Kowloon Shangri-La

Kowloon Shangri-La
九龍香格里拉大酒店

Harbor view from the hotel.
General information
Status Complete
Type Hotel
Address 64 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Coordinates 22°17′50″N 114°10′38″E / 22.297198°N 114.177361°E / 22.297198; 114.177361Coordinates: 22°17′50″N 114°10′38″E / 22.297198°N 114.177361°E / 22.297198; 114.177361
Opening 17 June 1981[1]
Owner Shangri-La Hotels
Management Ulf Bremer
Design and construction
Architect

Wong & Ouyang Associates

[1]
Other information
Number of rooms 688
Website
Kowloon Shangri-La Official Website

Kowloon Shangri-La (Chinese: 九龍香格里拉大酒店) is a five-star hotel of the Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts (Chinese: 香格里拉酒店集團) group. It is located on Mody Road in Tsim Sha Tsui East overlooking Victoria Harbour and the Hong Kong Island skyline. It is the sister hotel to the Island Shangri-La in Admiralty district, Hong Kong.

History

The history of the Kowloon property is tied to the history of the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, which began with the opening of the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore in 1971.[2] The Kuok Group that built the Singapore hotel put the management of it under Western International Hotels, before Kuok themselves entered the hotel management world in 1979 when Kuok Hotels was formed to manage the Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa in Penang, Golden Sands Resort in Penang, and The Fijian, Yanuca Island, on Fiji.[2] The Kowloon Shangri-La hotel opened on 17 June 1981 and was managed by Westin just as it Shangri-La predecessors, but a year later the Kuok Group created Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. In April 1991,[3]Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts assumed management of the Kowloon from Westin, as well as all hotels it had owned until that point.[2]

The facade of Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel

As with all of Hong Kong's hotels, it suffered in the first half of 2003 due to the sudden and unexpected outbreak of SARS which centred on the city. The hotel lost US$7.2 million along with the Island Shangri-La, as compared to a profit of $12.2 million in the same period in 2002. At the time, 13 per cent of guests came from Mainland China.[4] The hotel's occupancy rate fell to less than 10 per cent during the SARS outbreak and the Shangri-La group was forced to cancel its final dividend of five cents for the year to cut operation costs.[5]

By 2005 the hotel had well recovered, with profits for it and Island Shangri-La combined up 33% to US$150.99 million for the year. Kowloon Shangri-La charged US$250 on average per room and was 82% full for 2005, according to the South China Morning Post.[6] In 2007 its growth continued as it achieved new record earnings, and in 2010 occupancy rose 53% as it continued its growth.[7] By 2009 guests from mainland China had increased to 32%.[8]

To celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2011, the hotel held an exhibition of photographs submitted by the public, from guests who had visited from around the world during the three decades since its opening. A judging panel of photographer Water Poon, president of the Institute of Professional Photographers Carsten Schael, and Anthony Lau Chun-hon, executive director of the Tourism Board selected the winners.[9]

Kowloon Shangri-La stopped serving shark fin products in early 2010, and in January 2012 the entire Shangri-La chain of 72 hotels followed with the announcement that they would stop serving all shark fin products in their restaurants as part of a sustainable seafood policy.[10] Shark finning, to create the popular dish Shark fin soup had led the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Shark Specialist Group to state that "the rapidly expanding and largely unregulated shark fin trade represents one of the most serious threats to shark populations worldwide".[11]

Design and construction

Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel lobby

Kowloon Shangri-La is located in the tourist-heavy Tsim Sha Tsui East, within walking distance of the luxury boutiques on Canton Road, the Temple Street Night Market and Chungking Mansions.[12]

The interior design, which includes a lobby created from Italian Statuario marble and two murals of the Shangri-La Valley by UK artist Malcolm Golding,[12] was developed by Y Shibata & Associates of Japan, Don Aston Designers Asia Ltd., and Bilkey Llinas Design Ltd.[1] Attention to detail includes the changing of carpets in the elevators at midnight every night, to mark the days of the week.[12]

Malcolm Golding returned in 2003, 23 years after painting the original murals, to restore them. He became a tourist attraction as he used bamboo scaffolding to repaint his vision of Shangri-La as a "lush tropical valley hemmed by startling mountains, with colourful birds and huge flowering plants surrounding a stylised Chinese palace."[13]

Features

Rooms and suites

The rooms of the hotel were developed by LRF Designers Limited[1] and number 688, of which 646 are guest rooms, and 42 are Suites.[12] Suites include the Executive, Harbour View, Premier Harbour View, Specialty and Presidential Suite. The rooms average 450 square feet, some of the largest available on the crowded peninsula of Kowloon and many of the rooms directly overlook Hong Kong Island waterfront. Rooms on floors 19 through 21 are dedicated to the "Horizon Club"[12]

Restaurants

As of 2014, the hotel holds five speciality restaurants serving a variety of cuisines under Executive Chef Gael Moureau, as well as a lounge and a bar, Lobby Lounge and Tapas Bar.[14] Both outlets were designed by Bilkey Llinas Design Ltd., and the Tapes Bar was honoured with the "Wine by The Glass Restaurant Award", organised by Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong, in 2011.[14]

Previously, the hotel hosted Californian restaurant Napa, described as a "Hong Kong institution" when it closed in June 2005 after 12 years. It was the first fusion restaurant of its kind to appear in a Hong Kong Hotel and was led by chef David Monson. The hotel's French bistro Margaux closed down the same year, replaced by Italian restaurant Angelini.[15]

Kowloon Shangri-La Café Kool

Chef Marco Medaglia leads the hotel's Italian restaurant, which was honoured as "One of Hong Kong's 50 Finest Restaurants" in Dining with Stars 2008, organised by Hong Kong Tatler and supported by Hong Kong Tourism Board. The restaurant was designed by Zanghellini & Holt Architect and seats 69.[14] Medaglia, from Chieti in central Italy, trained in the Republic of San Marino and worked the Michelin Star Di Gennaro restaurant in Stuttgart, Germany. He also worked at the Michelin Star La Terrazza restaurant in Rome, as well as in Myanmar and Indonesia, joining Angelini in 2009.[16]

Led by Chef Lou Kuok Kam, Cafe Kool is the hotel's largest, with 322 seats. Serving Global cuisine, it was designed by Bilkey Llinas Design Ltd.[14] with a hard wood ceiling and marble surfaces. The restaurant offers a buffet.

Serving Kyoto-style Japanese cuisine in kaiseki style and also including a teppanyaki grill and sushi bar, Nadaman is led by Chef Takao Kojima and can host 138 guests. Nadaman first opened in Osaka in 1830, and the Kowloon Shangri-La restaurant which opened at the same time as the hotel, in 1981, was its first overseas outlet. Kojima spent 20 years at Nadaman in Japan before moving to Hong Kong, where here changes the mini-kaiseki menu every month.[17]

The restaurant's interior was designed by CL3 Architects Ltd. and Kanko Kikaku Sekkeisha Consultants & Designers Ltd., Tokyo.[14] In 2005 it was named one of the "top ten great hotel restaurants in the world" by Hotels Magazine.[18] In 2010, the Kaiseki cuisine Japanese fine dining restaurant, Nadaman, was listed along with its sister outlet at the Island Shangri-La, as the 'Best Japanese restaurant' on the Hong Kong Best Eats 2010 list complied by CNN Travel in 2010.[19]

Michelin two-starred Shang Palace's grand private dining room

Shang Palace, led by Chef Mok Kit Keung is a two-Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant, received in the Michelin Guide's inaugural 2009 Hong Kong and Macau edition.[20] Designed by LRF Designers Ltd., it holds 160.[14] The restaurant was entirely refurbished and reopened in September 2012.

Chef Wins Hung creates breads, pastries and desserts at the 24-seater delicatessen located at the hotel's mezzanine.[14]

Awards

Kowloon Shangri-La frequently receives recognition as one of the top luxury hotels in Asia, featuring in media such Condé Nast Traveler.[21] It has won the following awards.[1]

Corporate Social Responsibility

Kowloon Shangri-La, Hong Kong has worked with a number of local charitable organisations such as Christian Action, offering financial assistance to guest donation programmes, as well as arranging numerous charity visits to those in need, and sponsoring venues for charity events. Projects include a School visit and Easter egg-painting workshop for students from Ebenezer School & Home for The Visually Impaired, a Tree-Planting Challenge organised by Friends of the Earth, a Mid-Autumn Festival Lunch Party for elderly in collaboration with The Rotary Club of Channel Islands, and food donation and serving to refugees and asylum seekers at Chung King Mansion in association with Foodlink.[22][23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Fast Facts". Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Susie (17 April 2012). "Hotel chains in Asia". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Steve Shellum (4 January 2002). "Shangri-La CEO Giovanni Angelini Spending US$130 million to Move the Chain to the Top of the Ladder". Hotel Online. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. ↑ Sandy Li (23 August 2003). "Shangri-La optimistic on recovery". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Sandy Li (28 July 2003). "Shangri-La mulls Sars claim". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Denise Tsang (5 April 2006). "Shangri-La's HK hotels thrive on travel boom". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Denise Tsang and Lulu Chen (26 August 2010). "Shangri-La posts profit of US$71m on travel growth". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Denise Tsang (12 September 2009). "Shangri-La sees pick-up after earnings dive 92pc". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Vivian Chen (8 June 2011). "Kowloon Shangri-La seeks photo to tell its three-decade long story". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  10. ↑ Jason Chow (20 January 2012). "Ban on Shark Fin Soup Advances Through Asia". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Buckley, Louis (2007). The End of the Line (PDF). WildAid. p. 21.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Barry Hertz (3 March 2013). "Room Keys: Shangri-La Kowloon, Hong Kong". National Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  13. ↑ Kevin Sinclair (8 September 2003). "Artist returns for another brush with Shangri-La". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Dining". Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  15. ↑ Andrew Sun (29 May 2005). "Last orders". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "Chef Marco Medaglia". Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  17. ↑ Janice Leung Hayes. "Fine things in life: Nadaman's secret is seasonal ingredients". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  18. ↑ "Nadaman". HK Magazine. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  19. ↑ "Winners of Hong Kong Best Eats 2010: The best of the best of our selection of Hong Kong's most noteworthy dishes and restaurants". CNN. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  20. ↑ Lim Le-Min (2 December 2008). "Michelin Hong Kong Gives 3 Stars to 2 Restaurants (Update1)". Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  21. ↑ "The Gold List 2011". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  22. ↑ "Corporate Social Responsibility". Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  23. ↑ Lo Wei (6 December 2012). "Kowloon Shangri-La gives neediest mouths a taste of fine hotel dining". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 January 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kowloon Shangri-La.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.