Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong is where the group began, and the Central flagship carries its 1963 vintage as an asset rather than a liability. When it opened it was among the tallest buildings on the harbourfront; the skyline has long since soared past it, but the hotel's position—opposite the Star Ferry, surrounded by the banking towers it predates—keeps it at the exact centre of Hong Kong life. Tycoons still lunch here, deals still close in its corridors, and the sense of being inside the city's engine room is unmatched.

Rooms blend Oriental lacquer-and-silk detailing with contemporary comfort, refreshed repeatedly over the decades, the best of them facing the harbour. The service culture, sustained by staff whose tenures run to decades, defines the property: guests are remembered across years and continents.

The food and drink institutions are half the argument for staying. Man Wah serves Cantonese fine dining beneath golden lanterns on the 25th floor; The Chinnery and the Captain's Bar remain clubby Hong Kong landmarks, the latter pouring beer in silver tankards since the sixties; and the cake shop's rose-petal jam has its own following. A substantial spa and indoor pool round out a flagship that proves institutional need not mean fossilised.