Review: the Regent Hong Kong hotel – beautiful rooms, spectacular harbour views
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This is our review of the Regent Hong Kong hotel, part of IHG One Rewards.
Regent Hong Kong has had a homecoming of sorts. Originally built as a Regent hotel in 1980, it was rebranded in 2001 as InterContinental Hong Kong following a change of hands.
17 years later, IHG acquired Regent Hotels. It announced it would rebrand the harbourside InterContinental back to Regent Hong Kong following a major refurbishment program.
In 2023 the hotel reopened. Although it looks virtually unchanged on the outside, with the same late 70s/early 80s facade, it has been transformed inside.
IHG provided my room for review purposes. I was in Hong Kong to review the new Cathay Pacific Aria Suite which I covered here.
The Regent Hong Kong website is here.
Where is the Regent Hong Kong hotel?
The Regent is situated right on the waterfront in the neighbourhood of Tsim Sha Tsui (or TST for short).
As a neighbourhood, TST is a largely commercial district that I would probably compare with Leicester Square / Covent Garden in London. This is a major tourist area and not a neighbourhood I would choose to live in as a resident (Wan Chai is more my style!). But as a visitor it makes a lot of sense: you have some of the best (if not the) best views of Hong Kong Island from here, which makes it all worth it.
Immediately outside the hotel, on a boardwalk, you have the Avenue of Stars, a Hollywood Walk of Fame-inspired walkway featuring famous locals; the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Space Museum and Hong Kong Cultural Centre are all literally outside; whilst the iconic Chungking Mansions is round the corner. The K11 Musea mall is next door.
In terms of public transport, you have two stations on your doorstep: TST and East TST; the Tsuen Wan (Red) Line gets you onto Hong Kong Island in a matter of minutes whilst the Tuen Ma (Brown) Line takes you East/West. The Star Ferry is also just five minutes away, with crossings to HK Island (and fares of just HK$1 – 10p – when paying with American Express via a new promotion).
Meanwhile, being on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong means you are closer to the airport with a taxi or Uber taking just 30 minutes. The bottom line is that this is a great base for tourists.
Inside Regent Hong Kong
As I said above, the Regent has had a full refurbishment. There’s still a massive horseshoe drive-way:
The original 1980s architects knew what they were doing when they built this, with a deliberately low-ceilinged lobby that opens to a high-ceilinged view of Victoria Harbour for the ultimate Frank Lloyd Wright-style “compression and release”.
The lobby has been transformed into a dark and modern space with illuminated glass brick pillars and a long, back-lit marble check-in desk:
As it was the weekend before Lunar New Year the hotel was decked out in red decorations, including some lovely ribbon-like floral arrangements:
Despite the season (and what must be one of the hotel’s busiest periods) I was immediately checked in by one of the lovely staff members and issued one of the unique square wooden keycards. I suppose there’s no reason keycards need be credit-card sized and the smaller format works quite well.
Rooms at Regent Hong Kong
The slightly gaudy rooms of the InterContinental Hong Kong have been transformed into Chinese-inspired oases as part of the refurbishment. Under the auspices of Hong Kong designer Chi Wing Lo, rooms now embrace plain, natural materials that let the view speak for itself.
(That’s assuming you have a harbour view, of course; not all rooms do. It’s very clear during the booking process which do and don’t. In my case I had a 38 square metre Classic Harbourview Room, the lowest category room with views of Victoria Harbour. Do not book a street view room hoping to be upgraded to a harbour view – the policy has always been to give you a better room on the side you booked.)
Ironically, the use of more discreet natural materials means that photographs do not do it justice. The room opens up to a light wood wardrobe with a convenient shoe slip underneath:
The bathroom is on the right and features dark grey, rough-hewn stone floors. This includes a Japanese-style deep soaking tub that you sit (rather than lie) in:
The robes, by the way, are some of the comfiest I’ve tried.
There’s a relatively small washbasin area with a clever piece of backlit marble to create a sense of light:
The toilet is discreetly hidden behind some wall panelling whilst the shower is also separate and features Pericone MD toiletries.
Two large sliding doors can separate bathroom and bedroom should you wish. The bedroom introduces lots of softer finishes, in contrast to the bathroom, with carpeting, a padded headboard and a long padded banquette in the window from which to admire the view:
Classic Harbourview Rooms come with either a king bed or two twins; as you can see, I had the king. The rippled ceiling evokes the waves on the water, I’m told:
UK-style three-pin plug sockets were available on both sides of the bed, as were USB-A and USB-C ports, as well as a series of intuitive master controls for both lighting and the electric blinds.
Opposite the bed is a large sideboard which is home to a fully stocked mini fridge and mini bar with leather-upholstered drawers. Tea and coffee was free thanks to the Nespresso machine and kettle.
In the corner was a small round table / desk and chair:
Whilst tourists flock to the Avenue of the Stars to see the views of Victoria Harbour, here you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own room.
I made sure to spend sunset here on both nights, watching the sky change and the lights on all the towers turn on. It was quite spectacular. Here’s an actual photo I took from my room that could moonlight as a stock photo for the tourist board!
Sit in the left hand corner of the window and you can also see the IFC Building and the rest of Central:
Combined with regular housekeeping (both morning and night) I could not have asked for more.
The Regent Hong Kong pool
Unfortunately, the pools were undergoing essential maintenance during my stay so I was not able to check them out. Based on the photos on the website they look good, with an infinity pool offering views across the harbour.
Breakfast and dining
As you’d expect for a hotel in this location, Regent Hong Kong offers destination dining such as Nobu as well as a number of its own restaurants.
I was invited to try Nobu which is on the second floor, with views across the harbour. Service here was excellent with each dish explained. My highlights included the Yellowtail tuna with jalapeno:
The king crab tempura:
Breakfast, meanwhile, is served in ‘Harbourside’, the buffet restaurant on the lower ground floor. It was very busy during my stay but here is the view from above:
I was seated after a 5-10 minute wait (a sign helpfully pointed out how to avoid the busiest times). The buffet offers a good selection of dishes, all the way from cold cuts and smoked salmon:
…. to a range of hot Asian and Western dishes:
There was a noodle bar, egg station, dim sum baskets and more. The only thing they seemed to have a small selection of was fruit: I would have liked a bit more choice.
Conclusion
This was my fourth time in Hong Kong but my first time staying in Kowloon rather than on Hong Kong Island.
Whilst the Island will always have my heart, I can’t deny that the Regent is probably my favourite Hong Kong hotel so far. The hotel has been spectacularly refurbished with beautiful, minimalist rooms featuring lots of natural materials. The views, of course, are simply unbeatable.
Rooms generally hover around the £400 level, so you are paying for the location and the view. Redemptions start around the 70,000-point mark. You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.
If booking for cash, don’t forget you can get additional benefits by going through a luxury booking agent like Emyr Thomas, who we have partnered with for eight years now. You pay the same as the Best Flexible Rate on the hotel website and pay on departure as usual. You can contact Emyr to see what benefits he can get you by filling out the form on this page.
The Regent Hong Kong website is here.
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