The D-shaped hotel, with 11 to 14 storeys, will have a gross floor area of approximately 72,000 square metres (775,000 square feet) and will have 1,100 guest rooms, making it the largest hotel in Hong Kong. The first phase of the hotel, with about 400 rooms, is targeted to be completed in October 1998. The hotel will also offer travellers unparalleled convenience as it will be connected to the passenger terminal building by pedestrian walkways with travelators.

In addition to food and beverage outlets, the new property will feature meeting and conference facilities and a full-service Business Centre, as well as unique entertainment and recreational facilities, including a simulated golf driving range, a landscaped garden, a swimming pool and a bowling alley. There will also be a multi-storey car park adjacent to the new hotel with at least 1,750 parking spaces.

Two of the unique architectural features of the hotel will be its slanting roof and southern wall. The slanting roof will resemble two huge birds spreading their wings, while the southern wall, visible from the Passenger Terminal Building, will incorporate several extraordinary design features, such as glass-clad, three-storey atrium, fully glazed lift lobbies and architectural fins highlighting the building edges.

The podium interiors will be interconnected by a series of voids, linking the ground to the Fourth Floor, and forming a grand lobby atrium. Its volume and openness will be further enhanced by the natural light brought in through the huge skylight above.

The overall image of the new hotel will be dynamic, modern and high-tech. Reflecting its position as an airport hotel, the canopy above the driveway will resemble a jet�s wing.

The total investment costs for the new airport hotel project, including the land premium, construction cost and finance cost for the development during the construction, is estimated to be in the region of HK$2 billion (US$256 million).

The Regal Group currently owns and manages four hotels in Hong Kong: the Regal Hongkong Hotel, the Regal Kowloon Hotel, the Regal Airport Hotel and the Regal Riverside Hotel. 

Hong Kong currently has 33,975 rooms in 88 hotels throughout the territory. In 1997, due to the Asian economic turmoil that struck in the latter part of the year, the average hotel room occupancy rate was 76%, 12 percentage points down from 1996. By the year 2006, there will be a total of
48,192 rooms in 124 hotels.