A man was found dead on Thursday morning in a room at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel.

Eyewitnesses said they saw an ambulance and police cars parked outside the hotel lobby along Coleman Street at about 10am, and that a body was subsequently taken away in a hearse at about noon.

"They took the body down through the maintenance lift, and the hearse was waiting at the loading and unloading bay," said Mr Hassan Kuthus, 54, who works at a convenience store in Excelsior Shopping Centre.

The deceased is believed to be a middle-aged tourist who had been staying at the hotel by himself. A spokesman for the hotel declined to comment about the case as the police are still investigating the case.