Inside Rosewood Hong Kong, the world’s top-ranked hotel

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This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to Hong Kong

Founded in Dallas in 1979 and now centred in Hong Kong, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts claims to redefine luxury by championing the local. Trademarking “A Sense of Place” would seem excessive if it wasn’t so well executed. Vernacular design aspects are certainly part of the charm, but at the group’s marquee property in Hong Kong, in a prime waterfront location on Victoria Harbour, it’s vindicated by the palpable sense that staff are deeply invested in the hotel’s connection to city life. 

Upon entering the lobby, guests are faced with a striking sculpture by the late British artist Lynn Chadwick, who also has works in the Central district. On multiple occasions around the city, her semi-abstract sculptures stopped me in my tracks. Chadwick’s bronze “Pair of Walking Figures” is just one of many knockout art pieces in the hotel, with local painters championed in the rooms and throughout the property. Visitors can have afternoon tea surrounded by a sextet of butterfly paintings by Damien Hirst, or eat Hong Kong-style French toast next to a colourful collage of local taxis by Hong Kong artist Nancy Lee. The art focus is endless, with each floor containing different sets of curious artefacts to survey while waiting for the lift.

Another alluring feature is the Asaya-managed pool and spa. The former, a 25-metre-long outdoor infinity pool from which guests can take in the Hong Kong skyline, and the latter an integrated wellness concept, which has partnered with cosmetics company Guerlain. The signature massage involves a choice of scented oils and a face mask, in addition to the overall balance of both effective muscular targeting and deep relaxation. It’s this elevated, thoughtful luxury that has helped position the hotel at the forefront of Hong Kong’s tourism resurgence.

As a post-Covid 19 world saw visitor levels rebound, Hong Kong was slow to recover, with 2018’s record-level total of 65 million tourists still only half of that in 2023. Challenges remain — a big one being the war in Ukraine slowing down travel time from Europe and the US by up to three hours — but 2025 saw a 12 per cent increase in visitors, with numbers reaching 49.9 million. The soaring, dockside Rosewood Hong Kong taking number one in the World’s 50 Best Hotels awards also reflects its role in the city’s bounce back. In the 40th-floor Manor Club — a private members’ club-like space for suite and Club room guests — the vista is breathtaking. From up here, a full recovery seems inevitable.

Rooms

Awaiting me in my Harbour View room was a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Le Réserve (the hotel’s house champagne), and a shimmering, vanilla-flecked Hokkaido egg tart from the hotel’s Butterfly Patisserie — completed with two artily stencilled icing-sugar butterflies. If welcome spreads often lack taste and thought (and all too often go to waste), this one was, au contraire, irresistible.

Rooms — which start at 570 sq ft — offer style and decadence in unison, with textural features and rich fabrics that range from wool wallpaper from Loro Piana to tweed or velvet sofas. Plus, if a designer is going to plaster zebra-like marble and mirrors everywhere, let it be in the bathrooms, which here are grand, with twin vanities, enormous walk-in showers and standalone bathtubs. I essentially melted into the king-sized bed. I also delayed various exits from my room to admire the views from a pillowy, blue velvet couch, whether that was to spy birds of prey looping against the skyline, neon-lighted ships passing across the harbour at night or just to marvel at the towering cityscape and natural beauty beyond.

Restaurants and bars

The possibility of eating your favourite cuisine without leaving the hotel is almost guaranteed. Among the 11 restaurants in the property, there’s French at the Chat Noir-postered Marmo Bistro, Italian at bright and chic BluHouse (where one per cent of revenue is donated to support underserved groups in the neighbouring community), Indian at the kaleidoscopic, Michelin-starred Chaat and more. Guests can also grab a cocktail at XX, but jazz bar DarkSide has garnered more attention from Hongkongers for its novel take on classic cocktails as much as its live music.

The flagship, however, is The Legacy House, a contemporary Cantonese restaurant that holds a Michelin star. In the sleek dining room, waiting staff in maroon serve up pu’er tea aged inside tangerine peel for a decade or more, alongside signature dishes like the stir-fried, springy fish noodles, which are the shape of busiate pasta but made from dried sole fish in lieu of carbs. You can order dim sum at lunch, but don’t expect anything typical. Replacing the standard har gao are sweet and complex steamed mantis shrimp dumplings with crab roe and coriander, and sea cucumber dumplings, layered over matsutake mushroom, pork and shrimp, which look rather alien-like but are bouncy and deep in umami.

Joel Hart stayed as a guest of Rosewood Hong Kong

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