THE NEW HOSPITALITY
THE NEW HOSPITALITY待客新道
CATHY ADAMS checks into ports, wharves and maritime-themed hotels
HUMANS HAVE BEEN sailing from A to B since the beginning of civilisation. Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest had dugout canoes as early as 45,000 years ago. China had ships charting the coasts of Asia and beyond from around 200 BC. Fast-forward to the ninth century AD and the Vikings were steering longships through Nordic waters. Shipping has since swollen to a global industry worth more than US$183 billion (HK$1.4 trillion) a year.
And this multi-billion-dollar industry has spawned a wide range of wharves, ports and buildings in important (and formerly important) port cities around the world. It’s also birthed a whole new architectural style – nautical – that goes beyond hanging a picture of Turner’s Dutch Boats in a Gale in the lobby.
自文明伊始，人類已乘船渡海前往異地。早於45,000年前，太平洋西北部的美洲住原 民部落就懂得挖木造舟；約於公元前200年起，中國的船隻開也 始遠航至洲亞 和更遠的海岸。及至公元九世紀，維京人駕駛長船征服北歐水域。，自此 航運以勢不可擋之姿蓬勃發展，成為年值逾1,830億美元（ 14,000億港元）的全球行業。
這個身價千億美元的產業，催不但 生了世界各地多個重要的今昔港口城市及其碼頭、港口和建築物，更孕育了嶄新的航海建築風格，而這並非純粹在大堂懸掛一幅透納名畫《Dutch Boats in a Gale》那樣簡單。
KATA ROCKS, PHUKET (ABOVE)
High up in the hills above Kata Beach in Western Phuket is Kata Rocks, the island’s most playful hotel (in-res DJ, sparkling kidney pool, cocktails that glow radioactive under the resort’s lights). Each apartment-style room is shaded by a whiter-than-white canvas canopy, shaped like the hull of a yacht – and made with the same coated fibreglass fabric as the roof of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. This December, Kata Rocks will host its second annual Superyacht Rendezvous – meaning these bobbing party palaces pull up outside the hotel and everybody piles out to the penthouse suite for exclusive parties and dinners. katarocks.com
布吉，卡塔磐石度假村（上圖）
盤踞於布吉西部卡塔山上的卡塔磐石度假村，是全島最玩味十足的酒店，擁有駐場DJ、奪目的腰果形泳池，還有在度假村閃爍的燈光下散發熒光的雞尾酒。每間公寓式客房的日光浴露台上方都罩以雪白的帆布頂，狀如帆船的船身，帆布更採用與曼谷蘇凡納布米國際日場頂部相同的玻璃纖塗維 層面料製成。今年12月，度假村將第二次舉辦年度超級遊艇交流會，屆時這些海上的派對宮殿將停泊於度假村的海面，賓一眾 客亦將雲集天台套房，參獨派加 家 對和宴晚。katarocks.com
The former Port of London Authority building has become the Four Seasons’ grandest London outpost. Opened in spring 2017, this super-luxe hotel makes (and has) a magnificent entrance: a beaux-arts building flanked by Corinthian columns. The architect has carefully preserved historical details, such as the brass plaques in the entrance hall that mark the furthest an arrow could be shot from the Tower of London. Rooms – set in a circle around the rotunda, often meaning long walks from the lift – are all black and mirrored, with impressive bathrooms (and giant baths). Considering Ten Trinity Square is on the doorstep of the Tower of London (2.7 million visitors a year) it’s surprisingly hard to find, tucked away on a quiet crescent. From inside, standing under the grand rotunda or maybe having a preprandial earl grey teainfused Forget-Me-Not cocktail at the bar, you’d never know you were behind one of London’s most visited monuments. tentrinitysquare.com
倫敦，三一廣場10號（左圖及下圖）
這幢前身為倫敦港務局的建築物搖身一變，成為集四季 團在當地最豪華的新據點。這家奢華無比的酒店於2017年春開季 幕，採入口 用新古典藝術建築風格，科結合 林斯式樑柱派，氣 非凡。酒管店 理層也致力保留歷史悠久的細節，括置於大堂、標示從倫敦塔挽弓射箭最遠落點的銅。匾間房 圍繞圓形大廳而建，梯與電 稍有距離，房內髹上黑色並以鏡子佈置，更擁有令人歎為觀止的浴室型和巨 浴缸。雖然毗鄰每年訪客人數達270萬的倫敦塔，三一廣場10號卻因坐落於寧的環形內街而出乎意料地隱蔽。身置 其中，足佇 華麗的圓形拱頂下，或是進餐前到酒吧品嚐摻入伯爵紅茶的Forget-Me-Not雞尾酒，令人難以想身像正 處倫敦其中一座最熱鬧的名勝背。後tentrinitysquare.com