It was early November and I had just emerged from five immersive days off the grid somewhere in a tiny, industrial town in the Guangdong Province province of China, overseeing the manufacturing of my 2017 planners. With my beautifully supportive Mum in tow, helping me oversee the entire, complex process, we were welcomed to stay for two nights at the Island Shangri-La before making our way back to Australia. We stepped inside the marble oasis of the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong lobby, and the overwhelm and chaos of the past week promptly fell away.
After a paradoxically baffling but productive time in China, the idea of two nights to kick back and reconstitute ourselves with hotel pillows, good coffee and lots of champagne in a world of old-school elegance and unparalleled luxury…? Well, there were no words to describe quite how magic and surreal this sounded. Over our two night stay, we ate, drank, rested, explored every corner of the hotel, rested some more, and did very little else until we checked out from our city sanctuary.
Before the city wakes… in awe of the mystical views of Hong Kong Harbour and cityscape from our room on level 55.
Breakfast at Restaurant Petrus on Level 56
Discovering the roof terrace and Orchid garden on Level 56
Discovering the roof terrace and Orchid garden on Level 56
High-tea in the Lobby Lounge
Dim Sum – our “Second breakfast” in our room
Soaring 56 floors above Pacific Place Shopping Complex in Central, the Island Shangri-La offers 565 rooms (531 rooms and 34 suites) arranged over 22 floors. Every single room boasts a view of Victoria Harbour or Victoria Peak. The little details of our stay made the experience second to none – the hotel staff called us by name and were all so exceptionally kind and attentive to our every need.
Staying on the Horizon Club floors gave us access to the Horizon Club on level 56, which offers tea, coffee, patisserie and refreshments throughout the day, as well as a daily buffet from 6-8pm, complimentary for guests staying in Horizon Club rooms (between the 52nd and 55th floors). May I say, this included cocktails, and Veuve Clicquot – complimentary! We loved observing the daily changing elevator carpets, embroidered with the day of the week – perfect for hotel clientele who perpetually move across continents and timezones.
The great masterpiece of the hotel must surely be the 51 metre, 16 storey high silk tapestry – ‘The Great Motherland of China’ – consisting of 250 panels of Chinese silk – deemed the largest in the world.
The hotel’s inner atrium
I noticed chandeliers everywhere, and when I commented on this, the Horizon Club Lounge staff proceeded to tell me that chandeliers are believed to achieve a chi flow of positive vibes. There are actually there are no less than 779 Austrian and Venetian chandeliers in the hotel – one in each guest room, and also in public areas. No wonder we felt so wonderful the entire time!
All in all, our stay at Island Shangri-La couldn’t have been more beautifully timed. We are so very grateful for being treated so well, and to return home in such a relaxed, revived state! At the tail end of a huge week, we didn’t have the energy left for exploring Hong Kong, but this hotel is unquestionably THE perfect point of departure for exploring the entire city (and next visit, we intend to do just that!)
