Home, suite, home at the Ritz

AS I sank into the warm, enveloping space of a superior hotel bath, I had to agree with myself that this was one of life's better assignments. All I had to do was stay overnight in the newest five-star hotel in town, and determine if it was a sybaritic blast. For good measure, it was not any old five-star hotel but the 216-room Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong's first small-scale, super-luxe boutique hotel that finally opened its doors last week, after a delightfully quirky and chequered financial history. So not for nothing was General Manager Eric Waldburger (ex Mandarin Oriental Group and the Peninsula Hotel), relieved to receive his first four paying guests on August 16. They had been a long time coming, and at other times, under threat of never arriving at all. The foundation stone of the pencil-slim 25-storey building in Chater Road, was laid four years ago but the hotel seemed doomed never to open its discreet blue-green doors. Embarrassingly close to the opening date in June last year, the Japanese owners went bust, and all apparent activity at the hotel dropped from overdrive to neutral. Mr Waldburger, who is not a gentleman to enjoy twiddling his professional thumbs, was faced with sacking 42 staff a few months later, while the remaining staff of two kept the dust off the already furnished hotel during the search for new owners. Twelve months later, the new owners are in place, the hotel has 46 per cent occupancy in its first two weeks, and there are 280 staff buzzing about the elegant arrangement of rooms and and restaurants, guiding guests like me to bars, guest lifts and other bars. And with a purpose. ''We have no signage in the hotel,'' Mr Waldburger explained at a very early morning meeting. ''If someone wants to know where to go, we show them,'' he said. They do. Right to the ladies room door, I discovered. It is all part of the Ritz style and the American managers of this elegant hostelry think that Hong Kong is ripe for such a place. Glitz as it is displayed in the last batch of five-star hotels to open in the territory, is out. Luxe is in. And it starts from the most unassuming front door. Unlike other Hong Kong hotels, the Ritz's entrance is tucked away in a side street with a single marble tile to grace its entrance. Guests are greeted inside the double doors and escorted to a lift which takes them to the first floor and the lobby. For the uninitiated, the experience is a little disconcerting but you quickly get the hang of it. This place is like a large 18th century manor house. The walls are hung with vast oils, the sofas are deep, down-filled and upholstered in silk, and the staff glide about in restful green wool and celadon cheong sams. Somewhere out there was Hong Kong but who cared? ''The hotel was designed to feel like a family home. It is like a series of rooms rather than big spaces,'' the public relations director, Mary Justice Thomasson said as we popped into the guests only lift to The Club rooms on the very exclusive top three floors. On floor 24, life is expected to be different. The rack rate for a club suite is $8,800 a night (minus a 38 per cent introductory discount until February 1994) and I was going to find out what you get for your money. ''The key system (the lift security key for the club floors) is being revised. We had this code: 'Press 24 enter'. It was too easy to figure out,'' said Ms Thomasson as she opened the door to Room 2403. It wasn't bad. Two large, elegant rooms, with dividing double doors, more of the decor of downstairs and floor-to-ceiling picture windows which revealed a panoramic harbour view from Green Island to Kai Tak airport. There were lavish drapes, more silk sofas and armchairs, two televisions and a marble bathroom not much smaller than your average $2 million Hong Kong apartment. The chocolates were delicious as were the fresh strawberries and presumably the champagne, if I had felt inclined for a glass or two. But I had work to do. Like did the place really work? And I had my instructions. The firmness of the mattress. Noisy next door flushing toilets. Slow room service. Snooty staff. The quality of the martinis. Life's hell, I thought, as I was shown into The Chater Lounge, and presented with the biggest glass of wine I have ever seen in Hong Kong, and sank into another silk sofa. ''People in Hong Kong want this kind of place now,'' said Mr Waldburger. The place was busy. Lots of hugging and kissing of friends, a dish divided in three for nuts, crisps and olives and a trio that did not jar the ears. ''It's a state of mind,'' Eric (I was getting to know him) said, as I tried to find something wrong with the room. It cost $$163 for a gimlet with three cocktail onions, Tsing Tao beer and that glass of wine plus service charge, and I trundled off to Toscano a little worried. This place seemed good. The same experience happened all over again in the restaurant. Silk, candlelight, scrumptious northern Italian food and other swish-looking diners. I ate everything that Pietro Valentini, the visiting US-based Ritz-Carlton manager gave me. Main courses cost between $230 and $260. At the risk of getting bored, I went upstairs and ordered an early reminder call at 5.46am, turned on the hot water full pressure, ordered coffee to be served immediately, asked for an iron to be delivered at the same time and listened for odd noises from next door, or the penthouse suite above. The hot water pressure was superb, they were able to provide a tie immediately, for a late-night formal engagement, and the coffee came in 10 minutes. This was too much. I turned on the television and searched for STAR. Not yet it seems. Like the valet service on line 4, they are not yet fully wired. A very courteous letter explained the problem, signed by Eric. I dropped off to sleep after taking in a consoling chocolate truffle. Some time later, at 5.46am exactly, a phone rang and a REAL voice said she was my early reminder call and would ring back in 15 minutes to make sure I got out of bed. I couldn't stand it so I read the service directory, and felt better. Room service coffee, which the Ritz calls Private Dining, costs $35 plus 10 per cent service charge. A soda water from the mini-bar is $42 plus 10 per cent. The macadamia nuts are $80 a container! And breakfast? If you are a club floor resident, breakfast is complimentary but for the average (read cheapest rate) superior room guest ($2,250 to $2,600 harbour view), the Private Dining breakfast is $125 plus service. Hand-rolled Ritz-Carlton muesli is $52 and 10 per cent. The question then is not is it worth it - that's a personal decision - but would you pay for the experience? The Hong Kong Ritz sits on one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Central. It has harbour and Mid-Level views that provide a new small-scale perspective on the city. The bar areas are superbly luxurious, intimate and cocooning. The drinks aregenerous and good, the outdoor swimming pool is a total indulgence for the city - a black, marble outcrop two storeys above Chater Road - you develop instant disdain for the poor sweaty plebs making their way to the MTR below, and a million miles away fromyou. Eric Waldburger knows his hotels. He has been patient and seen the Ritz open, and he knows that his former bosses at the Mandarin Oriental and The Peninsula Hotel, across Victoria harbour, are in for some competition. Like their guests, the rich will flock to the Ritz. No torn-off jeans are welcome, nor are conference name badges in the restaurants or public areas. Time-honoured traditions of the Ritz also reject ''tank tops, athletic clothing and caps and T-shirts''.Regretfully, service also cannot include cold storage for guests' fur coats. What can one say? Well, to be fair - save up. Regular Ritzers will book. For the rest of us, the bars are great whatever the occasion and The Restaurant and Toscano, for any meal, are delights for their atmosphere of little Europe. And the rooms? Unlike suite 2403, most are not much larger than those of other five-star hotels. But they are different. Rugs on carpets just like home, lots of luxury fabrics, and the hotel is perfectly sited for every Hong Kong amenity - the Star Ferry, Lan Kwai Fong, shopping and the tram. I have only one gripe. That temple of a bathroom had shampoo, soap, conditioner, the works. But where was the toothbrush?