Incorporated in 1866, the world’s oldest continuously operating hotel company marks its sesquicentennial-and-a-decade milestone from a city that has changed almost beyond recognition
One Hundred and Sixty Years of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels
In the spring of 2026, the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited — the company behind the prestigious Peninsula Hotels group — celebrates its 160th anniversary. Incorporated in 1866 as The Hongkong Hotel Company, it stands today as the world’s oldest hotel company in continuous operation, a distinction that places it in extraordinary historical company. To put 1866 in perspective: it was the year that the US ratified the 14th Amendment providing citizenship rights to formerly enslaved people, the year Gregor Mendel published his foundational work on genetics, and a full 62 years before The Peninsula Hong Kong — the company’s flagship property — opened its doors to guests in Tsim Sha Tsui in December 1928. The company has not merely survived for 160 years. It has witnessed the entirety of Hong Kong’s modern history: British colonial rule, the Japanese occupation, post-war reconstruction, the economic miracle, the 1997 handover, and now the era of national security laws and Beijing’s tightening grip on the city’s institutions. Through all of it, The Peninsula’s green-liveried Rolls-Royces have continued to glide through the streets of Kowloon, its afternoon teas have continued to be served in the grand lobby, and its name has remained synonymous with a standard of hospitality that few institutions anywhere in the world can match.
A History Written in Conflict and Resilience
The Peninsula Hong Kong has one of the most dramatic histories of any hotel on earth. In December 1941, with Japanese forces having swept through the New Territories and occupied the entire colony in just over two weeks, British Governor Sir Mark Young and military commander General C.M. Maltby surrendered to Japanese officers in The Peninsula’s third-floor suite — the most humiliating moment in British colonial history. The hotel was renamed the Toa Hotel by its Japanese occupiers and served as headquarters for the occupation authorities for the duration of the war. When British rule was restored in 1945, The Peninsula returned to its rightful owners and was quickly rebuilt as the social and commercial heart of a city emerging from the devastation of war. The hotel’s post-war history mirrors Hong Kong’s own economic ascent. Through the 1950s and 1960s, as the city transformed from a refugee-receiving colonial outpost into one of Asia’s great manufacturing and trading centers, The Peninsula established itself as the destination of choice for the dignitaries, tycoons, and celebrities who passed through the city. Gaddi’s, the hotel’s French fine dining restaurant, opened in 1953 and was immediately celebrated as the finest restaurant east of Suez — a claim that few who have dined there would dispute.
The Kadoorie Legacy and the 1994 Tower
The company has been guided throughout much of its modern history by the Kadoorie family, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent and respected business dynasties. Sir Michael Kadoorie chairs the group today, continuing a family involvement that stretches back generations. In 1994, the hotel undertook its most significant physical transformation, adding a 30-storey tower of complementary architectural style to the original building, complete with a rooftop helipad capable of transferring VIP guests to Hong Kong International Airport in just seven minutes. The original hotel’s historic facade, lobby, and restaurant spaces were preserved through the construction, a decision that reflects the group’s deeply held belief that its heritage is inseparable from its identity. HSH Group official website details the company’s full portfolio and history.
The Global Peninsula Portfolio at 160
The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels today operates Peninsula properties in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Beijing, New York, Chicago, Beverly Hills, Bangkok, and Manila — nine hotels that collectively define the brand’s global reach and its commitment to what the company calls “the best of Eastern and Western hospitality.” In addition to its hotels, the group owns and operates The Peak Complex and The Peak Tram in Hong Kong, as well as The Repulse Bay, making it one of the city’s most significant private operators of tourist infrastructure. The group’s expansion into Shanghai in 2009 — with a hotel on the historic Bund that is architecturally sympathetic to its century-old neighbors — represented a bet on the economic vitality of mainland China as well as a return to the city where the company had operated hotels including The Kalee, The Astor House, The Palace, and The Majestic in the 1920s through 1940s, before the Communist Party’s victory in the civil war forced Western businesses out.
Navigating the New Hong Kong
Operating a luxury international brand in post-2020 Hong Kong has come with its own unique challenges. The national security law, the end of pro-democracy protests, the mass emigration of educated professionals, and the sharp decline in international tourism that followed the COVID-19 pandemic all affected the hospitality industry significantly. The Peninsula Hong Kong, like every major hotel in the city, felt the impact of years of restricted travel and changed political conditions. Yet the brand has endured. Luxury hospitality, rooted in genuine service excellence and irreplaceable location, has proven resilient in Hong Kong as in every city where The Peninsula operates. International visitors who seek the quintessential Hong Kong experience still check in to the grande dame of Tsim Sha Tsui, still take their afternoon tea in the gilded lobby, and still gaze across Victoria Harbour toward the iconic skyline of Hong Kong Island. The Peninsula is, in this sense, a living museum of the city’s best self — a daily argument that the Hong Kong of grace, hospitality, and international openness still exists, even as political forces work to restrict what the city can be. Peninsula Hotels history is extensively documented. National Geographic Travel regularly features the property among Asia’s finest.
What 160 Years Means for Hong Kong
In celebrating the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels’ 160th anniversary, we are celebrating something larger than a company’s longevity. We are celebrating Hong Kong’s capacity for continuity — its ability to maintain institutions of quality and distinction even through the most turbulent chapters of its history. The company was here before the Japanese came. It survived the occupation. It was here through the handover of 1997 and the years of uncertainty that followed. It remains here now, serving guests with the same commitment to excellence that defined it in 1928. For those who love Hong Kong — who grieve the erosion of its freedoms while celebrating the endurance of its culture and its people — the 160th anniversary of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels is a reason for quiet pride. Some things in Hong Kong cannot be legislated away. Hospitality, history, and the human desire for beauty and connection among them.
