsurprising really, considering just how many universes of intrigue — wellness, dining, concept retail — dwell inside the hotel’s palatial confines.
Pricing (starting at): $1,852 per night
Given its critical recognition by bodies ranging from Michelin to this very masthead, it’s impossible to omit Rosewood from our discussion about Hong Kong’s best luxury hotels. With 400 keys across a 65-storey miniature kingdom — soaring high above the Kowloon Waterfront — the property’s arrival six years ago presaged the beginning of a new era for hotels in the city.
Various characteristics of ultra-high-end Asian hospitality are present: extravagant staff-to-guest ratios; clubby loft-like suites, nearly all with harbourfront views; comprehensive spa & wellness facilities; and a heady selection of dining options. (A new concept, operated in tandem with the famed Bar Leone, is scheduled to open this November.)
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Despite Rosewood’s clear embrace of a maximalist philosophy, it’s notable how effectively the various dining, wellness, and cultural offerings complement one another. Splurge for a room with Manor Club access and begin the duration of your stay with negronis at altitude, against the backdrop of showstopping views trained upon Hong Kong Island.
Before hitting the street — ideally in the company of one of the hotel’s charming cultural ambassadors — drop by for a browse at Beaureguards. Located on the sixth floor, it is Rosewood Hong Kong’s antidote to the garden-variety gift shop: stocked by local fashion veterans Kelly Wong and Kim Bui Kollar with a range of goodies you’ll want to gift, or perhaps immediately dress up in to match the hotel’s many characterful interiors.
Upper House Hong Kong (Admiralty)
The X-factor: A triumph of substance and style. Widely credited as having the best guest services team in the +852. Despite minimal facilities on paper, arguably the Hong Kong hotel where you’re liable to spend the most time in-room.
Who’s checking in? Hong Kong’s gilded creative class — particularly art dealers, well-dressed auction house types and fashion glitterati during Art Week.
Pricing (starting at): $1,975 per night
For newcomers, the renowned appeal of Upper House Hong Kong may seem curious in a handful of ways. Tucked behind a nondescript driveway, off to one side of Admiralty’s sprawling One Pacific Place, the property hides in plain sight of the annex’s bigger, more mundane accommodations.
Here, the ritual of arrival is redolent of the entire Upper House brand: favouring a subtle, ‘slow burn’ approach to high-end hospitality. Ascending to your in-room check-in, you’ll spy no conventional reception area. The hotel operates only a single restaurant and cocktail bar on-site (technically, anyway) and wellness facilities — beyond a small, if impressively kitted gym — are completely absent.
In spite of those theoretical drawbacks, survey any number of notable Hong Kong creatives — restaurateurs, fashion buyers, film industry luminaries — and the role this property plays, at the centre of cultural life on Hong Kong Island, becomes apparent. (‘Up Close’, the hotel’s program of year-round fireside chats is almost always as well attended by locals as it is guests staying in-house.)
Rooms and suites are a major magnet. Much noise has been made about their median square footage (the hotel was repurposed from serviced apartments) but equally, every private space’s charm and liveability flow from the work of André Fu Studio. Still the project most closely associated with the eponymous homegrown designer, Fu’s rooms are animated by a stillness and cosseting comfort. 17 years later, they remain a benchmark for quiet luxury-type interiors throughout the wider region.
The signature ‘Upper Suites’ employ a framework of blonde hardwoods and diffused lighting; smoothing the edges off their angular, harbour-facing layouts. Even among some truly stiff competition, the bathroom in these suites dominate our list of the most relaxing and photogenic of any in Hong Kong — all but demanding a contemplative, hour-long soak.
It’d be entirely reasonable to while away most of your stay at the Upper House behind closed doors. Yet to do so is to deprive oneself of the hotel’s other not-so-secret weapon: service. Under the example of leaders like Edward Tang — Director of Guest Experience — most interactions with Upper House team members achieve a kind of alchemy between friend, fixer, and guide.
From assistance with last-minute gift wrapping when you’re traveling during the holiday season, or a recommendation for Hong Kong’s best char siu from a certifiable local, few requests here won’t be instantly (and often proactively) accommodated.
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong (Wan Chai)
The X-factor: Old-school, big-brand hospitality — and sky-high executive club access that’s worth the premium.
Who’s checking in? Business travellers, families, or indeed some hybrid of the two. Proximity to the HKCEC means you’ll also see lots of state dignitaries and trade exhibition bigwigs.
Pricing (starting at): $1,084 per night
First opened in 1989, shortly after the completion of the surrounding Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Grand Hyatt Hong Kong is by no means a novel nor trendy addition to the city’s luxury hospitality gestalt.
What it has managed, for more than three decades, is to become one of the most beloved business hotels overall on Hong Kong Island — and an enduring symbol of the city’s pre-handover style.
Common areas were built to a specification from Hyatt executives, evidently, for ‘the world’s most lavish ocean cruise liner’. In the lobby, a vast multi-tiered layout — teeming with fountains, granite columns, and hand-painted frescoes — connects new arrivals to their fellow guests overhead. Many can be seen perched at Tiffin: a strikingly lit, atrium-esque space ringed with floor-to-ceiling windows, where the hotel’s regulars (often multigenerational) flock for afternoon tea.
That first impression, of brash old-school hospitality, reoccurs throughout many of Grand Hyatt’s spaces: such as in the eponymous two-floor steakhouse, complete with its own cigar room; and the appropriately titled Grand Club, available to suite guests and eligible World of Hyatt members on the hotel’s 30th floor.
Wrest yourself away from picturesque views of Tsim Sha Tsui across the harbour, and you’ll even find an honest-to-god driving range on-site — a great excuse to brush up on your short game before the next partners retreat.
Rock-solid facilities aside, Grand Hyatt makes the cut thanks to its formidable value proposition. For a name-brand five-star property with this much historic recognition, overnight rates remain surprisingly well-priced. A vast 542-room inventory means that complimentary upgrades are always a distinct possibility. No dice? Complimentary 2pm checkout (prioritised for World of Hyatt members) isn’t a bad consolation.
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