World's highest hotel opens in Hong Kong

Staff members prepare for the opening ceremony of a Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong, south China, May 3, 2011. Located at the very top of the International Commerce Center (ICC), occupying floors from 102 to 118, Ritz-Carlton has a total of 312 guest rooms. It is currently the highest hotel in the world. [Photo/Xinhua]

HONG KONG - The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, a luxurious hotel located on the top of the city's tallest building, held its opening ceremony on Tuesday, claiming its title as the world's highest hotel.

The 312-room hotel, occupying the 102 to 118 floors of International Commerce Center (ICC), a 490-meter high building developed by Sun Hung Kai, the largest property developer in the city, is the 75th in a series of Ritz-Carlton's globally growing luxury hotels, and the 16th in Asia.

The opening of the Kowloon-based hotel marks the comeback of the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, after the group closed operations in its former location in the Central in February of 2008.

With the return of the Ritz-Carlton, guests and visitors could have a bird's-eye view of the stunning city scenes, said John Tsang, financial secretary of the city government, while addressing in the opening ceremony.

Room price of the hotel starts from 6,000 HK dollars ($771. 3) per night for a deluxe suite, while the presidential suite will cost about 100,000 HK dollars per night, the hotel said.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is currently running 7 hotels in the Chinese mainland cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Sanya.

ICC, the 118-floor skyscraper sitting in West Kowloon, was completed in 2010. As the fourth highest building in the world, ICC contains a observation deck on the 100th floor, called "Sky 100", which opened to the public in April this year.