Hong Kong: Revamped Ritz-Carlton is world's highest hotel

The world's highest hotel, housed in Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper and offering unrivalled panoramic views of the world-famous Victoria Harbour, has opened.

Towering some 490 metres above the bustling, chaotic streets of the southern Chinese city, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is making a grand comeback after temporarily closing in 2008.

Visitors peered out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 118th floor of the International Commerce Centre, which houses the hotel, for a 360-degree view of the glitzy financial hub and the South China Sea.

"We're opening an iconic hotel which took us about 10 years to build," president and chief operations officer Herve Humler told reporters yesterday.

The Ritz-Carlton will likely lose the title of world's highest hotel in 2014, according to media reports, when the J-Hotel opens near the top of the more than 600m-high Shanghai Tower.

"People compete all around the world about everything - I'm sure someone somewhere is building an even taller building as we speak," Humler said. "We emphasis service."

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong also will be one of the most expensive places to stay in a city already packed with luxury hotels, with the rack rate starting at HK$6000 (NZ$1017) a night for a deluxe room.

A presidential suite is going for HK$100,000.

Inside, the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong exudes a chic, modern vibe in the restaurants and lobby areas, with a lot of sparkling decor and chandeliers, the main colour themes being black, brown and beige.

Visitors can expect to find facilities that include the highest bar in the world, and a top-floor pool that will feature a 19m ceiling-mounted LCD screen which swimmers can watch while enjoying the warmth of the heated water.

Humler said mainland Chinese customers account for about 35 per cent of the hotel group's market, up from just three to four per cent 14 years ago.

"This number is expected to rise," Humler said.

"Mainland China is a key market for us. Asia as a region has bounced back significantly in the past year, with business going up about 20 per cent in 2010."

"In China, everything that is created has to have the 'wow' factor to attract the top echelons of society. They want quality service and efficiency."

Humler said occupancy rates at Ritz-Carlton Tokyo had plunged from 80 to 15 per cent since the Japan nuclear crisis began but he expected it to have little impact on the Hong Kong hotel.

- AAP