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hotel carefully selects what items are put into its suites, and takes note of what guests consume and what they don’t. “With the turndown amenities, we need to be on
brand. We try to avoid any low-class, calorific items. If you’re serving something in the luxury way, we need to check if it’s chocolate, it’s not cheap chocolate from the supermarket, it’s high-quality dark chocolate,” he says. “With our fruit platters, not all guests like to eat all
types of fruit. Our butlers will understand what the guests’ habits and preferences are. If we notice on the first night that a guest really likes bananas, we will add extra bananas.” Whilst bowls of fruit are a pretty universal welcome giſt,
some hotels like to shake things up a bit and offer their suite guests something unique to the local culture. For example, at Conrad Guangzhou, which has 62 suites in four different sizes, guests get a daily savoury Chinese welcome soup served in a beautiful painted lacquer container inspired by the traditional food basket. “Normally, guests arrive in the rooms around 3 to 4pm. A cup of soup is a benefit for them before they go for dinner outside or in the hotel,” says general manager Ken Chow.
ENDURING POPULARITY Most guests stay in suites as a luxury upgrade from a standard room. However, a select few seem to love staying in suites so much that they try to book them on a more permanent basis – think the CEOs moving to Singapore who set up residence in the Raffles. Sometimes guests even try more unorthodox methods
of establishing semi-permanent residency in a suite. “I recently had a long-time customer who has an office here in the neighbouring office block, but he also wanted an office in the hotel and wanted the furniture moved to make it into an office,” says Chan of Harbour Grand Kowloon. “We found that a bit unusual, but it’s something we can accommodate. Though as permanent office use – that’s not encouraged.” BT
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
RECENTLY OPENED ASIA-PACIFIC HOTELS WITH SUITES
K11 Artus This ultra-luxury serviced residence on Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront offers long-stay guests a selection of three palatial penthouse residences. One was designed by Fiona Barratt-Campbell, the wife of English professional football manager and former player Sol Campbell, and features furniture like the “Sol chair”. The penthouses range from a generous 283 to 344 sqm.
The Middle House Shanghai While many hotels have large numbers of suites in their room inventories, others opt for very few or even just a single suite. The Middle House Shanghai has just
one suite in its entire portfolio of rooms (excluding the penthouse). The 110 sqm Gallery Suite offers special in-room amenities such as a yoga mat from Canadian athletic apparel retailer Lululemon, and a Native Union x La Boite Bluetooth speaker.
The St Regis Hong Kong This luxury hotel, which opened in April 2019, offers a total of 17 suites divided into four categories: St Regis Suite, Metropolitan Suite, Governor’s Suite and Presidential Suite. The suites, whose sizes start from 94 sqm, are all equipped with a parlour and a guest washroom, and all of them come with in-room check-in and e-Butler services.
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