...to the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
The Kowloon Ritz-Carlton hotel closed February 11th. The 216 room hotel, only 14 years old, will face the wrecking ball to make room for more office space as rental prices reach record highs. Its a sign of the times here in Hong Kong where land is at a premium, and if you have the cash you can re-arrange the city like its made of lego blocks.
While the hotel is set to re-open next year in West Kowloon, more than 250 items from the original hotel will be auctioned off today. These items include antique ballroom chandeliers from HK$3,000 (US $384) each, an 18th-century gilt-framed mirror for HK$9,000, and a century-old, stained-glass screen for HK$100,000. An absolute bargain! Unfortunately, the auction is open only to a priveledged list of previous hotel guests, and although it was rumoured that you could put your name on the list, I found it pretty close to impossible - so alas there will be no hotel silverware for me to bid on today... :(
An artists impression of the new Ritz Carlton, set to open 2009.PS. Sorry for the lack of posts this week folks, work has been crazy this week! Thanks for your patience - I promise more for you next week!
4 comments:
Wow! I lived in Hong Kong for a couple of years. It's so interesting to hear what they are doing. We used to joke that Victoria Harbor would some day become Victoria stream because they keep on building out.
Wouldn't it be something to be able to join an auction like that!
Hi Karen, what a coincidence...how long ago did you leave? It's really amazing just how much reclaimed land there is now...did you hear they filled in between the two islands south of Macau - the 'cotai strip' is where the new Venetian is...
I so wanted to go to this Auction Suzy but I was in Europe
Evidently you could call up and get your name put on "the list".
I had a friend who was going to go - I should find out if she did and how it went
ATBB - me too! I actually did call the hotel to have my name put on 'the list' but they had no idea what I was talking about. I finally spoke to their sales director who gave me details of who was organising it - but I could never get through to either of the numbers they gave me! Oh well...
Post a Comment