Mandarin Oriental Hotel Hong Kong - 6 decades on and counting
10 things you did not know about the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong
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Mandarin Oriental Hotel Hong Kong - 6 decades on and counting
Foreword by Jamie
10 things you did not know about the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Central District Hong Kong
The Mandarin Oriental on Connaught Road has sat in the middle of Central for more than 6 decades. It is not the flashiest hotel in the city, nor the newest, yet it still draws people who know the difference between a carefully maintained institution and a temporary statement. The waterfront address (ish), the long serving staff, the dining rooms that locals actually use, and the steady rhythm of renovation rather than wholesale replacement all form part of why the place has stayed relevant while other grand hotels have come and gone. What follows is a straightforward look at ten aspects of the hotel that reward a closer reading.
One of my highlights of the Hotel was literally bumping into Russell Crowe the actor in the lobby amd my first visit to the Hotel was in early January 1972 at the tender age of 11 years old.
1. From an idea on the site of the Queen’s Building to the opening in 1963
Hugh Barton, then chairman of Hong Kong Land, first floated the notion of a proper luxury hotel on Hong Kong Island in 1958. The chosen site was the old colonial Queen’s Building on the waterfront. Construction was announced in July 1960 under the working name Queen’s Hotel. A survey of American travellers, who made up the bulk of the colony’s visitors at the time, showed a clear preference for something more exotic sounding, so the name was changed to The Mandarin. The topping out ceremony took place in March 1963. Soft opening followed on 1st September 1963; the formal opening came on 24th October the same year. The building cost HK$42 million to construct and a further HK$66 million on interiors, a total in the region of HK$108 million (roughly US$14 million at the exchange rates of the day). John Howarth of Leigh & Orange was the architect; Don Ashton, whose film work included Bridge on the River Kwai, handled the interiors. At 26 or 27 storeys and originally holding about 650 rooms, it was the tallest building in Hong Kong when it opened. Every room had air conditioning, a bathtub (the first hotel in Asia to offer that), and a direct dial telephone (the first in Hong Kong). The hotel was managed by InterContinental until 1974, after which the ownership and operating companies evolved into what became the Mandarin Oriental group.
2. Ownership of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the corporate links inside Hong Kong
The Connaught Road hotel (or Chater Road Hotel) is owned and operated by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, which sits inside the Jardine Matheson group of companies. The Hong Kong property is wholly owned by the group. In 2025 to 26 Jardine Matheson moved to take the listed parent company fully private in a transaction valued at about US$4.2 billion.
For the record the front entrance is on Connaught Road Central and the rear entrance is on Chater Road in Central.
The only other Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong is The Landmark Mandarin Oriental on Queen’s Road Central. It opened in 2005 and occupies the lower floors of Edinburgh Tower inside the LANDMARK complex. That complex is owned by Hongkong Land (also part of the broader Jardine Matheson group). Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group runs the Landmark hotel under a management agreement; it does not own the building or the underlying leasehold interest. Hongkong Land holds the long term government lease on the site and owns the buildings constructed on it (including Edinburgh Tower). Hongkong Land developed the Landmark complex in stages through the late 1970s and early 1980s and remains the owner. Part of Edinburgh Tower was later converted into the boutique hotel. There is therefore a corporate family link between the two hotels through Jardine Matheson, but the Landmark property itself sits with Hongkong Land rather than with Mandarin Oriental International. No other full ownership Mandarin Oriental hotel exists in the city. The former Excelsior in Causeway Bay was also part of the group; it is dealt with under point 10.
3. The early 1960s start, the five star ambition, and the intended guests
The project was conceived from the outset as a first class international hotel rather than a colonial club with bedrooms. Central’s waterfront location was deliberate: it placed the hotel next to the banks, the trading houses, the government buildings and the harbour that still carried most of the city’s business traffic. The target audience was the growing flow of American and European business travellers and the better off tourists who wanted air conditioned rooms, reliable telephones and Western style service with an Asian flavour. The decision to spend more on the interiors than on the structure itself signalled that the hotel was meant to feel finished and luxurious on day one, not merely functional. It succeeded quickly enough that the same site has remained a five star address ever since.
4. How the current hotel compares with earlier versions, and the 2025 to 26 renovation
The building has never been demolished and rebuilt. Instead it has been refreshed in stages. The largest previous overhaul closed the hotel for roughly nine months in 2005 to 06 and cost about US$140 million (approximately HK$1.1 billion at the time). When it reopened it offered around 500 rooms and suites, updated restaurants and a new spa. The latest programme, announced in April 2025, is a phased renovation budgeted at more than US$100 million (over HK$780 million). Work began in the second quarter of 2025 and is scheduled to finish in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the Hotel did in fact reopen on October 1st 2026
The hotel has stayed open for most of the period. French designer Hubert de Malherbe is responsible for the public spaces: a reworked lobby, a new all day lounge, and a whisky bar with a cigar divan. Guest rooms and suites are being updated by Jeffrey Wilkes, with signature suites by Thierry Lemaire. Eleven new long stay apartments are being created. Dining changes include the opening of Terrace Boulud by Daniel Boulud (a rooftop space connected to the hotel), updates to the Mandarin Grill + Bar, the Clipper Lounge, the Krug Room and the Cake Shop, plus a pizza and wine counter. The spa is expanding into a broader wellness club. The result is a hotel that keeps the same footprint and the same Central address while bringing the public rooms, the bedrooms and the food and beverage outlets into line with current expectations. Compared with the 2006 version, the new work is less about adding volume and more about refining the arrival experience, the room finishes and the long stay product.
5. Rooms and suites at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Current figures put the hotel at 432 guest rooms and 62 suites, for a total of 494 accommodation units. Entry level rooms start at roughly 40 square metres (about 430 square feet). Suites begin around 65 to 70 square metres (700 to 750 square feet) and rise to the large Mandarin Suite, which approaches 370 square metres (nearly 4,000 square feet) with double height ceilings and a long balcony. Most rooms face either Victoria Harbour, Statue Square or the city. The ongoing renovation is refreshing the finishes, the fabrics and the layout of many of these rooms and is adding the 11 residential style apartments for longer stays. Nightly rates for standard rooms have recently begun from about HK$4,200 (US$540); suites sit higher, and the largest ones are priced accordingly.
6. Press coverage, awards and the pattern of guest comments
The hotel has received steady positive coverage in the Hong Kong press and in international titles for decades. It was named Best Hotel in the World by the Financial Times in 1984. Condé Nast Traveler readers’ awards, Forbes Travel Guide five star ratings for the hotel and the spa, and regular mentions in the FT, The Times and other travel pages have continued. Dining rooms have held Michelin stars over the years (Man Wah remains a consistent performer). Guest review aggregates on major platforms typically sit between 9.4 and 9.8 out of 10.
The five most frequent positive themes are:
the anticipatory, long serving staff (a number of colleagues have been at the hotel for more than 30 years)
the central location and harbour or square views
the range and quality of the restaurants and bars, especially Man Wah, the Grill and the afternoon tea service
the spa and the overall sense of being looked after
the historic atmosphere that still feels lived in rather than staged
The five most frequent reservations are:
rooms that can feel smaller or more traditional than those in newer competitors (a point the current renovation is addressing)
the indoor pool, which is functional but not large
occasional noise from the surrounding streets or from renovation work
coffee and casual breakfast options that some guests find less distinctive than the rest of the food offering
the overall price level relative to the age of the building
7. Facilities at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel
The hotel currently offers eight to ten restaurants and bars, among them Man Wah (Cantonese, Michelin starred), the Mandarin Grill + Bar, The Chinnery, Captain’s Bar, the Clipper Lounge, the Cake Shop, The Aubrey and the Krug Room. There is an indoor pool (approximately 18 metres), a Shanghainese inspired spa with treatment rooms, couples’ suites, steam and sauna facilities, a 24 hour gym, a club lounge, meeting and event rooms, a business centre, a barber shop and a hair salon. There is no large internal shopping arcade; the surrounding Central streets and the nearby Landmark complex supply the retail. The renovation is adding or refreshing several of the public dining spaces and expanding the wellness area into a broader club format.
8. The location of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and why it was chosen
The site on Connaught Road Central, between Statue Square and the harbour, was selected precisely because it sat in the middle of the commercial district. In 1960 the waterfront was still the working edge of the city; banks, trading houses and government offices were all within a short walk. That geography has not changed in any fundamental way. Guests can step out to the HSBC building, the Mid Levels escalator, the Star Ferry, the MTR (Subway) and the main business towers without needing a car.
However it is now a 10 - 15 minute walk to the Star Ferry and the same to access the Mid Levels Escalaot, there are 5 entrances and exits from the MTR (Subway) literally a 2 minute walk from the Hotel
The harbour views remain one of the practical advantages of the address. The same logic that placed the hotel there in the early 1960s still explains why it is regarded as one of the strongest locations in the city.
9. The main Hotel competitors in Hong Kong
The five properties most often set against the Mandarin Oriental are:
The Peninsula Hong Kong (the older Kowloon icon, strong on heritage and consistent service)
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong (modern, strong dining, large pool deck)
Rosewood Hong Kong (newer waterfront flagship on the Kowloon side, currently the only three Michelin Key hotel in the city)
The Upper House (smaller, design led, quieter)
Regent Hong Kong or The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong (both Kowloon waterfront, competing on views and newer hardware)
The Landmark Mandarin Oriental is sometimes treated as a competitor and sometimes as a complementary sister property; it is smaller, more contemporary and focused on the Queen’s Road shopping and dining cluster.
10. The wider Mandarin Oriental group and the Excelsior
The group traces its name to the 1963 Hong Kong hotel and the much older Oriental in Bangkok. It now operates more than 40 hotels and a growing number of residences across roughly 25 countries and territories. The Hong Kong and Bangkok properties remain the two founding flagships. The former Excelsior in Causeway Bay was also owned by the group. It opened in 1973 with more than 850 rooms and operated as a four star property until it closed in March 2019. The site (historically significant as an early colonial land sale) was redeveloped as an office building because the commercial yield was judged higher than the return from bringing the hotel up to current five star standards. The decision was commercial rather than a judgement that the Excelsior could never match the Mandarin; the two hotels served different price points and guest profiles. The office project on the Excelsior site is now known as One Causeway Bay.
Other notes worth recording
A statue of Fu Shen, the deity of happiness, has stood in the lobby since 1963. Wood turtle motifs appear on the lift floors. The Krug Room is one of only a handful of such spaces worldwide. Long serving staff remain a practical feature rather than a marketing line. Celebrity visitors over the decades have ranged from musicians and actors to business figures; the hotel has never needed to advertise that fact heavily. The current renovation, the 2026 reopening of the sister Landmark property (109 rooms and suites, new terracotta façade, two Michelin Keys awarded in September 2026), and the group’s move to full private ownership under Jardine Matheson are the main developments of the past two years
One of my prize possessions is an image of John Lennon and David Bowie sat in a tree literally a minutes walk from the front entrance of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the image is from 1977 and they where attending a party in the Mandarin Hotel and stepped out for some fresh air!
So there you go.
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