Hotels go all out with eye-catching, slick interiors, but Hong Kong’s much-talked about Hotel Icon attempted to outdo the rest by enlisting a group of design icons (hence the name) to decorate its stylish spaces. Experts such as Sir Terence Conran (interior designer), Rocco Yim (architect), Barney Cheng (uniform designer) and more pitched in to give the hotel its high style.
For some of the best work, check into fashion superstar Vivienne Tam’s 27th-floor Designer Suite, where details like an Opera Girl portrait made of Swarovski crystals, a ceiling that mimics a Chinese screen and a porcelain plaque plucked from Tam’s own New York apartment are only rivaled by the fantastic views of the famous Victoria Harbour.
The hotel’s 262 rooms, including 26 luxury suites, feature impeccable views of the harbor, a chic and modern interior that includes a Finnish Karuselli chair in buttery gray leather upholstery and advanced technology, such as the hotel's own smartphone app and complimentary Wi-Fi.
For some of the best work, check into fashion superstar Vivienne Tam’s 27th-floor Designer Suite, where details like an Opera Girl portrait made of Swarovski crystals, a ceiling that mimics a Chinese screen and a porcelain plaque plucked from Tam’s own New York apartment are only rivaled by the fantastic views of the famous Victoria Harbour.
The hotel’s 262 rooms, including 26 luxury suites, feature impeccable views of the harbor, a chic and modern interior that includes a Finnish Karuselli chair in buttery gray leather upholstery and advanced technology, such as the hotel's own smartphone app and complimentary Wi-Fi.
Our Inspector's Highlights
- The hotel’s Above & Beyond program provides you with access to the club lounge on the top 28th floor, as well as Club Rooms or Club Suites with private check-in, complimentary breakfast and happy hour cocktails and canapés in the panoramic bar overlooking glittering harbor at night.
- It’s a pleasure to work out in the double-story gym on the ninth floor of the hotel, which features glittering mosaic-tiled walls and professional grade equipment by Technogym. But it’s even better to refresh afterward in the outdoor pool that overlooks Victoria Harbour.
- Staff at the hotel are quick to smile and greet guests by their names, whether on the phone or in passing by the elevator bank. With a number of interns from the hospitality program at the neighboring university, the hotel offers plenty of personal attention to its guests.
- The Market, an all-day dining restaurant on the second level of the Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star hotel includes a tempting dessert section, with freshly baked pastries and a parade of petit fours in a refrigerated display, along with several metal scales piled high with candy that includes gummy cola and chocolate-covered malt balls.
- Above & Beyond, the Cantonese restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, offers stunning views of the Hong Kong skyline and an interesting dim sum selection, including Wagyu beef buns with black truffle and Shanghai dumplings with crab meat and sea urchin.
Things to Know
- The Four-Star hotel is located among many other hotels in the bustling Tsim Sha Tsui East neighborhood. An MTR station is nearby, and a hotel shuttle runs every 20 minutes throughout the day to ferry guests to Harbour City mall and the nearest Airport Express station.
- The hotel offers a complimentary smartphone app that allows guests to check their folio and browse facility information on the go, as well as an exclusive television portal wherein guests can review weather and flight information, read the room service menu and more.
- Around 80 percent of all rooms offer views of Victoria Harbour, but the best views are enjoyed from the 38 Harbour rooms, which have the beds actually positioned to face a wall of windows.
- The best restaurant at Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star Hotel Icon in Hong Kong for families with children is The Market on the second floor. The all day dining restaurant riffs on the bustle and ad hoc offerings at an Asian street market, spreading its breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet across several stations and counters that feature an open kitchen.
The Rooms
- The guest rooms at this Hong Kong hotel have a notable contemporary design, with an earth-toned color scheme and sleek furnishings meant to draw the eye toward the stunning views of Victoria Harbour.
- Circular shapes nod at a Chinese influence, seen foremost in the rounded smooth wooden paneling that forms the sliding door to the bathroom, where a ring of light is embedded in the vanity mirror and the shower is a distinctive almond shape.
- A king-size bed with all-white linens faces a 40-inch LED television, and in some rooms, a wall of windows that overlook Victoria Harbour. The closet is hidden behind a sliding door in the entryway, while the long rectangular desk blends seamlessly into the mini-bar cabinetry, topped with heavily veined marble.
- Long lantern-style lamps hang on either side of the bed, with pearlescent white wallpaper and several full-length mirrors catching the natural light that streams into the rooms throughout the day. A rocking Karuselli Chair upholstered in soft gray leather provides the perfect spot to curl up with a book or watch the sunset.
- A deep-soaking tub faces a television embedded in a mirror, while a partially open water closet and an almond-shaped, glass-walled shower are also included. Contemporary chrome-plated fixtures by La Torre are used throughout and grooming amenities by Leonard Paris, are available as well.
The Look
- Hotel Icon has a clean and contemporary design style, emphasizing an open-air feeling that marries high design with approachability.
- The metal-framed glass atrium of the three-story lobby, courtesy of design impresario Sir Terence Conran, gives the Four-Star hotel an airy atmosphere filled with natural light and easy visibility throughout, whether viewing the lobby from the glass walkways above or looking straight through the hotel to the buildings behind.
- The lush living garden by Patrick Blanc crawls three stories up the lobby, providing liveliness and whimsy to the sophisticated space, with overhead spotlights and movie studio-style spotlights positioned on the wooden steps to the Green lounge.
- Glass and smooth gray marble flooring set a calming backdrop for otherwise buzzy public areas, dotted with public artworks like the I Love HK paintings flanking the guest room corridor elevator banks or the digitized Chinese characters projected onto glass in the lobby.
- The 28th floor Club Lounge is more intimate and hushed, and includes reading material and accessories displayed on black wooden shelves, warm lighting, low wooden coffee tables and extensive windows to showcase the views of Victoria Harbour.
Getting There
17 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hong Kong
TEL852-3400-1000
NEARBY AIRPORT(S)
HKG (26-40 min)
