Memories of The Excelsior, Hong Kong hotel where guests invited staff for meals and holidays
- Regulars have been saying goodbye to the Causeway Bay hotel and its staff, who they treat as friends and family, for months ahead of its March 31 closure
- From the dim sum at Yee Tung Heen to the pub fare at Dickens Bar, to the views and vibe of ToTT’s, we look back at its 46 years serving the city and visitors
The lobby of The Excelsior Hong Kong hotel is bustling with guests, luggage in tow, as they check in and out.
Diners head to the second floor for dim sum at Yee Tung Heen, down to the basement for classic pub food at the Dickens Bar, or to enjoy lunch with a stunning view over Victoria Harbour at ToTT’s and Roof Terrace. Another busy spot is the EXpresso cafe in the lobby, where a line forms for the popular Lord Stow’s Macanese egg tarts.
The four-star waterfront hotel, in the Hong Kong Island shopping mecca of Causeway Bay, has been extra busy since it was announced in August that its doors will close on March 31 after 46 hospitable years. The building will be reduced to rubble to make way for yet another neighbourhood office block.
Long-time Excelsior regulars have returned to the city especially to say goodbye to familiar staff. Local diners have visited to eat and drink at their favourite restaurants one last time.
“I’ll probably cry on the last day,” says Cheryl Wong Tsui-tai, who has worked in the reservations department for 27 years. Wong has spent her entire career at the hotel since graduating from hospitality school.
She remembers when taking bookings involved an army of staff answering phones, writing them down by hand, and entering the reservations into a computer the size of a refrigerator. Confirmations were then typed out and posted to guests.