The Aries Lee sculpture at the lobby of the Mira Hotel exemplifies what makes design hotels unique and alluring.

"Design hotels are created to provide guests with a more personal experience for the duration of their stay," said Olivia Toth, director of communications at the Mira Hotel, one of Hong Kong's newest establishments.

"Big hotel chains have always offered a standardised experience, but in a design hotel you are given uniqueness."

Thanks to a $65 million refit, even the walls of the Mira Hotel's lobby have been personally designed by celebrity designer Colin Cowie, and sculptures await guests on every floor of the building.

Design hotels are a relatively recent phenomenon across the globe and it is no surprise that Hong Kong, a city known for keeping up with international tastes and trends, has attracted several of its own.

"It's the services offered to guests, that make design hotels what they are," said Toth. "We have a concierge, the front desk staff and then we have a 'guest relations' team."

This team, dressed more casually than their concierge counterparts so as to encourage approachability, aim to help guests make the hotel their home. They bring the guests to their rooms, discuss their needs and introduce all the amenities of the hotel to new arrivals, allowing customers to truly make the hotel their own.

All this extra attention comes at a cost. Design hotels are aimed at young professionals with money to spend and people to impress, on either business or leisure trips. One night's stay at the Mira for instance can cost more than HK$38,000.

But what makes such establishments truly interesting is the location of some of the most recent arrivals like the W Hotel, the Luxe Manor and the Mira. None are based in Central, or indeed on Hong Kong Island at all. Instead, the newest arrivals are enticing Hong Kong's high-paying guests to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST).

Ask Hong Kong residents to perform a word association game and most of them would be more likely to link TST with "tatty" or "cheap" rather than "luxury hotels".

Residents of Hong Kong Island in particular are often loathe to cross the harbor to spend time in TST, given that the island itself offers so much. Some have even taken to referring to Kowloon itself as "the dark side".

And yet here are three hotels vying for guests with large wallets and refined tastes that have decided that TST is where they would be best placed to attract such visitors. And as if the hotels alone didn't raise eyebrows, one of Lan Kwai Fong's most popular cocktail bars, FINDS, has also announced it will be leaving its long term residency in LKF Tower to relocate to TST.

TST is not Hong Kong's central business district, so a large proportion of business travellers are typically attracted to the island when visiting. Holiday makers on the other hand have never been uncommon in the area but TST has never been associated with high-spending visitors.

Indeed, despite the Peninsula standing proudly on the Kowloon side of the harbor, it is perhaps Chunking Mansions and its backpacker clientele that epitomizes the district.

"The government is trying to alter this sentiment," said Mark Cheng, senior marketing communications officer at the Luxe Manor, itself situated on TST's Kimberly Road. "At present there is a feeling among many foreign visitors and wealthy residents that Hong Kong Island has all the best attractions, but this is not true."

One of the attractions conjured up to compete with Hong Kong Island's dining and drinks scene is Knutsford Terrace, a row of international restaurants that caters to pedestrians.

Foodies can arrive at the terrace and take their pick of cuisines from across the globe, but even this is beginning to look outdated to some. Knutsford Terrace competes with LKF, said Toth, and this level of competition is no longer the focus. TST is creating its own destinations of even higher calibre.

"What's happening now in TST is almost the antidote to Knutsford Terrace," Toth said. "Knutsford Terrace could attract a few people from LKF but right now things are evolving much faster. The quality of dining (in TST) is very high."

TST used to be known for its commercial side, attracting those interested in acquiring electronic gadgets or meals that would not challenge a person's imagination, but at this moment the area is transforming from "commercial to cool," said Toth.

"Insiders in the know are doing their research to find out where the best chefs and mixologists in the city are, and often they're finding that their search leads them to TST."

Certainly, with celebrated cocktail bar FINDS moving out of LKF into Kimberly Road there will soon be yet another reason for those looking for good-quality food and drink to look north of the island.

Crucially, the perceived shift in attitudes towards TST comes during a period in which Staunton Street, a popular SoHo hangout for upmarket after-work drinks and dinner, has been featured in the media lately for its rising rents which could threaten the current makeup of the street, and push even more established venues across the water.

But even this argument could be superseded when one takes a look at some of the new food and drink venues vying for an even classier clientele in TST.

Hutong, Aqua and Felix are firmly planted in most people's minds already but in the recently opened iSquare alone diners can now enjoy the likes of Eyebar and Guo Fu Lou, both offering exceptional views, quality and a distinctly Chinese flavor.

It seems that TST does not need SoHo castoffs to represent it.

"Our guests are often business people," said Cheng, of the Luxe Manor, a stone's throw from iSquare. "But they're not the kind of business people that need to be in Central."

Professionals from the fabrics, design and fashion industries are perhaps most likely to frequent design hotels in Kowloon. Both the Luxe Manor and the Mira explained that these industries make up a sizable portion of their customer base.

"We attract guests who come to Hong Kong to source fabrics from Shenzhen, or that are wrapping up business deals with their Guangdong partners," Cheng said. "It is the new breed of business, with sights set on the mainland."

Cheng explained that the Salvador Dali-inspired decor of the Luxe Manor also meant that he would find fashion buyers holding their meetings in the foyer, such was the original and, at times mind-bending, design of the surroundings.

The descriptions offered by both hotels of their clientele as those whose trips to Hong Kong are not based on the banking and finance industries hint that TST is a place for the new generation of business people and holiday-makers.

But others note that there are still areas ripe for improvement.

Toby Cooper, director at the Globe pub on SoHo's Graham Street, said "there are some great destinations in TST at the moment but that's where the attraction ends.

"I'd take guests who visit Hong Kong to TST but normally because I have a specific venue in mind. I don't think people travel to the area on a whim just to hang out, partly because it lacks a center, a heart."

Cooper joked that he rarely leaves Hollywood Road himself, but it remains impossible to ignore the very real changes that are occurring in TST.

It is not just a few "international" restaurants arriving - this is not new - but rather, there are "world-class" bars and restaurants making their way over the water.

And for the skeptics, perhaps the appearance - and location - of Hong Kong's design hotels are a fantastic example of just how seriously this trend is being taken.