Select review highlights picked by our editors for a quick browse
Colonel's Retreat I
Colonel's Retreat I (www.colonelsretreat.com/), in Defence Colony, may sound like a Sandhurst bootcamp for unruly peripatetics, but nothing could be farther from the truth. This delightful bolthole is set in a leafy residential neighbourhood in South Delhi, minutes from markets, metro stops and leafy parks. It does have a secret weapon - a sun-dappled umbrella-clad rooftop for breakfasts and meals - that is unveiled as the weather cools by October. The four-storey guest house is scrupulously clean. It offers four floors, each with a spacious living-dining area adorned with bright paintings and comfy furniture. This common space is shared by three to four rooms, all spread far apart without adjoining walls. The arrangement makes for greater in-room privacy but encourages guest interaction over meals, though not intrusively so. The chit-chat certainly adds to the friendly family feel. The spacious light-filled rooms are homey with thoughtful decor, marble floors, aircon, a small TV with channels on demand, a vast wall-length wardrobe stuffed with hangers and a small safe, a luggage rack, several multi-pin electric sockets, a work table, and beds that may emit a welcoming moan as you stretch out. Sink into the large, fluffy pillows. Bathrooms are marbled. They serve up shower cubicles with sensible grab-handles, a potty hose for dealing with errant derrieres, a small but punchy hairdryer, and little bottles of shampoo and conditioner. After the heat and dust of the city, travellers will find the thick white cotton towels hugely satisfying. The bottled water in the rooms is filtered but you can ask for mineral water. This is quite a big package at very nominal rates, a stress-free alternative to luxury hotels, with a neighbourd vibe inviting of walks and jogs and dog-spotting as proud residents air their canine cohorts. There is a Colonel's Retreat II as well in a similar mould, also in the same neighbourhood. More in our Delhi guide
Hyatt Regency Bangkok
Walking into the humungous 28th-floor 208sq m Presidential Suite at the Hyatt Regency Bangkok (www.hyatt.com/hyatt-regency) is at once a luxe primal adventure - as you scrabble for light switches and detailed maps - and a spacy recharge on Planet Krypton for Super Travellers where dangling ceiling crystals glow an eerie orange welcome like nuclear cooling rods. Not for the faint-hearted either are the vertiginous city views from the long alfresco timbered verandah that stretches right across the living room windows with a thoughtfully positioned private sunning cabana at the far end. The timber flooring runs uninterrupted in a wraparound design as you circle from the foyer past the 10-seat dining room (with oven, faucet, cutlery); past the pastel living room with its array of ramrod straight cream sofa, ranks of silk cushions, and sinuously curving gold figurines; through the study with its leather-top desk and handsome coffeetable books (on the much revered late King, art, architecture, design, and even muay Thai); and into the more modest bedroom with an imposing oversized semi-firm bed. From here it's into the fitness chamber with its large visual treadmill, the walk-in dressing room, and then the bright look-out bathroom with a soaking tub blushingly by the window, a rainshower, and a rear-up Japanese potty to do your bidding. This is space and luxury fit for a modern maharajah. The master light switch is a tad fiddly but the Dyson hair curlers for women will elicit a scream of delight. The minibar is replenished daily and an executive lounge with evening nibbles is on hand on the 27th floor. Enjoy Thai street food with a twist at Market Cafe, head up to the rooftop Spectrum bar and lounge, dip in the pool, and then race to your meet or shopping via the airbridge to the Nana BTS station. More in our Bangkok business hotels review
Villa Song Saigon
The laundered white riverside colonial Villa Song Saigon (villasong.com) ups the ante across the river in District 2 with 23 stately rooms and prices starting at a stratospheric US$380 (winter high season) to give The Reverie a run for its money minus the slatherings of marble. But first your taxi driver will have to find it tucked away in a developing residential area, right on the river. In fact the hotel prefers guests use river access to arrive in style and a boat can shuttle you to a pier back downtown. Arif Gunawan the affable general manager pads about his lair like a genial tiger checking on guests. "This is a river hotel experience," he says. "We do tours in season upriver to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap." This is a stylish bolthole with a huge sun-drenched saline pool (to rival the Park Hyatt's blue spread), fitness centre and spa (with a good range of wraps, scrubs, facials, and detox remedies). A wood-floored Sanctuary Room has virginal white interiors relieved by cream blinds, pastel ochre chairs, old fashioned writing desk, gold bedside table, light-tone paintings, and elegant reading chair by the window in cream with black-piping. Expect lots of dark timber underfoot in rooms - each one is different in shape, size and decor, with a wooden ceiling fan, black-wood desk, LCD LG television, white wardrobe, and possibly a balcony overlooking the pool or river. Toilets are compact with rain shower cubicles, a chic squeeze more than offset by the complimentary mini-bar. More in our Saigon business hotels review
Grand View Resort Beitou
Heading up a ribbon of uncertain road from the Beitou station, a three-minute drive will bring you to the ultra-modern Grand View Resort (www.gvrb.com.tw), which arrived in 2011. This charming grey-stone retreat is exquisitely Japanese in design and execution with neat clean lines, and a central black-tile pool overlooking the valley with a photogenic hint of mist rising from its mirror-smooth surface. Just a tad higher up from the rest of the Beitou clamour, this chic bolthole offers cleaner air and better views. All the rooms pipe in hot spring water to scald you silly. A Standard room serves up a wooden floor, flatscreen TV, DVD, sound system, coffee and tea facilities, a big flat safe for your notebook, a balcony (with a lounging divan) presenting hill or valley views, and two grey-stone tubs to sensibly separate hot and cold soaks. It’s the best way to sober up. The top-of-the-line You Ya Suite (taking its name from the road) is worth exploring if you really wish to splash out in style. On offer, apart from the invitingly plump white bed, is a generous outdoor patio to catch the sun and soak some more in a large square tub. There are nice views if it is not too hazy. Ask for Room 603. Unsurprisingly, the resort also has a decent spa. As its brochure once said, "Several decades of hot spring pool, compose adult well-being of thick art paper space." Our sentiments exactly. With great attention to detail and design, this is without doubt, one of the best Taipei spa hotels for your discriminating diary. More in our Taipei spa resorts review
Little Tai Hang
Tucked away in a musty, almost forgotten but accessible corner of Hong Kong, Little Tai Hang (www.littletaihang.com) is a delight from the word go - from its excellent online presentation of whimsy (that falls a tad short on the promise), to the genuinely refreshing views and friendly staff. Located at 98 Tung Lo Wan Road, Causeway Bay, skirting Victoria Park, in a lowrise low-rent district known for its innovative eateries, cafes and bars, this hideaway is more grandly ensconsed in a gleaming reflective glass high-rise that's easy to spot as you start strolling in from Tin Hau station. There is no manager on the premises and no one appears to be in charge. This seemingly lackadaisical approach is more than made up for by attentive young staff and the functional rooms with grand views. A 430sq ft Studio Superior Harbour View is simple yet attractive with blonde-wood flooring for the bedroom. A marble lintel runs the length of the room with a huge number of shelves below and, atop, a coffee machine, toaster, microwave and a basin with faucet. Everything you might need for a Hong Kong long-stay is available from cups and saucers to knives and forks. Also find a work desk and a deep wardrobe with flat top-loading safe, wooden hangers and an iron. The hairdryer packs a good punch and lamp dimmers are a homey touch. The toilet is compact but bright with hand shower and toiletries. WiFi is free and fast and three-pin electric sockets (not multi-plug) are on hand with USB ports. No CNN or BBC but a decent range of TV channels is on offer. The Simmons mattress is comfy (read soft). Expect a 24-hour laundry and fitness room, the outsourced Tipsy Bar & Restaurant on the first floor with discounts for guests, and a cool neighbourhood to browse. Intimate and unfussy. More in our Hong Kong hotels review
The Apurva Kempinski Bali
Vast, imposing, endless, The Apurva Kempinski Bali (www.kempinski.com/en/bali) is an exercise in letting go. It is an exercise, yes, in all the walking you'll need to do, energising, exhilarating (or frustrating if your electronic key goes dead). But you'll also need to exercise your imagination to accommodate the stunning conflation of Indonesian artistry - most evident in the soaring, breezy, wood-carved lobby - with luxe, bordeline bland grey-black-pastel rooms that could be straight out of a contemporary Dubai condominium. This is not a criticism but a heads up in case you were looking for Bali to spring at you from every corner. The attention to finish and detail is superb. A Suite with plunge pool serves up cream marble floors that segue into dark-wood flooring in the bedroom. There is plenty of space, a huge TV that will make you swivel your neck (more exercise), and twin black wooden posts that support a half canopy above the bed. Expect a discrete valet box for the butler to whisk away laundry, blazing WiFi (all through the resort), a soaking tub facing the pool, a rear-up Japanese potty that will do your every bidding after warming your behind, a good-sized hairdryer that plugs in near well-lit mirrors, auto-on aircons that activate when you walk in, and panoramic views through wraparound floor-to-ceiling windows with blackout curtains. The shower ensembles are serious boy's toys with three pressure jets to massage the back, a power shower, and enough levers to satisfy a frustrated retired pilot. We'd wish for more electric plug points. The good news for lazy gourmands is that breakfast is served from 6.30am to 12 noon at the 10th floor Lounge or at the sea-level 'floating' PALA restaurant set in the vast pool not far from the seafront chapel. The Japanese Izakaya by Oku is excellent. The hotel (all 16 floors linked by lifts in two arms) is getting into stride slowly. Our guess is once you discover the pool, that's where you'll remain. Or check out the black Mongolian marble in the lobby where flecks of blue come alight when the sun catches it. More in our Bali hotels review
Conrad Bangkok
The 391-room Conrad Bangkok (conradhotels3.hilton.com/conrad-bangkok) was the original trend-setter when it first launched at All Seasons Place on Wireless Road with off shoulder uniforms, a chilled vibe, and the fastest elevators in town. The hotel re-emerged early 2019 after a rip-it-all-out shutdown and the question for pinstripers is: 'Does it still measure up?' A stay at this brisk business address will answer that soon enough, starting with the expanded light-wood airy lobby (hugely transformed from dark Gotham sombre to a light chocolate mousse) with its subtle temple carvings, elegant beige marble, and attentive service. Forget BMW convertibles with sassy sirens at the wheel (yes the hotel once had these), and to be truly gobsmacked head to the contemporary ballroom for 1,200 theatre-style or 600 in a sit-down format, where a vast 39m movable LED screen on tracks awaits to do your conference bidding with intelligent connectivity to smart devices, tracking cameras for keynote speakers and a sound system that faithfully reproduces all sound frequencies. Swift marbled lifts whoosh up to rooms where light floods in and pastel space has been 'created' by tossing out clunky cabinets that once hemmed in guests. A grey tartan carpet hosts a generous bed flanked by three-pin multiplug sockets and USB ports on either side, a divan, and a peekaboo see-through bathroom, still compact but well appointed with Shanghai Tang toiletries. A playful round work table retains some dark-wood corporate DNA matched with an ergonomic chair, while in the toilet a bathtub faces the bed and a tamely sensible Japanese toilet awaits, quietly, without rearing up like an attack Doberman every time you walk in. Pull the flush manually. Civilised. The system does everything else for pampered derrieres. With a temperature control that again actually works, Coke for just Bt140 in the mini-bar, and an arsenal of pillows from igusa grass to non-allergenic, the hotel is a delight. You may need to ditch the comfy but space-hogging foursome already on the bed or simply clutch one at night if lonely - or terrified after the latest CNN headlines. More in our Bangkok hotels review
The lobby has transformed from dark Gotham to pale chocolate mousse with attractive Thai accents
Hyatt Regency Bali
The informal 'botanical garden' Bali Hyatt returned 20 December 2018 as the spry and zen contemporary Hyatt Regency Bali (www.hyatt.com/hyatt-regency-bali/). The layout is open and breezy with thatched-roof corridors cutting in clean straight lines past angular pools set in beige stone facing the sea. Think greenery, plenty of water features, and statuary. The new rooms, housed in the original refortified structure, remain compact - starting at 27sq m in a Garden View room. Designed by the Japanese SPIN they are light and airy with a smooth ripple-wood wall behind the bed for touchie-feelie travellers who will not be able to resist running their fingers across it. Also expect the de rigueur flatscreen televisions, rooms with showers and bathtubs (some with just showers), twin vanities, dark brass faucets, a separate toilet cubicle by the entrance so that two people can get on with their morning ablutions without bumping into each other with wearying honeymoon intensity, irons, cool stone floors and ingenious use of sliding doors for cupboards and the bathroom. Now you see your mother-in-law, now you don't. Rooms feature narrow but cheerful balconies which, depending on the floor and room type, may be classed by frequent travellers as premium or a knee-bruising economy. For a business class stretch book a Suite (with an extra toilet and living room) or go whole hog with the 81sq m Executive Suite. Fronting the best stretch of Sanur beach (a 500m slice) and its brightly coloured catamarans and cafes, the hotel serves up a spacious dedicated spa with rock pools and breezy walks. More in our Bali resorts review
Rosewood Bangkok
The 159-room Rosewood Bangkok (31 March 2019, www.rosewoodhotels.com/bangkok) on Ploenchit and linked to the SkyTrain station features a unique blue reflective glass building in the shape of two folded hands and an intimate scale. The hotel is somewhat reticent in the approach, hidden like a secret home on the fiddly side of Ploenchit where taxis seldom venture. Lifts whisk you up to the wonderfully textured lobby featuring 'fan' chandeliers, artefacts, and delicate verre eglomise gilded glass tile work. Think dark bronze tones matched with rust marble floors, cream marble highlights and dark wood floors. A 42sq m Executive standard serves up stained black wooden doors with a sofa/divan, a compact dresser with open hanger rod, plump white bed (with one three-pin multiplug electric socket and two USB ports on either side), radio, classic clock, large flatscreen TV, cream walls and, in the bathing area, a rainshower and a windowside soaking tub (that is quite private in the daytime without a blind). Lennon's, the speakeasy bar on the top floor with wraparound city views, offers deep comfortable brown leather sofas and the added lure of 6,000 records in pure vinyl. The LPs are stacked ceiling high in a separate room. This is old time magic at its best with a cigar lounge up a spiral iron stairwell. The pale blue and green Nan Bei meanwhile is an uber cool Chinese restaurant with everything on the menu from Peking Duck to Cantonese dumplings. A bit cheek-by-jowl with the BTS Station but the proximity is a boon even if it is a serious design niggle. More in our Bangkok hotels review
The St Regis Hong Kong
The St Regis Hong Kong (www.marriott.com/st-regis-hong-kong/) arrived almost unnoticed in April 2019 to a quiet corner of Wanchai North just across from the milling mayhem of the convention centre, its intriguing blue glass facade framed by white angular overhangs resembling neat picture frames. From the cavernous greystone porte-cochère at street level, a lift takes you up to the high-ceilinged 2nd floor Great Room (the aptly named reception oasis) but not before you have borne the full brunt of welcoming butlers who emerge from nowhere. All guests at this 129-key luxury boutique bolthole get an in-room check-in. Grand Deluxe rooms weigh in at 48sq m to 53sq m clad in hushed grey pastel tones with pale tan wood floors, sky-high ceilings and open views across the harbour (on higher floors). André Fu has dug deep into his design DNA (this is breakaway cutting-edge St Regis and a hint of Upper House perhaps) to create a minimalist but lush residential space that is quite unique. Large well-lit marble bathrooms feature soaking tubs (some perched saucily by the window). Expect a regal well-fattened bed with lilac runner and Old Wanchai design motifs like the cream concertina door fitted snugly, if disconcertingly, above the headboard. Private label gins, vodkas and rums are aplenty but serious tipplers will enjoy the convivial hum of the St Regis Bar, set up like a private salon, its distractions including anything from 'Diedrich Knickerbocker' (lemon, fennel, pineapple) and the 'St Regis Hong Kong Canto Mary' to the swooning creamy ecstasy of the Valrhona hot chocolate (that we alas found completely watered down two months after our first visit). Also on the menu here are Champagne-popping sabrage, fine Chinese (Cantonese) cuisine and contemporary French by Michelin-starred chefs, a small alfresco pool, a spa, and a huge fitness centre. Expect service on rails.
Large well-lit marble bathrooms feature soaking tubs (some perched saucily by the window)
Grand Hyatt Bali
Grand Hyatt Bali (featured as an EDITORS' CHOICE hotel, bali.grand.hyatt.com) stormed the Nusa Dua scene in 1991, a typical mega-resort in the Hawaii mould with a sprawling campus ablaze with pink bougainvillea and more swimming pools than you could throw a herd of hippos at. Spread out in four ‘villages’, each a self-contained cluster of multi-level low-rise rooms and suites connected by open sided zigzagging corridors overlooking vast lotus ponds with monitor lizards (alarming some but fascinating many), this has always been the one to beat. Grand Hyatt’s modestly elevated reception, open to sea breezes (the lobby lounge now sports an air-conditioned section too) and a grand view leading to the pools and beach is a signature design element copied by many. It immediately sets the mood with a quintessential gamelan duo tapping out that cheery hypnotic discordant melody. Kids can enjoy supervised activities from 9am to 6pm while the parents retire to the secluded Kriya Spa. There are tennis courts too. And for that extra wow factor, there’s the alfresco Balinese buffet dinner amphitheatre Pasar Senggol with its lip-smacking local fare and the added allure of a traditional kecak dance. En route to this venue is the village ‘market’ with stores from the likes of local cotton lace favourite Uluwatu, and surfer biggie Quicksilver. Rooms are being upgraded and an in need of it. Grand Club rooms weigh in at 51sq m of space but explore a slightly more contemporary Grand Club Suite or the large beach-sited one-to-three-bedroom Villas with in-room spa facilities. More in our Bali resorts review
the campus is ablaze with pink bougainvillea and more swimming pools than you could throw a herd of hippos in
Gyeongwonjae Ambassador Incheon
The hands-down star of the show in Songdo, South Korea, is the traditional ‘hanok’ style Gyeongwonjae Ambassador Incheon (launched May 2015, www.ambatel.com) that maintains a discrete presence adjoining the southwest side of Central Park with its handsome low wooden structure, sloping shingle roofs, and broad gravelled courtyards with flowering trees. This is a period construct paying homage to Goryo (also spelled Goryeo or Koryo) dynasty architecture. Not surprising then the ambience is one of quiet zen contemplation, enhanced by simple but rich wood tones. It is quirky, quiet, and fun. Rooms open directly onto the courtyard and are set along an open-sided corridor that is a tad brisk in winter. In a first-floor 43sq m Deluxe Numaru, you leave your shoes in the narrow foyer and slide the rice screen partition to enter the simple bedroom with its high wooden beam, plain cream walls, small screened windows, and a plump white king bed. Find two international three-pin electric sockets and internet cables. WiFi is free. Expect an iron and ironing board, a flat laptop-friendly safe, flat-screen TV (mainly Korean channels, no CNN or BBC), electric kettle, Nespresso coffee shots, soft and firm pillows, and small windows. There’s no double glazing but street sounds are minimal. The toilet features a Japanese spoil-your-bottom potty. As at most Korean hotels, air-conditioning in winter is devilishly hot and dry, and this should be your first item of attention. Remember the floors are heated too. More in our Songdo business hotels review
Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi (www.sofitel-legend-metropole-hanoi.com/) with its starched colonial whitewash is a cultural heirloom that comes packaged with a navy-blue vintage car parked outside to underline the point. It has two blocks, the older one sporting creaky teakwood floors. The pool has been upgraded and smartened. The atmospheric Old Wing of the hotel has been gussied up to emerge all spit and polish. The 32sq m Luxury Rooms feature compact bathrooms with L’Occitane toiletries, dark wood parquet flooring, a wooden work desk, classical comfy chair, silk cushions in sober colours, and double-glazed windows to firmly keep out street noise. Room features include a classic-face bedside clock, a ceiling fan, a rather comfy bed, flat-screen TV, DVD player, patterned wall fabric and occasional pops of art. The remodelled “New” wing or the Opera Wing has corridor carpets in startling orange-red stripes with the walls in vertical black-and-white barcode stripes across which hang virginal white doors. It's not as hallucinogenic Alice in Wonderland or Sixties as it sounds. The ensemble is designer mod. This address is a must-do must-see for any visitor to Hanoi. More in our Hanoi business hotels review
with its starched colonial whitewash this is a cultural heirloom that comes packaged with a navy-blue vintage car
Park Hyatt Sanya Sunny Bay Resort
Park Hyatt Sanya (www.hyatt.com) is a resolute city slicker with all the attendant comforts you might expect of a luxury lifestyle downtown escape, complete with seamless wall-to-wall air-conditioning. It may seem trite to mention aircon in a posh hotel but this hideaway takes it very seriously indeed. The entire space and connecting corridors are cooled (with a few exceptions) and, remarkably, there are no balconies (just 28 rooms afford this resorty luxury). For the sweat averse this will be heaven. Consider it an "urban resort". The hotel is a series of brooding grey stone rectangles, a Temple of Doom meets Game of Thrones fantasy. It is slick, modern, minimalist, and playful. There are almost 200 Park Ocean View rooms and a few villas. A high floor room in Building 5 will offer the most panoramic bay views with stunning sunrises. Enter your room through a tall wooden door. The carpeting is rustic and springy underfoot with a dressing area at the entrance followed by the bathroom all along one side running to the window and the bedroom on the other. This makes for a long roomy bathroom - with twin vanities, red wall and black stone floor - and a spacious bedroom with big window frontage right across (even for the black granite moulded bathtub). The single bathtub sliding pane can be opened with a key from reception that requires you to sign a disclaimer. But why leap out of the window, even for a selfie? Despite its dark corporate hi-tech tones, this is a very child-friendly hotel with several fun activities fronting a sand-and-pebble beach for tanning (rather than swimming). This is an address for sybarites. More in our Sanya beach resorts review
The hotel is a series of brooding grey stone rectangles, a Temple of Doom meets Game of Thrones fantasy
Rosewood Beijing
The tall grey stone 282-room Rosewood Beijing (www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/beijing), the group's first foray East is constructed with tiles in varying grey texture. It sits at a busy intersection with the Third Ring Road. Yet, inside, you might hardly notice it for the green shrubbery screening ‘walls’ have turned the place into a genuine refuge. The lobby is intimate, small, and restrained, with cream marble floors, gold-tan leather seats, angular interlocking beams overhead, and a glinting steel filigree head offsetting a tall Chinese landscape painting in deep greeny-blues. WiFi is free. Expect sumptuous breakfasts and quality restaurants – from Cantonese, to tapas and hot pots – with Country Kitchen dishing out Beijing and northern fare. Everywhere, service runs on rails. Set to one side is almost 38,000sq ft of space for events or smart CEO chinwags and corporate meetings. Plush yet restrained decor with woody accents and black trim defines the spacious rooms. Premiers start at 50sq m with an invitingly plump bed and windows welcoming of light. Think dark wood floors, rustic jute mats under the bed, books and homey artefacts lining low-slung black-stained wood shelves, Nespresso shots, deep sofas and ochre leather chairs. A signature burst of indigo flowers is found in many rooms, its colour accentuating the subtle but rich interiors. Think cubist zen, straight lines and minimal clutter, with 600 thread-count Frette linen, 50-inch LCD smart TVs, and toiletries from Lorenzo Villoresi. Mark this down for your travel diary, no matter it be business or leisure. It is ahead of the competition by a mile. More in our Beijing business hotels review
Sofitel Sanya Leeman Resort
Sofitel Sanya Leeman Resort (www.sofitel.com) is a stately and swank offering with great service and attitude to match as well as superior child-friendly facilities. The high ceiling lobby is welcoming of light and breeze with mariachi singers perhaps of an evening. One of the first things you'll notice here is how interactive and attentive staff are. Whereas at some hotels staff will shrink at the sound of a foreign voice, here people step up to engage you in conversation in a sociable and pleasant manner. Converse in English, French, Putugongua... It puts this hotel a cut above. Of the 477 rooms, the majority are ocean facing and with balconies to watch some amazing sunrises. A 65sq m Ocean View room offers a marble foyer, light wood parquet inside, pale green fabric walls and a signature anthurium (in season) on the round wooden table. Next to the table (and bedside) are three-pin multi-plug sockets. The plump bed framed by just a grey-weave headboard and accompanied by two elegant vases with cream lampshades faces a large slim television that belts out Sofitel's unique chillout music that will get into your head. Paths along the manicured greens resound with cool guitar strains in the morning hours emanating from tiny but powerful hidden 'rock' speakers . A stunning and long two-tier pool awaits by the beach. The food is excellent. Expect lavish breakfasts with everything from Japanese noodles and fresh breads to savoury eggs Benedict by the yard. More in our Sanya resorts review
the manicured greens resound with cool guitar strains in the morning hours emanating from tiny but powerful 'rock' speakers
Raffles Jakarta
Opened March 2015 in Kuningan the chic 173-room Raffles Jakarta (www.raffles.com) is housed in the gleaming multipurpose Ciputra World 1 complex with its Lotte Shopping Avenue and the innovative Ciputra Artpreneur gallery, theatre, and museum. It’s a buzzing corner. Yet, given Jakarta’s unpredictable traffic, the area has variable speed of access. No matter the mayhem on the roads, Raffles serves up an astonishing confection to attract the punters and it is certain that anyone walking into its cavernous minimalist cream marble vault of a lobby will pause to marvel, and perhaps shoot a selfie in front of the giant ceiling-high wall mural constructed out of thousands of small glittering coloured tiles. It is part fairy tale, part casino hotel, part haute couture design, and it is nothing like the classic sola topi colonial Raffles you may be familiar with in Singapore. Raffles Jakarta is contemporary with arty flourishes from the whimsical lobby level Writers Bar to the sole restaurant, Art’s Café that links into the mall. The rooms, with butlers on rails, are sumptuous yet minimalist with pastel tones, blue patterned carpets on wooden floors and marbled bathrooms. Soaking tubs offer city views. A large freeform alfresco pool on the 14th floor is a huge plus along with the surrounding palm trees, the Raffles Spa, fitness centre, and 350m of jogging track. At the spa, après massage, enjoy steam, ice, and cold jets, followed by a long flop on a tiled ‘hot’ lounger. Expect tennis courts, children's pool, yoga space and the 2,500sq m Dian Ballroom. Mark this down as a top Jakarta business and conference hotel. More in our Jakarta business hotels review
The Murray Hong Kong
The Murray Hong Kong, a Niccolo Hotel (opened January 2018, www.niccolohotels.com), is a luxury offering from Wharf Hotels better known for its solid if unremarkable business hotels. Set apart from the reflective glass banks and offices of Central, this is an understated construct identified at once by its laundered white arches, straight lines, and symmetrical square windows. Cars circle around a remarkably preserved 100-year-old tree to drop guests at a starkly minimal black marble lobby with tall windows running its length framed in gold. Views throughout the hotel are aplenty, skimming the skyline vertiginously up 25 floors from where a separate lift runs up to the rooftop Popinjays restaurant with its wraparound balcony that presents an extraordinary perspective on Hong Kong as well as scrumptious breakfasts. The 336 rooms range from 50sq m to an elephant-swinging 75sq m in the suites. Expect a light textured palette with pale wood, white-and-black offsets, pastel grey leather chairs and divans, Smart TVs for media hijinks, Bluetooth and free WiFi. Signature Suites set the pace with stained-black wood doors opening into a cubist all-white chapel with high ceilings and a study desk set in a small alcove. Expect USB ports and two three-pin sockets (one a multiplug). The Murray represents a dramatic transformation from government office block (1969) to a virginal white, quietly reticent monument to a slice of the territory's history. More in our Hong Kong business hotels review
stained-black wood doors open into a cubist 'chapel' of white walls, high ceilings, and vast green views
The Fleming Hong Kong
The Fleming (thefleming.com), a small and intimate 66-room Hong Kong boutique hotel known for its insouciant style and cheerful decor is set a little away from Wanchai's naughtier neon hubbub. It shut down mid 2016 for a complete overhaul and reopened with a new look October, 2017, that will make eyes pop and purses fly open for a 30sq m 'Large' room (there's small, medium and extra large too). Targeted at business travellers - with an eye on conventioneers - the hotel offers a unique nautical design theme based on Hong Kong's iconic Star Ferry complete with elegant dark green wall borders and brass rivets. The hotel features large Hollywood lights at the entrance like a retro movie billboard and chic outsourced seafood restaurant - Osteria Marzia - at street level. A 'Large' room with wooden floors and a navy blue striped carpet under the beds is like stepping back in time on a cruise liner. Brass knobs and dimmers control brass lamps, a brass basin awaits in a compact herringbone marble-floor bathroom next to a brass rain shower. USB hubs are aplenty on either side of the bed but, mysteriously, three-pin plug sockets are a rarity and hard to find and whimsically placed (none within reach bedside). The brass lamps are grand but make poor reading lights. Think curved door borders, curvy companions, curved everything, slim boudoir-red lifts, and lobby level washrooms with the flooring entirely made up of 50 cent coins (2,400 of them). More in our Hong Kong business hotels review
Raffles Makati
Raffles Makati (www.raffles.com/makati) is an immaculate classic cube, small, intimate, and bright, with a white marble lobby under a circular crystal shower chandelier that presides over whimsical metal sculptures. The Writer's Bar, just behind, does great afternoon teas and to one side are the imposing grille gates of the Long Bar where, after noon each day, guests toss discarded peanut shells on the tile floor while sipping immaculate Singapore Slings under the watchful gaze of Manny Pacquiao and his red boxing gloves. After some pleasant colonial carnage beaming staff will hand you over to a butler. High above the city, say hello to Mirèio with its inspired Provencale menus. Expect service on rails. The hotel has just 32 plush suites (with a staff to room ratio of three to one). The aforementioned butlers pack and unpack for you, and they can draw your bath if you are not yet familiar with that modern invention - the faucet. There are lady butlers too. Dark timber floors - and that Gone With the Wind DNA - runs through the bedroom, separated from the foyer by white louvred windows that provide a decadent country manor touch. A plump virginal white bed dominates with sheer heft. It sleeps as good as it looks. Enjoy a dressing room, twin vanities, a rain shower set in a generous cubicle (with seat) and a window-facing tub with Lanvin toiletries. Expect a safe (for a notebook perhap), a competent hairdryer, and large tactile light switches - but no telephones in the toilet. The hotel's art collection is extensive from the lobby sculptures to the Mireio paintings and the stunning bookshelf portrait of opera diva Maria Callas by Rafael Samson. More in our Manila business hotels review
The Dharmawangsa Jakarta
Stepping into The Dharmawangsa Jakarta (featured as an EDITORS' CHOICE hotel, www.the-dharmawangsa.com) you’ll be forgiven for thinking you’ve walked into a home rather than a hotel. Blink and adjust to the dim light as your body starts decompressing and the pulse slows down. Indonesian artefacts adorn the walls and rooms like sombre museum displays sans any architectural arrogance. The Dharmawangsa is uniquely Indonesian, proudly so, and it blends into the neighbourhood’s low-rise mansions with an endearing reticence. Think gamelan musicians in the lobby, fresh jasmine flowers or orchids in the rooms, and huge smiles. This is as far from contemporary that you can possibly get. Yet the complimentary WiFi springs on in an instant – albeit not in the lobby. With just 99 rooms and suites - all designed in five Indonesian styles – the service is hugely personaland with butlers. Recurring design motifs – like the surya (sun) orb inlaid into the floors – are from the Majapahit dynasty. Hotel roomswith 66sq m of stretch space are somewhat masculine in their simple décor, with tall herringbone-wood doors, huge private balconies, large bathrooms featuring rare yellow Italian marble, twin vanities with brightly lit mirrors, a tub, and power-shower cubicle – there’s no rain shower but you’ll enjoy mastering the antique tramcar lever that controls the water. Dharmawangsa is among the best Jakarta business hotels and, despite its 20 odd years, punches well above its weight for small corporate meetings, weddings and leisurely hideaway weekend ‘staycations’. More in our Jakarta business hotels review
