The look of luxe
What would approximately 50 million dollars buy you? If you’re the Hong Kong’s Miramar Hotel, that amount would get you a new name, an entirely new look and a lot of outside interest.
Clocking in 51 years of hotel service, the Miramar Hotel has long been an institution in Hong Kong, known for a history of many firsts: the first hotel in Hong Kong to have a convention hall, first to present a Chinese floor show at its world-famous Mandarin Room Restaurant, first to join a global network and first to use the electronic key card system. But the novelty of these firsts has since diminished and Miramar’s biggest attractions were great service and its location (just off Hong Kong’s famed shopping haunt, Nathan Road, and right across from the bustling Miramar Shopping Center).
So the Miramar decided to pursue tradition again and embarked on another “first.” Recruiting an impressive roster of creative minds from all over the world, such as style-setter Colin Cowie, Miami-based interior designer Charles Allem, Hong Kong architects Edmond Wong, Andrew Choy and Tony Pannell and British landscape architect Adrian Norman, the Miramar decided to give Hong Kong a taste of new conceptual hotel living, one that is steeped in eclectic, understated urban luxury. Says Dirk Dalichau, general manager of the new Mira and, basically, project manager of this whole upheaval: “Given the rather traditional hotel landscape in Hong Kong, we wanted to offer a true alternative to travelers and address a long-outstanding need for a more contemporary, up-to-date hotel that reflects the soul of the city much better in its vibrancy and style.”
They started by changing the name, shortening it to the catchier Mira Hotel, a decision that wasn’t exactly just based on spelling issues. The word “mira” means “perfection and prosperous,” and this is significantly what the hotel group intended with this new makeover. It also means “look” in Spanish and the Mira Hotel invites just that, but not just with a modicum of amazement and wonder.
As soon as you enter the Mira hotel, you’ll be struck by how masculine it is: black and industrial silver interiors, severe lines and mirrored surfaces — lots of them everywhere, reflecting off one another. The massive entranceway leading to the lobby already suggests of the cutting-edge concepts that preceded the hotel makeover. Lit-up, curving silvery white fins cocoon the main entrance, sliding up from floor to ceiling. (If you ever wondered how it feels to be within a coral bed, this would probably be the closest thing to it.) The lobby, with its low mirrored ceiling, lighted pillars and shiny, marbled floors, mesmerizes, so much that you almost miss the reception desk discreetly tucked behind white lighted counters — you can’t help but wonder if this was the intention. If it were a person, the lobby of the Mira would be a brooder: dark, intense, mystifying.
The sheer masculinity, the austerity and the glossy darkness, however, are all subtly seductive. Much like the barest whiff of a classic men’s fragrance. Just like a Helmut Lang collection. Oddly enough, all the lit-up darkness and the cold, slick surfaces are nothing but inviting. The warm yellow light that shine from crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling stop the Mira’s lobby from being spot-on intimidating and infuse the tiniest bit of femininity amidst all the severity. The same yin and yang aesthetic continues with Coco, the hotel’s café-patisserie, Yamm, its first-floor restaurant, and Room One, the hotel’s lobby bar. Coco’s biggest draws are, expectedly, its cakes and artisan chocolates, colorful sculpted sugary treats that add a sense of glammed-up coziness to the glassy interiors of the patisserie, which all center around a huge, silver table lamp that impresses with its sheer size.
Yamm, the Mira’s bet for Japanese and Asian fusion cuisine, also has curving fins along its raised walls, this time enveloping a beautiful cluster of chandeliers encased in round, steel cases. Room One, with its cozy booths, black sofas and purple lighting, precedes every stylish hook-up.
Some floors up is probably the Mira’s biggest pride. The lofty and “pillarless” ballroom can be transformed into six different, color-themed signature looks designed by “renowned lifestyle guru” Colin Cowie. The author of six books on style and entertaining and the talent and eye behind Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball, John Travolta’s 50th birthday celebration and Cosmopolitan magazine’s 40th anniversary, among others, Cowie makes fairytale settings are enhanced by custom-made chandeliers made from over 20 tons of hand-cut Czech crystals (each chandelier features LED technology that can send out more than 25,000 color tones across the ballroom), chinaware tailor-made by Narumi from Nagoya and a $2.6 million state-of-the-art AV system. Trust me, you’ll want to get married in this ballroom.
While the lobby, restaurants and ballrooms were all designed to astound, the Mira’s guestrooms were made to be lived in. Though also decorated along the sleek, minimal lines that encompass contemporary interior decoration, the guest rooms discreetly do away with all the reflective polish, opting instead for understated luxury. Whether done in deep red, muted green or silver, each room includes an Egg Chair by Arne Jacobsen, a glass bath, a 40-inch LCD TV tacked to the wall, Bose in-room soundscapes and a white Sony Vaio personal computer and entertainment system. No chintzy bedspreads or incomprehensible art on the walls. Just low lighting, a huge bed, and all the comforts of home, albeit maybe slightly upgraded.
The most significant luxuries of a stay with the Mira, however, would be the bathroom and their “My Mobile” Nokia phone service. The shower is an experience in itself, mimicking what is afforded by first-rate spas. Each guestroom’s bath is equipped with three different kinds of showers: the typical round shower head hanging from the wall, a square rainshower attached to the ceiling and a few nozzles along the bathroom walls that spray at you from all sides. Trying to figure out the mechanics is a bit tricky, but as soon as you do, it’s shower heaven from there on.
The “My Mobile” phone service puts a Nokia mobile phone in every room that acts as your personal wireless unit all throughout Hong Kong. Every call made to your hotel room is seamlessly transferred to your Nokia mobile, ensuring that you don’t miss any important communication. This mobile service reminds us that, for all its sleek flash, the Mira Hotel is a hotel for the working businessman who can’t afford not to be connected as much as it is for the hip, young, vacationing urbanite.
Another Mira luxury? Its discreetly efficient service, probably the only thing left over from its Miramar days. “A hotel is much more than just hardware,” emphasizes Dalichau. “We have created a service concept that is reflected in our design, one that focuses on a less formal approach yet ensures highest service deliveries, reduces barriers and boundaries and makes guests feel more comfortable by being themselves.”
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The Mira is located at 118-130 Nathan Road, Tsim Tsa Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Call +85223681111 or visit www.themirahotel.com for reservations or more information.
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