This article was first published on April 3, 2011
If the altitude doesn’t give you a nosebleed, the room rates might
By John Carney
You could say it is the height of luxury. And if putting on the Ritz is your thing, it’s just the place for you. The highest hotel in the world opened in Hong Kong last week, and if the altitude doesn’t give you a nosebleed, the price of a room will.
Taking up floors 102 to 118 of the International Commerce Centre (ICC), the five-star, 312-room Ritz-Carlton Hotel Hong Kong, is certainly high-class.
With views of Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbour, the hotel knocks the Park Hyatt Shanghai – on the 79th to 93rd floors of the Shanghai World Financial Centre – off its perch as the highest hotel.
Naturally, it also boasts the highest bar in the world, Ozone, on the 118th floor.
Owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties, the ICC is the tallest building in Hong Kong, at 484 metres. Standing atop Kowloon station, it took nearly five years to build. The building is called the Dragon’s Tail because of its shape and has scales on the outside to represent those of a dragon’s in a nod to popular Chinese culture.
While the new Ritz-Carlton can enjoy being the world’s highest hotel, the ICC is still not the world’s highest building. That honour belongs to Dubai’s 828 metre Burj Khalifa. However, its signature hotel, the Armani Hotel, is no higher than its 39th floor.
