I stayed at the Rosewood Hong Kong as a guest of Rosewood, Cathay Pacific, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board. The property sits right on the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui, on Salisbury Road, connected to the Victoria Dockside development and a luxury shopping mall. The hotel has 413 rooms and suites and opened in 2019 as Rosewood’s flagship in Asia. It was also named the World’s Best Hotel by World’s 50 Best for 2025.
I visited with a group of journalists and we spent three nights at the hotel as part of a trip to celebrate the return of nonstop service from Seattle to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. I stayed in a Club Grand Harbour View Room, which is a one king with a showstopping view and lots of space at 570 sq ft (53 sq m).
My room was on the 39th floor of the hotel, with a sweeping view over Victoria Harbour. From my windows I looked straight across to Hong Kong Island and the Central side, which was especially pretty at night.
Room design and layout
The room design was stunning. The walls were wallpapered in a fabric from Loro Piana, which is one of the nicest designer brands out there for cashmere and other fine wools, so it is kind of insane that they put Loro Piana on the walls (especially because they don’t talk about it! I only found out from the marketing director while on a hotel tour). The palette on my floor leaned into dark navy and olive green tones, which gave it a cocooning, moody feel that I loved.
Floor to ceiling windows ran along the exterior wall, framing that harbor view. There was a king sized bed with a settee at the foot of the bed, plus a separate couch and table with a chair pushed up by the window so you could sit and enjoy the skyline. There was also a dresser with a piece of custom art over it, which helped the room feel more residential than hotel-like. Other quirky art adorned the entryway, which was complimented by a full-length mirror.
The bathroom was very extra in the best way. It was done in white and black marble with silver toned accents on the fixtures. There were two separate sinks, a freestanding bathtub, and a large walk through shower that easily could fit two people.
There was also a vanity area, a separate water closet with one of a fancy Japanese toilet seat, and a closet dressing area with mirrors, shelving, and drawers. Storage was plentiful.
One detail I lost my mind over was the personalized pillowcase on the bed. They had embroidered my last initial on it, so mine said W. I had heard that some Rosewood hotels will wrap those up and let you take them home, but that did not seem to be the case here and other journalists on the trip confirmed the same. I would not count on being able to take the pillowcase with you.
One last thing I loved about this hotel…8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture, and octagons are all over Rosewood Hong Kong. I found it in all these places:
- sinks in the bathroom
- light fixtures
- soap dishes
- hand soap bars
- drinking glasses
- inlaid wood motif on the elevator doors
It’s a seemingly unimportant thing, but to me, it speaks to an intentionality behind the design of the hotel that I love.
Manor Club access
During my stay I had access to the Manor Club, which is Rosewood Hong Kong’s club lounge on the 40th floor. Club access is tied to booking a Manor Club room or a suite.
The Manor Club itself quickly became one of my favorite parts of the stay. The lounge takes up most of the 40th floor and feels expansive. There is a central lobby area, a full restaurant style dining space, a bar, and an outdoor terrace with seating where you can take your food and drinks while looking out over the city.
The Manor Club serves a buffet breakfast in the morning, an afternoon tea service, and then drinks and appetizers in the evening. You could easily have two meals a day up there if you wanted. Everything I ate was super tasty and the selection was large. The club quickly became one of my favorite aspects of my stay.
Service in the lounge was very fast. They offered specialty coffees, fresh juices, and both hot and cold breakfast items, including some things you could order from the menu and a made-to-order egg station.
They also had a pool table and games in a separate lounge area, so it functioned as both a dining room and a social space. Another journalist who snuck a peek at the main restaurant breakfast on the lower level said it felt busy, loud, and a bit overwhelming first thing in the morning. Having the quieter, more secluded Manor Club option really did feel like a significant perk and was one of the memorable parts of my visit.
Service and turndown
Overall, service at the hotel was very good. When I arrived, an attendant in the main lobby escorted me directly up to the Manor Club where they did my check in. Doing check in on a club floor is a nice touch, though there was a slightly awkward element to being whisked up 40 floors just to check in instead of having the option to handle it on the main level. Up in the Manor Club they offered me a drink while we did the check in process, and then escorted me to my room afterward.
Housekeeping was very solid with a small note of inconsistency around turndown service. One night they came around 6 pm while I was still in the room getting ready for dinner and asked if they could do turndown anyway. Another night the same thing happened and I asked them to come back in ten or fifteen minutes, which they did.
It felt a little early and a little odd to have turndown happening while I was still in the room. Another journalist on the trip who was staying in the room next to mine mentioned that he did not receive turndown service at all one night, and he did not think his privacy light was on. So there were some minor inconsistencies there, but no real issue.
When they did come for turndown, they did a really nice job. The room was cleaned every morning and then turned down in the evening. Turndown included putting out a small rug and slippers at the side of the bed, preparing the bed, closing the curtains, and placing bottles of water on the nightstands.
I also appreciated the communication options with the team. I was able to message the hotel via WhatsApp to ask practical questions, like what time breakfast was served, and got very quick responses. At one point I misplaced an item in the room and sent them a picture asking if housekeeping could keep an eye out when they serviced the room the next morning.
They acknowledged the request and later followed up to let me know they were not able to find it despite looking. I ultimately found the item on my own, but I really appreciated both the acknowledgment and the proactive follow up.
In room amenities and little touches
The room had a lot of thoughtful little touches. When staff saw sunglasses or glasses cases out, they would leave a small cleaning cloth next to them. I had a book on the table and they placed a bookmark on it for me.
There was also a Rosewood stamped toiletry bag stocked with the usual essentials you might forget at home. Inside were small items like a toothbrush and toothpaste, cotton balls, and Q tips. We were told that this amenity bag was meant to be taken home, so yay, a little gift!
Skincare amenities were from Guerlain, the French brand that also runs the spa at Rosewood Hong Kong. In the room there was an eye cream, a face cream, and an anti aging serum. All of these were in trial sizes, but they were a great amenity to be able to use and take home.
One of my favorite in room features was the Dyson hair dryer. I use a Dyson Airwrap at home and really appreciate having high quality tools, especially when I travel with my naturally curly hair. The Dyson in the room had multiple attachments, including a diffuser, which made it very easy for me to maintain my usual routine and felt like a truly premium touch.
Restaurants, bars, and public spaces
The hotel itself is large and has a lot of public spaces and amenities. There are many restaurants on site and during my stay we visited several of them. I wrote up a review of all the places I tried and how to eat gluten free in Hong Kong.
We ate at Bluhouse and at Bayfare Social and both meals were wonderful. The property has a Michelin starred Indian restaurant called Chaat, where we went to sample their famous chai. It was one of the best chais I have had.
There is also a Michelin starred Chinese restaurant called The Legacy House in the hotel. For drinks, there is a small speakeasy style bar called XX, which we toured during the day when it was closed. It is a beautiful, tucked away space with a very nondescript entrance that fits the speakeasy vibe, and it used to be a women only bar before opening to everyone.
Darkside is their main bar and it was lovely. We went there one evening and listened to the jazz band that plays nightly. The bar menu includes a lot of inventive cocktails, a rare whiskey collection, and a chocolate pairing experience you can do alongside the whiskey, which looked very fun.
The Butterfly Room is where the hotel serves its full afternoon tea service and also where the patisserie is located. Another point about how “extra” this hotel is: the Butterfly Room has a series of Damien Hirst art (of butterflies) dominating one wall.
I picked up some truffles from the patisserie and they were awesome. If you are staying at the property, I would definitely recommend grabbing some truffles at some point during your visit.
Throughout the lobby and public spaces there is art everywhere. There is even a flower shop right in the lobby, and during my stay, there was an art installation commissioned for Art Basel by the Dutch artist Frankey.
Pool, gym, and spa
The hotel has an outdoor pool located on one of the upper level decks that overlooks the harbor. It is not a massive resort style pool, but it is a very nicely designed area with a mix of shaded lounge chairs and loungers in full sun. The weather during my stay was not really good enough to fully enjoy the pool, but it looked like a great place to spend a warm afternoon.
Adjacent to the pool level there is an indoor lounge space where you can sit and relax. The gym really stood out to me as one of the most over the top fitness centers I have seen in a hotel. It was wood paneled and felt extremely upscale, while still having all the normal gym equipment you would expect.
There were separate locker rooms for men and women, as well as a multipurpose room for classes. Most of these fitness classes are included for hotel guests, as long as you sign up in advance.
The spa is a Guerlain branded spa that uses the French skincare line throughout its treatments. I booked a facial because I knew the products would be very high quality and I was not disappointed. The treatment was very relaxing and my therapist was professional and thoughtful in how she addressed my skin concerns and preferences.
Beyond the individual treatment rooms, the spa also has shared hydrotherapy and relaxation facilities. There was a steam room, a very cold stand up shower you could use in lieu of a cold plunge, and a large spa pool with different stations where water jets could hit your neck, back, or where you could recline on an in-water lounger. A sauna would have been a nice addition, as would a proper cold plunge.
There was also a relaxation lounge with a tea room. Here they offered multiple kinds of tea and a selection of small snacks. You could enjoy these either while waiting for your treatment or if you wanted to linger for a while afterward and extend your spa day.
Location and practical details
The location of Rosewood Hong Kong is one of its biggest assets. The hotel sits on the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade on the Kowloon side, with direct views across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island. It is directly connected to a high end shopping mall at Victoria Dockside, which makes it easy to move between the hotel, shops, and restaurants without ever stepping outside if the weather is bad.
It was also very straightforward to get from the hotel to the Star Ferry if you want to go over to Central. From Tsim Sha Tsui you have easy access to the MTR, the Avenue of Stars, and major cultural venues along the waterfront. As a base for exploring both Kowloon and the Island, it is a very convenient spot.
Typical nightly rates for standard rooms at Rosewood Hong Kong often fall in roughly the $650 to $900 USD range, depending on season and demand, with some deals starting around $580 and premium rooms going well above $1,000 per night. The property is regularly priced higher than many other five star hotels in Hong Kong, which fits its positioning at the very top end of the market.
Is it worth it?
Rosewood Hong Kong is a pricey hotel, but I loved every minute of my stay. The rooms, the decor, the service, the dining options, the club lounge and the spa were all top notch. I loved the personalized touches and feeling like housekeeping was looking for ways to make my stay more pleasant. I have no idea how to quantify the best hotel in the world, but I would put Rosewood Hong Kong in my top 5, possibly top 3, hotel experiences ever.
