holidaymakers fears of roaming charges by giving every guest a mobile phone.

Hotel Icon in the Kowloon district is no boutique hotel with 262 rooms so it’s a major undertaking to give a smartphone to every guest but the trial period received hugely positive feedback.

Guests get unlimited 3G, free Wi-Fi and unlimited international and local calls.

The phones are pre-loaded with a location-based city guide, local promotions, a metro map and various other travel apps including news services and a currency converter.

Hotel Icon, which is owned by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, operates as a research and training facility for the School and Hotel of Tourism Management. All profits are fed back into the university.

The backdrop is Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong’s skyline and it sits in the heart of one of the city’s principal shopping and entertainment districts – Tsim Sha Tsui.?
Commissioned art work adorns the walls, while the ground floor café Green is home to Asia’s largest vertical indoor garden, designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc.?

www.hotel-ic