Island Shangri-La Might Just Be Asia’s Most Family-friendly City Hotel — Peek Inside

With dozens of luxury stays under his belt, my 6-year-old son is a bona fide hotel brat. Tagging along on my assignments as a travel journalist, he has played in the Maldives’ best kids clubs, tackled craft workshops with novice monks in Bhutan, and watched elephants from our villa’s balcony at a Kenyan safari camp. Teepee tents set up in his room no longer woo him, milk and cookies at turndown service simply get a shrug. And if the kids playground doesn’t have a swirling slide and ball pit, well, he’s simply not interested. In other words, he’s pretty hard to impress.

On a recent family trip to Hong Kong, one hotel rose to the challenge. While the Island Shangri-La has long been a business travel stalwart in Hong Kong’s Admiralty district, a recent (and still ongoing) refurbishment has steered it into a more leisurely direction — including a whole floor designed exclusively for traveling families.

“With Hong Kong’s changing travel landscape, we saw the opportunity to diversify from our traditionally business-driven offerings to a model that would also appeal to leisure travelers,” Clifford Weiner, the hotel’s general manager, told Travel + Leisure. “We realized that hotels could be fun for kids, but also a little daunting. With our family floor, we’ve committed to creating a space that mixes whimsy with practicality, and hope to set a new benchmark for family travel in Hong Kong.”

That commitment became clear from the moment we stepped out of the elevator on level 45. I could see my son’s eyes light up when he spotted the model steam train chugging over tracks suspended from the ceiling, and wooden forest and marine creatures dancing along the hallways on each room’s door (designed to help young guests find their Peak- or Harbour-view rooms, respectively).

Related: These Luxe Hotels Have Incredible Activities for Children — and Parents, Too

The family floor’s 21 rooms range from spacious studios for troupes of three to two-bedroom suites that can sleep up to three kids and their parents. Each one has a distinct theme: There are jungle-inspired hideaways with leafy wallpaper and rattan rocking chairs, and Fisherman’s Cove rooms that play into Hong Kong’s maritime history with nautical details such as shell-shaped pillows and coral-patterned rugs. The larger suites’ themes include a whimsical, flower-dotted fairy-tale garden, a safari-style hideaway with stuffed African animals, and a classic Hong Kong tram with a street-grid carpet and paintings of Victoria Peak on the walls. All come with bunk beds that double as jungle gyms, fitted with slides, ladders, stepping stones, and, in the studios, blinds around the child’s bed so parents can still keep on their reading lights after bedtime.

Our room, the harbor-facing Airship Voyage Suite, drew inspiration from old-timey Hong Kong with an airship-shaped bunk bed that seemed to have floated straight out of “Howl’s Moving Castle.” Whimsical illustrations of the city’s traditional medicine shops, dragons, and giant goldfish covered the walls, and my son discovered hidden scribbles with the UV torch he received in his personal mailbox upon check-in (along with a treasure-hunt activity booklet tailored to each suite’s theme). He spent hours “steering” his ship on imaginary journeys, made all the more realistic with buttons that controlled lights and sound effects, and a moving galaxy light projection on the ceiling. The whole design was so elaborately done that even on the third day of our stay, my son still came across hidden hatches and tongue-in-cheek details in the wall-spanning artworks.

Aside from my son’s room, which he could access through a hobbit-sized wicket in the wall, the suite included a well-equipped kitchen, a roomy living area (with a cabinet stocked with board games and a bottle of bubbly waiting upon arrival), and a plush grown-up bedroom with eye-popping views of Victoria Harbour.

Guests staying on the family floor also have access to The Hangout, a light-flooded communal living room and play area with tons of wooden toys, board games, and books for kids of all ages. There’s a roster of (complimentary) daily games and activities such as workshops to make play slime, mini terrariums, and colorful sand art pieces to take home. A grab-and-go buffet of snacks and light bites changes throughout the day — pastries and fruit to ease early-morning hunger pangs before grown-up breakfast starts, ice cream and madeleines around tea time, and chocolate cookies for late-night munchies.

A fridge filled with fruits, baby food, and microwavable portions of pasta comes in handy when a snack emergency strikes (with young kids, you never know). Next door, The Pantry offers every doodad parents might need: washing machines, tumble dryers, and bottle sterilizers to use around the clock, plus a range of family amenities — baby bathtubs, rockers, and prams — on loan for the duration of your stay.

All this could’ve easily turned the lot into another Disneyland, but Shangri-La struck the perfect balance between giddy and grown-up. There were no DayGlo-bright cartoon characters or plastic toys, and aside from the elaborate kids bed constructions, the rest of the decor — chic copper trimmings, hand-painted florals, and marble-clad bathrooms — wouldn’t have looked out of place in a typical hotel suite.

The family floor is part of a hotel-wide refurbishment that kicked off in 2022. Other new and refreshed additions include the sprawling outdoor pool, which received a White Lotus-worthy overhaul with rattan daybeds, linen-draped cabanas, and a separate children’s area with fountains, flower-shaped waterspouts, and a shallow pool. Nearby, the new Ming Pavilion hit the spot with a contemporary take on Hokkien cuisine (don’t miss the chicken with curry leaves and red wine lees sauce), while a refreshed range of top-level suites includes the sprawling Shangri-La Suite, a 1,000-square-foot fantasy of onyx and swirling marble, hand-decorated wall paneling, jewel-toned textiles and, quite possibly, the prettiest bathroom in all of Hong Kong.

The verdict? According to the expert — my son — it was “the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in.” Coming from him, that’s no small feat.