Our Bon Vivant revisits an old haunt in Hong Kong, gets healthy in upcoming British seaside resort Hastings, and considers the diverse array of options for holiday-home investment

A HOME IN HONG KONG

It was just like coming home. After a multimillion-pound refurbishment that had seen it closed for a year or so, I was back at my ‘home’ in Hong Kong: The Mandarin. I refuse, by the way, to call it by its proper name: Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong. So there. Take that, marketing men!

A warm welcome from the team of red-coated young gentlemen, almost standing to attention as I approach the desk after emerging from customs, and soon I am whisked into a pristine air-conditioned Mercedes smelling of expensive perfume, with an ice-cold towel and today’s newspaper to hand. And there on the steps awaiting me on arrival is Mr Peter French, head of everything at the hotel and one of the most professional general managers around in today’s sea of amateurs.

Also with him was the worldfamous Giovanni who has been at the hotel almost since the foundation stone was laid. This is the concierge who will organise everything for you, from a table in a fully booked restaurant to a private 747, should you so desire.

I was somewhat apprehensive about my return. Would it still be as welcoming and comfortable? Would the interior designers have ruined it? Well, I’m delighted to report that all is well at the 434- room, 68-suite hotel. The food is still superb in all the restaurants, and they are particularly proud of Pierre, home to three-Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire. Sir Terence Conran has even got in on the act with a stylish reworking of the hotel’s famous Mandarin Grill. And then there’s the world-famous spa – all 185sqm of blissful indulgence.

If you can afford €1,500-plus (£1,200) a night, book the Lichfield Suite. The room is in honour of the late British royal photographer Lord Lichfield who did so much work at the hotel and in Hong Kong. There are giant lamps, metallic silver curtains, black leather sofas, white carpets and magnificent views of Hong Kong harbour. Photographic memorabilia and snaps of famous faces adorn the walls, in what is a fine tribute to a true British gentleman.
www.mandarinoriental.com

A SPA BY THE SEA

Hastings is a small seaside town on Britain’s south coast, a couple of hours to the east of its much more famous sister, Brighton. Both share distant views of the French coast, 22 miles across the English Channel – but that is where comparisons between the two resorts end. Hastings still has some way to go if it is to reach Brighton status, but it is being helped by the marvellously intrepid eco-friendly couple, Craig Sams (a businessman and organic pioneer) and his wife Jo Fairley (a leading UK journalist).

The pair was the brains behind the delicious Green and Black’s chocolate – my favourite. They’ve sold the chocolate brand and have now begun to help revitalise the somewhat worn town of Hastings. Firstly, they opened what can only be described as a mini Harrods Food Hall in the old town, by taking over the famous Judges Bakery. Now they have channelled their enthusiasm for healthy living into Wellington Square Natural Health Centre in the beautiful, eponymous square just off the seafront.

I urge you to find some reason to visit the town and see both. Buy your fresh bread and croissants at Judges – recently voted by The Independent as one of the best 50 food shops in Britain – and then book in for a marvellous massage at the nearby Wellington. There are more than 40 treatments available, all centred on natural principles, from deep-tissue massage to acupuncture, Ayurvedic and Shiatsu treatments, and there is also a Pilates studio overlooking the square and the sea.
www.wellingtonnaturalhealth.com

THE WORLD IS OUR OYSTER

These are perfect times for anyone wanting to invest in property – for those with the ready cash that is – and estate agents implore that there are many good deals to be done. Admittedly, things are not so swell if you are trying to sell. But let us concentrate for now on investing. Each weekend my newspapers and magazines inundate me with tempting suggestions: palazzos in Italy, residences overlooking the Mediterranean, penthouses here, there and everywhere, and, something that always appeals to me, use of private villas for a few weeks of the year that are operated and fully serviced by a hotel…

We are off to the Seychelles for this one. Well, life could be worse. Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI) is launching Raffles luxury private residences, 23 detached homes which will be built on secluded plots within the soon-to-be-constructed Raffles Resort on Praslin Island. Just 15 minutes’ drive from the airport, there will be three-, four- and five-bedroom villas with prices from €2 million (£1.6m) to €4m. The residences are scheduled for completion by 2011. If you don’t fancy the Seychelles, KHI is also building in other locations such as Da Nang in Vietnam and near Manila in the Philippines. The company has a wealth of experience in this area: it has 34 properties in 21 countries, including 23 operating hotels and resorts. www.rafflesrealestate.com

Private residences such as these are a big success in Europe: people want high-end properties with all the amenities and services of a five-star hotel, and if the investment is good so much the better. Other alternatives include timeshares – now much more respectable and professional than they were some years ago – and fractional ownership, where the costs of a holiday home are divided among a number of other people. Even friends are getting together and buying properties, thus having a share in the equity.

Here are just some I have noticed recently. The pretty Castello di Casole in Tuscany has 1,700 hectares of vineyards and olive groves and a host of refurbished farmhouses. Shares are €290,000–€590,000 for a one-twelfth interest. Later this year, 36 residences will be available in Florence, Italy, in the Palazzo Tornabuoni, a former Medici palace, from €210,000 to €528,000 for a one-eighth share.

Elsewhere, Villa Isabella on the Italian island of Ischia is expected to open next year. There are no prices yet but expect great views of the sea, as well as access to the resort’s spa, restaurants and other facilities.
www.castellodicasole.com
www.palazzotornabuoni.com
www.villaisabellaclub.com

RAISE A GLASS

There’s a quiet celebration going on in my local restaurant in London. L’incontro in chic Pimlico, with its mixture of antique shops, interior designers and a great Saturday morning market, has reached the grand old age of 20.

It is the kind of establishment which seems to have been there forever. Talk to people in virtually any part of the world and they all know of the famous L’incontro. Celebrities go there, of course: not to be seen but to eat. Viscount ‘the carpenter’ Linley, the late Princess Margaret’s son, uses it as his local café; his boutique is directly across the road. That uncrowned Queen of New York and former editor of UK Tatler magazine, Tina Brown, had dinner there the night she launched her book on the late Princess of Wales. Her guests, unsurprisingly, were from the higher echelons of the British literary establishment; not a noisy crowd…

So L’incontro is established. Its food is fresh; home-made pastas and seafood dominate the menu, not to mention its ice creams also straight from the kitchen. Its cool interiors and those black-and-white photographs on the walls of famous meetings make for a very pleasant evening indeed.
www.lincontro-restaurant.com

JIM DUNN’s second book, Very Private and Public Relations, is published in April, and his first book, Successful Public Relations, initially published in 1992, is still in print. Both are published by Thorogood, www.thorogoodpublishing.co.uk