"For unmatched views Many new hotels are dubbed an instant classic, but few earn that praise quite so literally as Regent’s latest Hong Kong outpost. This Kowloon landmark has been around since the 1980s, but for the past two decades flew the InterContinental flag above its lobby. Since last November, after a top-to-bottom revamp spearheaded by Hong Kong–born designer Chi Wing Lo, the all-caps Regent emblem once again gleams golden over Victoria Harbour. Lo replaced the hotel’s Dynasty-era dazzle with a high-glam but timeless new look: Rooms come bedecked in blond oak and granite, with curvy furniture and brushes of onyx, brass, and caramel-colored leather. The restaurants, some of which have been around since the hotel’s early days, have been spruced up and deliver a cross-cultural pick-and-mix of chichi Cantonese, fine Japanese, and steakhouse classics. At the new Qura Bar, sharp-suited bartenders mix Negronis and Sazeracs from vintage spirits that predate the hotel’s first iteration. Regent’s facelift has rung in a new era for this beloved property, but its trump card, luckily, remained unchanged: Few hotels offer a better vantage point over Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong’s neon-lit skyscraper jumble. —Chris Schalkx" - Lee Cobaj
