The Return of Regent Hong Kong: A Harbour Legend Reclaims Its Name

When the original Regent Hong Kong opened on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in 1980, it rewrote the rules of Asian luxury: floor-to-ceiling glass where the harbour seemed to pour into the lobby, service that became an industry syllabus, and a guest book that read like the era itself. The building later spent two decades as the InterContinental, its name a memory — until November 2023, when, after a comprehensive renovation, the Regent flag rose again over its original address. Few relaunches in modern hospitality have carried such freight of expectation.

Chi Wing Lo's quiet hand

The reimagining was entrusted to Chi Wing Lo, the Hong Kong-born, Athens-based designer, whose interiors pursue a philosophy of deep calm: sculptural timber, stone, muted tones and an almost total absence of visual noise. The wager is bold — where the harbourfront competition dazzles, Regent hushes — and it pays off precisely because of what waits beyond the glass. Every public space and the majority of rooms are arranged toward Victoria Harbour, and the design's restraint makes that panorama, still the most theatrical urban view on earth, the sole protagonist.

The tables that made the legend

The relaunch retained the culinary institutions the address never lost. Yan Toh Heen — the Cantonese dining room long ranked among the world's finest, now restored under its harbourside windows — and the steakhouse tradition that Kowloon regulars have kept booked for decades both returned with the Regent name. The lobby lounge, that original theatre of harbour-gazing, once again serves afternoon tea to a full house of locals and travellers alike.

Kowloon's new balance of power

The relaunch restores a genuine three-way contest on the Kowloon waterfront: The Peninsula's colonnaded heritage, Rosewood's contemporary swagger and now Regent's meditative glamour, each within a few minutes of the Star Ferry. For returning visitors who remember the original — and Hong Kong inspires longer memories than most cities — the emotional pull is considerable. The name is back where it belongs, and the harbour looks the better for it.

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