She's spent years expanding her Rosewood Hotel Group around the world. Now Sonia Cheng is shaking up top-end hospitality back home with the launch of the Rosewood Hong Kong. She tells us how her family's heritage is woven into the fabric of the ultra-luxury hotel and introduces key creatives who helped bring it to life
Everything you see in the new Rosewood Hong Kong has a tale to tell. The entrance of the grand ballroom is framed by intricate leather panels crafted by Atelier Mériguet-Carrère, a Parisian design studio that worked on the restoration of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The walls of guest rooms are wrapped in wool woven by Loro Piana in rural Italy.
More than 150 chandeliers, lamps and lanterns were designed for the property by a team in New York. Perhaps the most interesting story, though, is not about luxurious fittings from far-flung corners of the world but about a local family that made its home in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Fond memories
“I grew up on this site,” reveals Sonia Cheng, CEO of the Rosewood Hotel Group, as she looks out over Victoria Harbour from one of the hotel’s suites. “My father and grandfather created the New World Centre here back in the 1980s. There was a shopping mall, a hotel, offices and apartments. We lived in one of the apartments.
"My father and grandfather were really forward-thinking because Tsim Sha Tsui was not as developed back then but they really turned it into a destination for Hong Kong residents. Lots of Hongkongers have precious memories of the New World Centre. And I share those memories. I remember the arcade in the New World Centre; I remember eating in the coffee shop; I learned to ride a bike along the harbourfront just outside.”
Sonia’s father, Henry Cheng, has similarly fond memories. “New World Centre was the dream of my father, and my dream,” recalls Henry, chairman and executive director of New World Development.
“I remember when it opened, the whole area panicked because it was the first time a large-scale shopping mall was completed in Hong Kong and it was the only one in Southeast Asia I think. It was stunning, and we were very successful at building a landmark there, but after 30 years everything is outdated, so we wanted to redo it.”