The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong Review: Worth It? (8/10)

The short version: The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong sits on floors 102 to 118 of the ICC, the tallest building in the city, and the view is the whole point. From the 113th floor, the harbour and Hong Kong Island spread out below you as if you were on the Peak. The room is excellent, with shades that open on their own as you walk in. The pool and jacuzzi on 118 are the highest in the world, breakfast has the best seats in Hong Kong, and it has one Michelin Key. The one thing I’d change is the service, which is professional and very attentive but a little rigid, with more rules than it needs. Two nights in a Deluxe King over Halloween weekend came to HK$14,409 ($1,847) all in, about HK$7,200 ($924) a night with breakfast, service and tax. I’d stay again.

I stayed two nights at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, October 31 to November 2, 2026, in a Deluxe King on the 113th floor; my parents had a second room. I paid for everything myself.

Pros

The view: the entire harbour and skyline, day and night, from the room, the pool, the gym and breakfast
An excellent room, with shades that open automatically as you walk in and a window seat along the glass
The highest pool and jacuzzi in the world, on the 118th floor, with several hot pools
A good gym with a terrace, table tennis, a golf net and a meditation room high above the city
Breakfast in booths facing the skyline, with fresh smoothies and good smoked salmon
Ozone, the rooftop bar, with a private exit for hotel guests
Two Michelin-starred restaurants in the building, and one Michelin Key
Twenty minutes to the island, 25 to 30 to the airport, with Elements and Kowloon Station underneath

Cons

The service is attentive but a little rigid, with a lot of rules
The restaurants aren’t open all afternoon; nothing was serving at 3 pm
No US outlets, only UK ones
A mild musty smell in the room on the second night
The bread station at breakfast is mostly for show
A small sauna, about three people
Expensive, especially over a holiday weekend, and breakfast isn’t included

Arriving

The hotel is about 27 minutes from the airport by taxi, or take the Airport Express to Kowloon Station, under the Elements mall beneath the hotel. The drive up is part of the setting: the road climbs away from traffic with a widening view of the bay. It ends at a fountain, a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley, under a glass tower more than a hundred floors high.

Check-in is on the 103rd floor, 425 meters above sea level according to the elevator screen. Bags are tagged downstairs and go straight to the room. Upstairs you get a cold honey green tea and a cold towel. The lobby has a chandelier, a gold horse mural on the ceiling and, oddly, not much of a view; the restaurants on either side have that.

Check-in was fast, though with the hotel full one of our rooms wasn’t ready until about 4:45 pm, and late checkout to 4 pm was honored. The Marriott Bonvoy app chat is handy; they used it to check restaurant reservations for us. The rules I ran into at check-in are in the service section.

The room: 8.5 out of 10

The best moment is at the door: as you walk in, the shades open on their own and the whole city appears, which is cinematic and quite romantic. The room, on the 113th floor and about 50 square meters, has a king bed facing a TV wall, a desk, a chaise and a cushioned window seat along the glass. The window seat is a nice place to sit and the best spot for photos. Day or night, the view takes in the entire city.

Walking into the room

The controls are good: panels by the bed and desk for sheers, drapes and lights, with USB-C and USB-A fast charging. There’s a Geneva clock, Nespresso and tea, and four large glass bottles of water.

The minibar has a display cabinet of spirits, Valrhona chocolate and a candle, and the bathroom has a full amenity kit, toothbrush included. You’ll have to ask for an adapter, though: the outlets are UK only.

The bathroom is travertine, with a big rain shower and a handheld, a tub under the window into the bedroom, a double vanity and a separate toilet with its own phone. The shower is excellent, with great pressure, and just what you want after a hot night out. The toiletries are Diptyque Philosykos, in full-size bottles, and the robe is grey with a white velour lining.

A letter warned of exterior maintenance from 9 to 6, as at the Okura in Manila; I never noticed any. The room measured about 39 decibels day and night, the Wi-Fi was 53 Mbps each way with no password, and the AC goes down to 16°C. It passes the sleep test. Two small things: light daytime construction noise from a tower going up below, and a mild musty smell on the second night, maybe from the AC. Neither bothered me.

Breakfast: 8 out of 10

The food score is for breakfast, since I didn’t eat at the restaurants this time. Breakfast is at The Lounge & Bar on 102, under a crystal chandelier. Many of the seats are little booths facing the skyline and the harbour, which is romantic and makes for an excellent photo. It’s a buffet with a lot of stations and an allergen key. There’s also a menu of egg dishes, Hong Kong items like curry fish balls and satay beef buns, and lattes in ube, matcha and turmeric.

Daily fruit smoothie: 8.5 out of 10. Raspberry yogurt the day I went, and really good.

Red-beet smoked salmon: 8 out of 10. Quite tasty, and the jamón next to it looked fresher than usual.

Eggs: 8 out of 10. They peel very easily, and many are pre-cracked. There’s also a tea-flavored boiled egg, which I didn’t try.

Grapes: 7.5 out of 10. The dark, big ones, quite tasty. No mangoes, which would have been nice.

Baked beans: 6.5 out of 10. Fresh enough, not memorable.

One small thing says a lot: the beautiful bread station with sourdoughs over the bay is mostly decoration. I asked for sourdough and got two slices, because the loaves are for dinner. On the other hand, breakfast officially closes at 10:30 on weekdays and 11 on weekends, and they don’t shut it down sharp. The selection is good, but not that different from the Okura in Manila, so at this price they could add a bit more.

The restaurants are the other strength: Tin Lung Heen, the Cantonese on 102, has two Michelin stars and Tosca di Angelo, the Italian across from it, has one, both with the view. I didn’t eat at either this time. The catch is that nothing is open mid-afternoon; at 3 pm even The Lounge & Bar was closed, and staff pointed us to Elements. Down there, Anju and IZA were open, and Sen-ryo has the best sushi.

Pool, gym and spa

Everything is on 118, with the spa on 116. The pool floor is the highlight: an indoor pool with a mirrored ceiling and views to the islands, daybeds along the windows, several hot pools and a cold plunge. Outside is a jacuzzi at 490 meters next to an outdoor infinity pool the hotel calls the highest in the world. Very pleasant, with a decent crowd in the evening. Two nitpicks: the pool runs cold and the hot tubs run hot, so you can’t stay in either long, and a big screen by the pool cycles through fish pictures and the hotel’s own ads. It closes at 10 pm, and sandals are required even to look.

The jacuzzi and the outdoor pool, 490 meters up

The indoor pool, with the islands beyond

The pool floor

The gym is open 24 hours, with a long row of Technogym treadmills and ellipticals facing the windows, a weights area and a filtered-water dispenser. What impressed me is how they keep it: every machine has water, earbuds and a towel set out, the benches are perfectly aligned, and the weights are always cleared and the bars put back. Outside is a terrace with a table tennis table and a golf net, and a meditation room high above the city; it’s a bit of a well-kept secret for photos.

The terrace: table tennis and the golf net

The changing rooms are really nice: private cubicles, Dyson dryers, Sukin toiletries, two-head showers, and an attendant who wipes the sinks the moment anyone uses them. The sauna is small, about three people. I didn’t try the spa. For locals, pilates is HK$580 a class and a month’s pool pass HK$3,500.

Ozone

Ozone, the rooftop bar on 118, is one of the nicer bars in Hong Kong: a jungle of plants on the ceiling, a red-lit wall of bottles, popcorn on the tables and the view. It was done up for Halloween, servers in costume included. I don’t drink, so I can’t speak to the cocktails.

Three tips. Arrive before 10 pm, while the city lights are on. If it rains, the outdoor area is mostly off limits, and there’s no big open deck like Marina Bay Sands. And hotel guests can ask for the exit by the host stand, which leads to the pool floor. It closes at midnight on public holidays and 1 am on weekends, early for a famous rooftop bar.

The setting: 9 out of 10

A very strong point. You feel secluded on the way up, you’re 100 floors above the city, and on 113 it’s almost like being on Victoria Peak. The rooms, the pool, the gym, breakfast and both Michelin restaurants share the view. The hallways are stylish, with mirrored art and a cloud-patterned carpet, and the elevator lobby is black marble; Hong Kong comes through in the views and some of the architecture.

The harbour from the 118th floor

It’s private and convenient: the road ends at the hotel, Elements and the Airport Express are underneath, and the island is about 20 minutes away. Apart from Elements it can feel cut off from the rest of Hong Kong, which I like, but it depends on your trip. Two wishes: a bigger sauna, and a small open-air spot for a night walk.

Service: 6.5 out of 10

Objectively, the service is professional and very attentive: if you look like you need something, someone is there. The gym is kept perfectly, the app chat works, and when the registration-card moment went too far, they apologized.

What holds the score back is rigidity. Over two days:

The photo. I photographed the registration card, thinking it was a receipt, and was asked to delete it as an internal document.
The passport. Required at check-in; a driver’s license wasn’t accepted.
Late checkout. Offered on one of our two rooms first, then on both after we asked.
The sandals. Required even to step in and look at the pool.
The sourdough. Two slices at breakfast, because the loaves are for dinner.
The bar. Hesitant to let us look inside Ozone at 1:30 am for a photo, though they eventually did.

None of it is a real problem on its own. But good service needs flexibility, not just attentiveness, and the restaurants should stay open through the afternoon rather than sending guests to the mall. For me hospitality is about making people feel at home as well as running the property well. You can run a hotel this well without quite so many rules.

What it cost

Two nights in a Deluxe King, October 31 to November 2, 2026, over Halloween weekend. From the folio: the room was HK$6,800 the first night and HK$5,525 the second, plus a 10% service charge and Hong Kong’s 3% accommodation tax, for HK$13,927 on the room. Add HK$482 at The Lounge & Bar for breakfast, and the total was HK$14,409, about $1,847, or HK$7,200 ($924) a night all in. Breakfast isn’t included in the rate; the buffet is HK$328 plus service per person.

Value: 7 out of 10

At about HK$7,200 a night all in, you get a Michelin Key hotel, a great location, a very nice room and one of the best views in the city. That’s reasonable for Hong Kong, and cheaper than a comparable harbour-view room at the Four Seasons, around $1,000 before service. What keeps it at a 7: breakfast is extra, Halloween pushed the first night up (the second was HK$1,275 cheaper), and the service doesn’t quite match the price.

Who it’s for

Anyone who wants the view. It’s the reason to stay here.
Couples: the room, the breakfast booths and Ozone are all built for it.
Airport Express travelers: Kowloon Station is downstairs.
Gym people: 24 hours, with that terrace.
Less so for anyone who wants very relaxed, flexible service, or who’d rather be on Hong Kong Island.

Tips if you go

Bring your passport; a driver’s license won’t do. And don’t photograph the registration card.
Ask for a high floor; I was on 113.
Get to Ozone before 10 pm for the lights, and ask for the hotel-guest exit.
Wear the sandals they provide at the pool, and bring a UK adapter.
Eat before 2:30 or after 6, or go down to Elements: Anju and IZA on the Civic Square terrace are open mid-afternoon, and Sen-ryo has the best sushi down there.
Try the daily smoothie at breakfast, and don’t rush. The terrace outside the gym is the photo spot nobody knows about.
Doing Victoria Peak? Petit Jardin in the Peak Tower is a fine dinner, and the free deck outside it beats the HK$80 ticket.
Use the Bonvoy app chat for reservations.

Verdict: 8 out of 10

A strong hotel: a Michelin Key, a great brand, a great location, and a room I’d happily stay in again. One of the best views I’ve had from a hotel, on par with Bürgenstock, with a pool floor and a gym to match. The service is the one thing I’d improve, not because it’s bad but because it’s a little rigid where it could be relaxed. The setting more than makes up for it. Would I stay again? Yes.