Giant neon sign on Hong Kong hotel sparks heated online debate, residents slam ‘tacky’ bright colour
- Tsuen Wan residents say new sign featured on refurbished Grand Bay View Hotel caught them by surprise
- Hotel defends design, which features its new name in six simplified Chinese characters
A giant neon sign on a recently refurbished waterfront hotel in Hong Kong has sparked heated discussions online, with some residents in the quiet residential area of Tsuen Wan criticising its bright colour.
The Grand Bay View Hotel, a serviced apartment complex with 435 suites, on Tuesday defended the design on its exterior wall, which features its name in six simplified Chinese characters.
The building, located on Castle Peak Road in Tsuen Wan and overlooking Tsing Ma Bridge, has been under renovation since it was acquired by Hong Kong-listed Magnificent Hotel Investments from the late “retail king” Tang Shing-bor’s family last year. It was previously called Bay Bridge Lifestyle Retreat.
Some residents, commuters and runners on the nearby promenade said the sign had caught them by surprise after it appeared last week.
Nancy Chan, who lives in the adjacent Golden Villa, said the colour was “too tacky”.
“It looks like the design of some inns in mainland China in the 1980s,” the businesswoman said.
Chan suggested the hotel should make the colour of the sign softer to minimise nuisance to nearby residents.
Another resident, who only gave the surname Chu, said the colour did not coordinate well with the hotel’s original design and its surroundings.
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Chu said he did not mind the simplified Chinese characters, but suggested changing the font and overall design.
The sign also sparked heated online debate, with internet users accusing the hotel of catering to only mainland tourists and saying it had “a Shenzhen vibe”.
In response, the hotel’s management team defended the refurbishment, noting that more than 80 per cent of its overnight guests were from the mainland.
“As a result, it is understandable the designer/architect would want to attract the attention of its important customers,” it said.
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It added it would inform its architect about the concerns, and ask them to consider not using simplified characters in Hong Kong in the future.
Magnificent Hotel said at the time that it would invest an extra HK$100 million to turn the hotel into a trendy property and expected the acquisition to offer “a handsome investment return”.
