W Hong Kong

Class: Deluxe

Style: Cutting edge

Rooms: 393

High-design style with luxury-hotel trimmings — that’s what the W hotels are all about, and nowhere is it more evident than the W Hong Kong, a riot of graphic color standing hundreds of feet above the waterfront in the up-and-coming West Kowloon district. It’s a massive development, with condo towers rising over an enormous mall, an expo center, even an indoor driving range, one that demands a pretty serious hotel to match. And this is that hotel.

This is a town that knows its high-end hotels, and it’s impossible to get by on good looks alone — though of course that doesn’t stop the W from pushing the aesthetics about as far as they will go. This brand has never been about subtlety, and it’s even less so here; fortunately they rise to the level of the competition in the area of services and amenities.

Rooms are faultless, plush and high-tech, and and the facilities are top-notch, from the restaurants and bar to the 73rd-floor open-air pool deck. The views, incidentally, are stunning — not just the exterior views over the city and the harbor, but the interiors as well, with the well-dressed guests and locals cavorting in well-crafted public spaces.