Thomas Bywater explores Shangri-La Hong Kong’s new family suites, combining fantasy themes with upscale amenities for a unique family stay. Photo / Thomas Bywater
Thomas Bywater explores Shangri-La Hong Kong’s new family suites, combining fantasy themes with upscale amenities for a unique family stay. Photo / Thomas Bywater
Thomas Bywater and company check in to the Family Suites in the Hong Kong Island Shangri-La.
Shangri La is a fabled place. It is a mythical oasis of zen, hidden in the wilderness. Which is exactly how the Island hotel felt once upon a muggy Hong Kong monsoon season. Visiting the five-star hotel’s new family suites after a hectic 11-hour flight with baby in tow, it seemed like the promised land. A land of milk and cookies.
The Shangri-La is an unabashedly upscale hotel. The high rise, which has stood on the edge of Hong Kong Park and Victoria since 1991, is as much a part of Hong Kong establishment as its Lobster Bar and centrepiece of 200 hand-painted silk panels. On arrival the high-end hotel is all chandeliers and attentive bell hops, exactly as you might imagine. But on the 45th floor is an unexpected oasis in this oasis, especially for visitors under 10.
Since February, the hotel has launched its 21 child-focused suites. Each is designed around one of 10 fantasy themes and a host of amenities aimed at balancing the needs of ultra-luxury and family travel, plus all the additional luggage this entails.
What do you and the kids get from a $2000-a-night family suite?
The first impression on exiting the elevator was of miniature railway overhead and freshly baked cakes. The toy train, which runs three times daily, signifies fresh goodies in the Hang Out. This family lounge on the Victoria Peak side of the hotel is open to guests 24 hours a day. It gets particularly busy around the weekend during workshops and evenings when a nightcap of fresh cookies and rich hot chocolate is served. Apart from treats, the pantry is well stocked for seemingly any occasion. I was pleasantly surprised to find this included SPF 50 extra sensitive baby sunscreen to replace the tube lost somewhere in transit. It is as if Ali Baba’s cave of wonders had been stocked with travelling parents in mind - baby monitors, toys, milk formula, your wish is the family concierge’s command.
The hotel’s iconic 200 hand-painted silk panels are a central feature of its lobby. Photo / Thomas Bywater
The real attractions, however, are the themed rooms. Behind the forest green and ocean blue doors are rooms made to look like fantasy castles, safari tents and even Hong Kong’s iconic double-decker trams. The attention to detail and playful designs would give even the city’s most famous theme park a run for its money. Disneyland Hong Kong is around a 30-minute drive away on Lantau Island and a stop on many visiting families’ travel plans. There’s plenty of crossover and more than a little bit of inspiration taken from Walt’s family park. Musicals are pumped out on a day-long loop in the public areas, but there’s no mistaking one for the other. With suite price points of NZ$2500 to $12,000 per night, this is no Mickey Mouse operation.
We spent a night in the Safari Suite and another in the Hong Kong Wonders room, one of the most popular designs.
Shangri-La’s family concierge can provide everything from baby monitors to SPF 50 sunscreen. Photo / Thomas Bywater
The Safari Suite’s cleverly devised bunk bed included canvas canopies, a slide and rope bridge leading young guests around a treasure hunt. Following the theme, there are wooden puzzles, various (quite loud) animal noises and a television set, hidden in the bonnet of a Jeep. Fortunately, there’s a master switch to turn off the jungle noises after “lights out”.
Although the themes are carried throughout the suites, there’s a stark contrast between the parents and children’s quarters. A mosaic cockatoo is spread across the bathroom and savanna seeps into the luxuriously textured carpeting and wallpaper of the “adult” side of the apartment. Suite. It’s a brave children’s concierge that hands out coloured pencils and drawing books in this room. On the parent’s side of the partition there is a kitchenette, a walk-in wardrobe and a sumptuously soft king bed. Extra large for when the kids inevitably end up in it in the morning.
Shangri-La Hong Kong offers 21 themed family suites, each with unique designs like safari tents and Hong Kong trams. Photo / Thomas Bywater
What’s in the area for kids?
On Hong Kong Island at the edge of Victoria the Shangri-La has a few family-friendly attractions right outside the lobby. Hong Kong Gardens are best explored early morning. With tropical plants terrapin ponds and a cave network to explore the humidity can become overpowering late in the day. The walk-though aviary and wildlife park is only open from 9am but there are plenty of exotic birds outside the netted walkway. Long-tailed magpies and cockatoos perch on every lamppost. A trip on the historic double-decker tram is also a must, though it is a little less romantic than the Shangri-La’s bunk bed version.
The Peak Tram can be caught from the far side of the park to Victoria Peak, the highest point in Hong Kong and views over the city’s 8000 skyscrapers. At least it would do at another time in the year. Mid monsoon season, the peak lookout becomes a cloud forest. The walking loop over the city is a little eerie stuck in a foggy canopy lit by lamps throughout the day. Though views of Victoria Harbour is not guaranteed, the tram is an adventure all-year round. You might want to stick closer to Pacific Place for more air conditioned options. The hotel is built upon a three-storey duty-free shopping centre, and food hall that might as well be the Harrods of Hong Kong. You’ll find some eye-wateringly expensive nappies and other indulgent groceries here.
The Shangri-La’s swimming pool and spa Yun Wellness is an ideal hangout on humid days, with a kids’ pool and play area.
The family suites include both children’s and parents’ quarters, blending playful themes with luxurious amenities. Photo / Thomas Bywater
Nightlights, nightlife and childcare
Nightfall in Hong Kong is an event. At 8pm after sunset, the waterfront is illuminated by the “Symphony of Lights”. For the past 20 years, Victoria Harbour has hosted a nightly light show announcing nightfall.
There are many guides suggesting that it is best witnessed from the north shore of Kowloon or looking across from Hong Kong Island. The waterfront promenade of Tsim Sha Tsui has become a popular viewing point, as has the Wan Chai cultural centre with musical accompaniment. In truth, the best place to view the Symphony of Lights is anywhere air conditioned. The Hong Kong Tourism board has an app that allows you to play back the soundtrack timed with the light show from wherever you happen to be. If you’re lucky enough to have a harbour-side suite, it’s an ideal treat for the kids to stay up late and watch the show. Ideally with a night cap of hot milk and cookies.
There are plenty of options for child-friendly dining in the Shangri-La - even the Lobster Bar - whose Art Deco decor appears to be frozen in time from an era before children were invented - is equipped with a suitably dark wood, Deco high-chair. However, for travellers with jet-lagged young children, dinner seatings can be quite late, from around 6.30pm. Babysitting services can be arranged via the concierge service on floor 45. There are also Murphy beds and arrangements for families travelling with nannies or their own childcare.
For those staying up late, there are some pretty spectacular and family-friendly options available. That said, at most dinner sittings there were conspicuously no other children to be seen.
The Ming Pavilion is the Shangri-La’s newest development on floor 8, overlooking the pool and gardens. With the setting of cosy lamp-lit tea house, Chef Lam Yeung serves up Hokkien dishes to delight all ages. The coastal cuisine which incorporates elements from Taiwan, the Fujian Islands all the way to Singapore is fragrant and rich with seafood and lowland delicacies. Popiah is highly recommended. Steamed flour pancake wrappers are accompanied with small plates of fillings, seaweed, pork lardons, cooked prawns and condiments $60 to share. The Xiamen delicacy is messy, delicious eating. You’ll find some highly local dishes on the menu but at $40 per tiger prawn in red wine lees sauce, they’re not an every day treat.
