The Murray, Hong Kong, a Niccolo Hotel

It’s rare that a brand new hotel rockets straight to the top of Hong Kong’s hospitality scene, and rarer still, for obvious reasons, that it’s converted from a late-Sixties landmark government building by the eminent London-based architects Foster + Partners. But, as is by now clear, the Murray is no ordinary hotel. The original structure is oddly well-suited to luxury-hotel use — its recessed, angled windows keep direct sunlight to a minimum, which helps to cool the rooms. And Foster + Partners made significant improvements as well, and not just in interior design — they opened up the ground level to street life, for one thing, a concern that the original government ministry didn’t share.

The Murray’s 336 rooms and suites are, on average, the largest in Hong Kong, and they’re provided with state-of-the-art luxuries and stylish contemporary furnishings. Bathrooms make plentiful use of black and white Calacatta marble, and the high-end suites are lavish to the extreme, spanning 75 square meters or more. It’s proof that there need be no tradeoff between style and comfort.

And a hotel on the Murray’s scale is meant to be a city-wide meeting place, and needn’t make do with a single restaurant and hotel bar. Here you’ve got Guo Fu Lou, a Michelin-starred Cantonese fine dining establishment, as well as the Tai Pan, with a European and international menu, and Popinjays, a rooftop restaurant, bar, and terrace — plus the Garden Lounge, for all-day dining and afternoon tea, and Murray Lane, an impressive bar just off the lobby.