Hong Kong Reinvents Itself As A High-Tech Destination
Two new Hong Kong hotels—one recently opened and one yet to come—tell the story of the ever-evolving Hong Kong business scene. Their locations and their clientele represent commercial concerns that are in one case a carryover from Hong Kong's economic past and in the other a look into its future.
The new Harbour Plaza Metropolis, which opened last summer, sits adjacent to the Kowloon-Canton Railway Station in Hung Hom, the area of Kowloon to the east of Tsimshatsui. While Hung Hom traditionally has been home to the industries that have sustained Hong Kong for the past half century—clothing, jewelry, electronics and toys—much of the manufacturing has moved across the border into Guangdong Province, where daily wages remain a fraction of what they are in the Special Administrative Region, as Hong Kong is referred to by the Chinese government.
Although many companies have relocated their factories, some still maintain manufacturing in Hung Hom and most continue to keep their headquarters there or in other parts of Hong Kong. The SAR has remained the conduit for trade in the southern China region, and executives and those doing business with those firms regularly commute back and forth between Hung Hom and mainland China.
In fact, the new Harbour Plaza Metropolis intends to take advantage of that fact. "The Metropolis is positioned for people doing business in China," said Barbara Bryant, the hotel's northern California-based U.S. representative and former executive with the Hong Kong Tourist Association. "It's very convenient for them to hop on the train to Guangzhou and other parts of southern China."
The 690-room hotel has been designed for business travelers, with broadband Internet and a separate PC/fax line in each room, as well as two executive floors. A series of conference rooms has been created to cater to corporate meetings.
The Metropolis is the latest addition to Harbour Plaza Hotels & Resorts, a division of Hutchison Whampoa Corp., owned by legendary Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing. The group operates four properties in Hong Kong, as well as hotels in Beijing, Kunming and Chongqing. Three of the Hong Kong hotels are geared toward business travelers. The 417-room Harbour Plaza Hong Kong on the waterfront in Hung Hom draws similar guests to those of the Metropolis, while the 566-room Harbour Plaza North Point attracts travelers doing business with computer and software companies in that continuously developing new business district on Hong Kong Island.
Meanwhile, Le Meridien has announced plans to manage the Le Meridien@Cyberport, which will open in September 2003 in the Hong Kong Cyberport. Located at Telegraph Bay on Hong Kong Island, the $2 billion Cyberport project is Hong Kong's effort to establish itself as a regional center for information technology.
Owned by the Hong Kong SAR government and developed by local developer Pacific Century CyberWorks, Cyberport began business in March, when the first phase of the project—200,000 square feet of office and 20,000 square feet of retail space—opened. Construction will continue with two more stages.
After completion in 2004, Cyberport will consist of more than 1 million square feet of office space, accommodating more than 100 local, overseas and multinational companies of various sizes and in different stages of development. Several companies have committed to offices so far. Microsoft moves in in October. GE Information Services, Finland's Sonera SmartTrust and U.S.-based ESRI also have signed leases for phase one, along with PCCS, DBTRONIX, Uni-Star and Outblaze of Hong Kong. Sybase, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Philips publicly have announced their interest in phase three.
The Cyberport also will include the University of Hong Kong's Cyberport Institute, opening in 2003, and one hotel to be managed by Le Meridien, which is re-entering the Hong Kong hotel market after being absent for more than a decade. The 176-room Le Meridien@ Cyberport will offer the same high-tech services found in the Cyberport development: broadband communication services, wireless Internet access and the Cyberportal, which will post up-to-date Cyberport and local news. Royal Club rooms will cater to business travelers who want something a bit better.
Although Le Meridien will be a serious business hotel, it also is expected to attract others in search of something new and different. General manager Dean Schreiber, who has opened two hotels in Hong Kong in the past several years, said he has a creative team together that will make an impression and implies that there may be some surprises in store.
"I was the one who started the whole fish culture here by giving guests who arrive alone a live goldfish in their room to keep them company—subsequently being done in three other hotels around the world—so I have to top that and already have some ideas," he said. "We will focus totally on the corporate market and all our initiatives are centered around providing them with what they want rather than what we want them to have."
Le Meridien not only will cater to the corporate market but may help create a new Hong Kong attraction as well. "Sybase's commitment to the Cyberport project, together with the signing of Microsoft, means that Cyberport is already proving to be the IT hub that it was designed to be," Schreiber said. "But more so, as it starts to take shape, it soon will be realized that Cyberport is also a destination. It will certainly be a boost for Hong Kong once the whole project opens up."
The project also may increase business travel to Hong Kong. "Cyberport will certainly draw an IT crowd to the city, but there is also business that supports the IT industry that may now see a need to put Hong Kong on the itinerary," Schreiber added. "Business to and from mainland China may increase, and I would expect a number of related industries to come out to explore this new destination. Perhaps some of the smaller companies starting up will be able to launch their Asian branches from here, taking advantage of the economies of scale that Cyberport will offer."