The Royal Park Hotel (), established in 1989, is one of the largest hotels in

Sha Tin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The ne ...

, New Territories, Hong Kong. Owned by

Sun Hung Kai Properties Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP; ) is a listed corporation and the largest property developer in Hong Kong as of 2019. The company is controlled by the Kwok family trust, largely the Kwok brothers. The Kwok family trust was set up by Kw ...

, the 443-room hotel is part of phase two of

New Town Plaza New Town Plaza is a shopping mall in the town centre of Sha Tin, Hong Kong. Developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, it was the biggest shopping centre in the New Territories when it was completed in the early 1980s. Covering 200,000 square metre ...

, the largest shopping centre in the district.

History

Background

The site of the hotel used to be part of

RAF Shatin Sha or SHA may refer to: Places * Sha County, Fujian, China * Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, (IATA code) * Sia, Cyprus, also spelled ''Sha'' * Sagamihara Housing Area, an army installation in Japan * Vehicle registration plates in t ...

, a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

airbase with a single concrete runway. The lot was leased to developer Sun Hung Kai Properties in the early 1980s as part of the development of

Sha Tin New Town Sha Tin New Town, or known as Sha Tin-Ma On Shan New Town or Sha Tin Town is one of the satellite towns and new towns of Hong Kong. It is within the Sha Tin District, the New Territories. The New Town covers the neighbourhoods such as Sha Tin, ...

. The hotel and the adjacent New Town Tower (an office building) comprise phase two of the

development.

Construction and opening

While under construction, the project was named "New Town Hotel". The main contractor was SHK Shimizu, a joint venture between Sun Hung Kai Properties and the Japanese construction firm

Shimizu Corporation is an architectural, civil engineering and general contracting firm. It has annual sales of approximately US$15 billion and has been widely recognized as one of the top 5 contractors in Japan and among the top 20 in the world. It is a family bu ...

. The hotel and the adjacent New Town Tower were formally topped out on 1 November 1988. The hotel primarily targeted business travellers, particularly those dealing with the manufacturing and garment companies in the industrial estates of the

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

. The

Tiananmen Square massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

occurred while construction was nearing completion, leading Sun Hung Kai to revise its first-year occupancy target for the hotel downwards due to the slump in the travel industry. The hotel began operations on 3 August 1989 with a soft opening that saw 170 of the rooms put into use. It was formally opened on 1 December 1989 by Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands Graham Barnes. The hotel, built at a cost of around HK$400 million (excluding the land cost), originally had 442 rooms.

2008 Beijing Olympics

During the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the hotel served as an

Olympic Village An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. Afte ...

providing accommodation to equestrian competitors and support staff.

Renovations

A renovation of the main lobby was completed in 2005. In August 2007, renovations of the guestrooms were completed. A renovation of the hotel's largest banquet hall was completed in May 2018. The venue now includes an outdoor garden.

Facilities

It has a total of 443 guestrooms and suites. Dining facilities include Japanese and Chinese restaurants and a buffet serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The hotel also has a gym, a swimming pool, and events facilities.

Transport

Royal Park Hotel is within walking distance of

Sha Tin station Sha Tin station, formerly known as Sha Tin railway station ( or ) is a List of MTR stations, station on the of Hong Kong's MTR, Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system. The station is located in the town centre of Sha Tin. The station was formerly o ...

. There is also a

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes. It is a subsidiary of Transport International. ...

(KMB) stop in front of the hotel.

References

External links

* {{coord, 22.3795, 114.1885, display=title 1989 establishments in Hong Kong Hotel buildings completed in 1989 Hotels established in 1989 Hotels in Hong Kong Olympic Villages Sha Tin Sha Tin District Sun Hung Kai Properties