USP The brand new Mandarin Oriental spa, which offers some Chinese medicinal treatments, has spectacular 24th-floor views of the city and harbour. Instructors are on hand to show you how to use the Kinesis (a newly developed way to increase strength, speed, stamina and suppleness using a floating pulley system) equipment in the gym. The old-fashioned barbers on the first floor will be open in the New Year. As the hotel looks set to pioneer no smoking in puff happy China this may become a male grooming haven in which to sit back with a whisky and cigar for a wet shave and head massage after a hard day’s banking. Yoga and pilates can be done at the nearby sister Landmark hotel, a short jog through an interlinked shopping mall.

AMBIENCE There’s a subtle 1930s Shanghai scene going on but mostly it’s the immaculate marble corridors and wood-clad interiors, changing and treatment rooms you’d expect at the Mandarin Oriental. The men’s changing room has a cool spiral staircase that leads up to a herb infused steam room, while the women’s area has a water-pebble walk of enlightenment. Having been rebuilt over the past two years and recently re-opened, the whole hotel is a sparkling and classy phoenix risen from the ashes of the original Mandarin Oriental. There are eight treatment rooms including two couples suites.

EXPERIENCE The studded plastic spa shoes that I was given at the welcome ritual were painful to walk in – I longed for a pair of the soft white variety (which I’m sure, had I commanded, would have been wished upon me in a matter of minutes by one of the 700 super-efficient staff employed at the hotel). No pain, no gain though in the spa world - I chose a Chinese meridian energy line massage with cupping, thinking anything Gwyneth can suffer I could survive. At seven different strategic points the skin on my back was scrunched into what looked like plastic wine glasses and left there for five minutes. It hurt like being pinched but was weird for its unfamiliarity more than anything else. The cups correspond with vital organs – the lungs, heart, kidney etc – and the colour of the mark they leave indicates to the therapist each organ’s state of health. My therapist Kyo remarked on my liver but this was likely linked to the volume of champagne quaffed the previous night. Alcohol and ancient holistic treatments are not ideally suited. Apart from my impressive polka-dot patterned back I wasn’t sure what the treatment had achieved – though I felt an energised clarity of the sort you feel after a good acupuncture session. The Chinese massage was thorough and pitch perfect in terms of pressure – surprisingly the cupped circles were not sore at all.

FOOD The hotel has several restaurants whose army of talented chefs conjure up superbly crafted fusion food. A young, three Michelin-starred chef, Pierre Gagnaire, oversees the 25th floor restaurant Pierre, where the dining experience is as breathtaking as the views; there’s also an excellent bakery and patisserie. Word is that even members of the big five families who effectively own Hong Kong can’t be guaranteed a table some nights without booking ahead.

IN CROWD A mix of Hong Kong’s movers and shakers and global businessmen and women striking deals to fuel the Asian economy in the sort of sophisticated comfort that would leave the average Chinese peasant flabbergasted. We spotted Duncan Goodhew in the lobby.

WALLET WATCH Signature Time Rituals personalised to your needs last for 170 minutes and cost HKD $2,380 (£165) on a weekday, with a HKD $500 supplement at weekends; a 60-minute Chinese meridian massage is one of the cheaper options on the list at HKD $840. A range of treatments combining ancient and contemporary techniques last around 80 minutes each and cost about HKD $1,100 each. The 20-minute honey, sesame and green tea healing body scrub (HKD $450; £30) sounds delicious.

NEED TO KNOW The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road, Central (+852 2522 0111; www.mandarinoriental.com)

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