There’s a solid argument to be made that the modern hotel industry was born in Asia—in particular Hong Kong and Bali, where the nuts and bolts of hospitality were thoroughly reworked in the early 1980s.
It’s not like the Mandarin Oriental in the middle of Hong Kong’s frenetic Central District or Amandari in the mellowed-out Balinese highlands were doing anything that hadn’t been done before—at least not if you were a prince or prime minister. What cutting-edge Asian hotels did at that time was make these heavenly experiences available to ordinary travelers. Or at least to those with a bit of coin in their pockets.
See our slideshow of Asia's 50 Best Hotels.
In retrospect, their formula was rather simple: create hip, design-savvy hotels in exotic locations with fabulous food and ever-present yet discreet service. And they were custom-made, not mass produced; direct affronts to the drab, modern cookie-cutter hotels that had swept the globe after World War Two. Out of this humble beginning came the whole boutique hotel craze, a total remake of the American hospitality scene and many of the hotels that feature on the Forbes Traveler 400 list of Asia's Best Hotels.
Although spread across ten countries—and covering a huge swath of geography between Japan and the coast of southern India—Asia’s best hotels generally fall into two categories: upscale urban abodes that reflect the bold, modern face of Asia; and moody rustic oases that transport guests to a different age and sometimes a whole different plane of existence.
The swanky Rosewood Seiyo Ginza exemplifies Asian inner-city chic. It's small (77 rooms), highly personalized, and wedged between Tokyo’s central business district and the prime luxury shopping area. The decor is smart modern Japanese, with high-tech touches like individual humidity control and toilets straight out of Blade Runner. And as with so many of Asia’s best hotels, service is a slam dunk: The superb English-speaking staff knows your name from the moment you check in, and the concierge desk goes out of its way to meet every guest request, be it Tokyo Dome baseball tickets or bullet train reservations. To top off the experience, the general manager personally conducts guests to the nearby fish market for the pre-dawn tuna auctions and sushi breakfast.
On the other end of the spectrum are secluded hideaways like The Datai on the Malaysian island of Langkawi. Tucked up on the island’s wild northwest coast, this GHM resort rambles through an old coconut plantation beneath rainforest-covered hillsides. The architecture is a modern take on the traditional Malay longhouse, which gives the resort the feel of a village lost in the wilderness. Datai flaunts its own white-sand strand, an open air spa on the banks of a jungle stream, plenty of water sports and an 18-hole golf course. It doesn’t take long to get swept away.
See our slideshow of Asia's 50 Best Hotels.
The Mandarin and Aman hotel groups took the formulas pioneered in Hong Kong and Bali across Asia and eventually around the whole world. They booth figure prominently on the Forbes Traveler survey, taking up nearly 20 percent of the list (five Amans and four Mandarins). Their rapid, high-profile success has spurred other Asian chains to revamp their products along similar lines. From its staid British colonial origins in Hong Kong, for example, the Peninsula group revamped and went abroad, creating marvelous hotels in Bangkok, Beijing and beyond.
Then there's the “second wave” of Asian luxury hotel groups, three of them based in Singapore (GHM, Banyan Tree and Como Shambala) and two in India (Taj and Oberoi). They, too, offer that exotic cocktail of stunning locations, design savvy décor and bespoke service. As a matter of fact, Oberoi scores more slots on our list (eight) than any other group, a mix of sophisticated new urban hotels like the Oberoi Mumbai, upscale wilderness retreats like Wildflower Hall in the Himalayas and Vanyavilas lodge at the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, and “palace” hotels like the wildly romantic Rajvilas in Jaipur.
The Asian invasion even spurred many of North America’s top hoteliers to rethink and revamp their products—and export them back to the Far East; seven Four Seasons and three Ritz-Carlton properties are on the list. And the appearance of Grand Hyatt Shanghai, Grand InterContinental Seoul and JW Marriott Resort, Phuket prove that Asian-Pacific fusion is much more than a passing fancy food trend.