miloworld

Just passed by a billboard of the St Regis Hong Kong.
Seems like there will be a 6th brand in Hong Kong after all!!

It's a building under construction opposite the Renaissance Harbour View, which is connected to Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, where the Grand Hyatt also is.

The would-be building's address is 26 Harbour Road, where a matrix of foot-bridge connects HKCEE/Wan Chai Ferry Pier and Wan Chai MTR station.

It would be fairly connected and convenient for conferences attendees and leisure travellers to the (future) HKCEE MTR station.

This is it's map location and line of sight from construction site.

Sam P. Goodman

That's exciting, though I suspect St. Regis and Hong Kong will unite to create a pricing structure that's too steep for me.

pewpew

Luckily, there's always the St Regis Shenzhen across the border. Also pricy, until you go for C&P

3rdworldresident

Wow good news to have more option.

It seems no harbour view unless the building is high enough.

bhrubin

I found this a few months ago about the St Regis Hong Kong. Sounds about right. A very nice addition to the Starwood/Marriott luxury portfolio...

http://www.mulderblauw.nl/en/project...regis-hongkong

lcpteck

Wow what a uniquely shaped building!

Would be interesting to stay there when it opens.

miloworld

Well, it's a design candidate. There's always a chance it won't turn out anything like it's first design.

DCF

I don't think there is the slightest chance of the St Regis brand surviving the merger.

I would guess that this will be opened as a Ritz-Carlton.

3rdworldresident

There is a Ritz-Carlton across the Harbour already.

scubadu

Hmmm... not entirely sure I agree with that.

Do you have any factual or evidence driven basis for your assertion?

Regards

khabah

St Regis was singled out along with W, Aloft and Element as being one of the Starwood brands that Marriott was very interested in developing further; St Regis particularly was labeled as being a "strong brand" with "great growth potential especially in Asia." All signs point to it staying; do you have a source that negates this or is this just a feeling?

Would be great to see how the Hong Kong project develops.

khabah

bhrubin

Ah, that's highly doubtful. First, there are too many St Regis properties with long term management contracts, not to mention those already in the pipeline, for Marriott to even consider eliminating the brand. Second, in Asia, in particular, St Regis is a stronger brand than Ritz-Carlton. Third, Hong Kong already has a Ritz-Carlton, so the ownership of this location almost certainly would prefer a different brand...and easily already could have made that change now that Marriott owns both brands.

Finally, Marriott already has stated that St Regis is a brand they wish to expand. In most parts of the world, many would say it's a better brand than Ritz-Carlton. After all, there are almost no examples where RC can beat out or even be considered as good as a FS in the same market...whereas there are numerous examples of St Regis properties being considered as good as if not even better than the FS. There's a reason why St Regis was expanding far faster than Ritz-Carlton in the last decade.

stimpy

First of all I completely agree that the suggestion that the St. Regis brand will go away is nonsense. However on this one particular point I would say Kowloon and Central are two different markets. There is a Hyatt in both markets, as well as many other brand examples in both markets. And of course there used to be an excellent Ritz Carlton in Central (I wish it had never left). So you could easily add a RC at this location and not worry about brand dilution.

Someday there could be another RC in Central, even if this particular project has been chose to be a StR.

bhrubin

I believe it still will be very unlikely to have a second Ritz Carlton, even in Central...most likely because the owner of the current RC would have right of first refusal for such an addition. If and when that exclusivity clause ends, you may be right...but I still doubt it. Many management contracts have some form of exclusivity included for a location to protect the owners, and that would be particularly true for a 5 star luxury hotel. That there are multiple Hyatts is largely irrelevant to this equation for a luxury 5 star brand.

Clearly, the owners of this current Central hotel building chose St Regis and could have chosen Ritz Carlton if there were no exclusivity clause. But overcapacity helps no one, especially if the same brands are operating.

In China, in particular, and Asia, in general, St. Regis is the better perceived luxury brand between StR and RC. Just as Sheraton is better perceived than Marriott in China/Asia (and many areas abroad).

stimpy

I believe (I don't have access to the contracts of course) that these markets are treated as separate for terms of such right of refusal. Remember there is also Macau right in the same place effectively. Served by the same airport. And there are many 5 star hotel brands in both Macau and Central/TST.