Page 21 - Sphere No.14 (Jul 2005)

S PHERE 02
22
VER THE YEARS, the hotels in the Harbour Plaza sta-
ble have played host to a who’s who of famous guests.
It all started when Jiang Zemin, then President of
China, chose to stay in one of the two presidential suites at
the flagship Harbour Plaza Hong Kong during the handover
on 1 July 1997. President Jiang returned twice, in 1998 and
again in May 2001. Another top Chinese leader, Premier Zhu
Rongji, stayed at the hotel in 1997.
International leaders have
included the King and Queen of
Tonga. Chinese astronaut Yang
Liwei (pictured with hotel staff)
enjoyed the Harbour Plaza Hong
Kong’s hospitality soon after his
historic trip into orbit.
The hotel is also a firm
favourite with local performing
artistes, including Andy Lau,
Aaron Kwok, Leon Lai, Alan Tam
and Kenny B. International stars
have included Whitney Houston and famous Korean artiste
Bao Yong Joon.
On the sports scene, the Harbour Plaza Hong Kong has
hosted Manchester United, Brazil’s national football team
and tennis stars such as Martina Hingis, Mary Pierce and
Anna Kournikova.
The neighbouring Harbour Plaza Metropolis can also boast a
long list of star guests. They include
the cast and crew of international
musical “Mamma Mia”, The Eagles,
Sammi Cheng, Jay Chou, Boney M,
the China National Women’s
Basketball Team, Li Ning, Li
Xiaoshuang, F4, Jolin Choy, Cliff
Richard, Yang Mi Kyung, A-Mei
Zhang and Teresa Carpio.
Across the water, the Harbour
Plaza North Point has hosted Sarah
Brightman, as well as the casts of
Saturday Night Fever and Chicago.
STAR QUALITY
SPHERE 19
The early years presented challenges. Between
1997 and 1999 the industry was reeling from the
Asian crisis and the global hospitality business
was in decline.
“We came into this business during the down-
turn and to be competitive, had to be efficient
right from the start,” says Ms Koh. “Manage-
ment and staff in our group are very conscious
of costs while still maintaining quality services.
We aim to give good value and strive to give our
guests an experience they will always remember.”
It’s a winning formula. In less than 10 years,
HPHR has become the biggest hotel operator in
Hong Kong with about 5,300 rooms in seven
properties currently under management. The
group now operates and manages seven hotels
in Hong Kong and two in mainland China.
HWL also owns the The Westin and Sheraton
at Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort, the biggest
hotel operations on Grand Bahama Island.
“It was run-down when we acquired it in
1997,” says Ms Koh. “We helped finish the
US$430 million development. It targets guests
substantially from the United States, so we con-
tracted with Starwood, which has strong expe-
rience in the American market, to take over the
management two years ago.”
HPHR is now profitable and the group is
actively looking at other sites.
“There are some key Chinese cities that we
hope to become involved in, such as Shanghai,”
O