Beijing Travel Guide
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Behind Schedule With Your Hotel? Do a Shangri-La And Hedge Your Bets
Here’s some skewed logic to start your week off. You’re a soon-to-be-open hotel, you’re not sure exactly how long it’s going to take for your paint to dry and your air con to get whirring, and you’re watching other new hotels around the globe getting called out for opening late. What’s the solution?
Well, if you’re Shangri-La, your solution is to hedge your bets. The bizarrely named Shangri-La China World Summit Wing in Beijing was originally slated to open "at the end of the year". And even now, despite Shangri-La just having appointed a GM, they’re not quite sure when it’ll be ready for us to bed down, announcing this weekend that it’ll open "at the end of 2009 or early 2010."
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NYT Reviews Beijing's Cool 3+1 Bedrooms
We hate to strum our own chord, but usually by the time the New York Times reviews a hotel we’ve already heaped an overgenerous amount of hype on the place, and often have even already checked the place out ourselves firsthand. But we’ve got to hand it to them this week — they reviewed a tiny little spot in Beijing that wasn’t even on our radar.
The Chinese capital city is home to the hyperbolically understated 3+1 Bedrooms, a teensy hotel with just three guestrooms and one suite. “Too intimate to be pretentious,” writes the NYT, with “all the amenities (well, almost all) of a larger boutique property — minus, of course, the scene.”
The highlight: Location? Check: “…in the heart of old Beijing, a stone’s throw from the historic Drum and Bell Towers and a short walk to the shops, bars and cafes of the artsy-hipster Nanluogu Xiang alleyway and picturesque Houhai Lake.” Clean “minimalist’s dream” décor? Check: “more clean than cold.” And the writer’s room was 500 square feet, with “palazzo-height ceilings” and a private terrace lined with bamboo stands. A walk-in shower that feels “big enough to swim in”? Check. Free Wi-Fi? Check. Free mini-bar offerings? Check: Pellegrino, soda and beer.
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A Free Westin Heavenly Bed Is Only Ten Nights Away
Do you often find yourself in Beijing, or are you perhaps planning a week or two visit soon? Because if so, and you're calling the Westin Financial Street your temporary home, you will be taking more than just the remainder of your in-room toiletries; you'll be receiving a complimentary Westin Heavenly Bed.
Before you wind up to take a flying leap onto the white duvet with the thread count of your dreams, be aware that scoring a Heavenly Bed requires you to accumulate 10 nights' stay at the Westin Financial Street in Beijing prior to December 31. Now consider that this Westin's Heavenly Bed package begins from 1800 RMB ($264) a night, and the service fee will probably bring that up closer to $300. Ten days at this rate and you've dropped $3,000 in pursuit of the perfect bedroom furniture.
In this case, it's probably more practical to look at this like a "buy a Heavenly Bed and get 10 nights free at the Westin Beijing" deal, since the beds run between $3,500 and $2,600 at Westin's online store. It's one heck of a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Heavenly Bed, but it's only a deal for those with $3,000 burning a hole on their AMEX limits and a bedroom ready for rearranging.
[Photo: Westin Mina Seyahi]
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Future of Fire-Damaged Mandarin Oriental Beijing Still Uncertain
Could the Mandarin Oriental Beijing be closing before it's even opened?
After delays from the original opening plan of pre-2008 Olympics, the nearly-finished hotel was destroyed by a fire started by a fireworks show during Chinese New Year celebrations. Until recently, Mandarin Oriental had really only a throw-their-hands-in-the-air idea about the future (since they had signed "a long term contract to manage the hotel" and had no ownership interest in the building, things were out of their control).
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Beijing's Opposite House Gets Opposite of Bad Review
Beijing’s hotel scene is sort of like Michael Phelps’ squeaky-clean image. Last August, both were Hot (with a capital H). Fast-forward seven months and Phelps and the area’s hotels are, well, struggling a bit. But both will return to good graces, we’re quite certain — especially after reading more about the Opposite House, one of Beijing’s 126 hotels that opened during the Olympics rush.
The New York Times checked in to the 99-room boutique hotel this past weekend as part of its Asia-Pacific Issue and divulged plenty of nuggets to get us excited. Located in a “once-seedy, but now thriving part of the Sanlitun neighborhood…think Apple, Uniqlo, and Adidas flagships,” the boxy six-story hotel was designed by Kengo Kuma and “has the city’s chattering classes exclaiming over its generous rooms and dramatic, moodily lit atrium,” says the NYT.
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Beijing Hotels Suffer in Olympic-Sized Rut
If you're intrigued by all of the crazy vacation and airfare deals to Beijing of late, then rest assured that they won't be going away anytime soon as the city struggles with a dearth of tourism despite last summer's Olympics. Combine the low visitor numbers with Beijing's glut of newly-opened luxury hotels with high nightly rates, and it seems that they've got a case of the Dubai disease--whereby the recession hits new development hard enough to stabilize room rates at a more affordable level.
Although since it's only been a few months of low occupancy, don't expect to roll up into Beijing's Park Hyatt for $150 a night quite yet; they still have their pride. This is quickly waning, however, as the LA Times points out that 126 new hotels opened last year and added 29,000 rooms, bringing the city's total of starred hotels to over 800, with more than 130,000 rooms. That's a lot of space, considering that the Olympics are over and business travel is way down.
Tags: Snapshot / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Beijing Hotels / Hotel Fires / Hotel News / → All Tags
Mandarin Oriental Beijing After the Fire
Flickr member Sam Ose has these sad pics of the once under construction Mandarin Oriental Beijing which was destroyed by a terrible fire last week during the Chinese New Year festivities. While the building remains upright, it is burned throughout.
Arrests are still being made in the blaze, which was caused by a fireworks show that went off at the neighboring China Central Television station and which killed one city firefighter. 12 people were arrestd last week and the other day, five more were charged with transporting fireworks to the station's own construction site next to the not-yet-completed hotel.
Meanwhile, Mandarin Oriental has put out their own statement on the hotel:
It is too early at the present stage to assess the full extent of the damage. We understand that a full investigation is underway and will take time to complete. Mandarin Oriental has signed a long term contract to manage the hotel and has no ownership interest in the building. Further updates will be issued as appropriate.
It's suffice to say it's going to take a couple of years for the hotel to be rebuilt. Whether Mandarin Oriental will be the hotel brand in there, we can't really say.
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Mandarin Oriental Beijing Suffers Massive Fire
The 40-story Mandarin Oriental Beijing, which was originally scheduled to open just before the Summer Olympics in '08 but had been delayed until this year, was sitting unoccupied (thank goodness) but near complete when it caught fire several hours ago around 9 p.m. in Beijing (8 a.m. EST).
According to CNN:
CNN's Beijing bureau chief Jaime FlorCruz said he was on one side of the hotel, but, "It seems like virtually the whole building is burned." Fire crews are on the scene and appeared to have control of the fire.
CNN correspondent Emily Chang said the fire reached up past the 30th floor, but did not appear to be spreading to any of the nearby buildings.
There were no reports of injuries, and the cause of the fire is not yet known — but it "happened in the final hours of the Chinese lunar new year as people set off fireworks across the city," so the blaze may have been an accident related to fireworks. We'll keep you posted as reports of the damage come in.
[Photo: AP via NYTimes]
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Aloft Beijing Is a Little Different From Aloft Everywhere Else
Remember when we said that Aloft Beijing was no different than Aloft everywhere else? We stand corrected.
True story: a Boston Globe reviewer hit up the brand new Aloft Beijing (doors opened two weeks ago), where she found all the amenities we've come to know and love about the hip new ubiquitous Starwood chain.
In the reviewer's room, there was the standard sunny shower, 42-inch LCD flatscreen television, iPod connectivity; in the lobby, the "Skittle-color pillows and nightclubby neon stripes" were familiar and welcoming.
And then she opened up her guest room's closet and found a quart-size canister with a gas mask sort of thing inside. Startling:
The canister, which Aloft only provides in Beijing to meet China’s standards, contained a “Fire Fighting Filter Type Self-Saving Breather.” And it came with this handy step-by-step “method of application”:
1. Take out the fire fighting filter type self-saving breather.
2. Tear at the packaging bag of the fire fighting filter type self-saving breather.
3. Wear helmet and pull contractive belt fast.
5. Choose way and flee for your life decidedly.
Guh! Scary (also: where is step number four?)
And do we smell (er, not smell) a late addition to our Best Gifts for Hotel Geeks?
[Photos: Nicole Wong / Boston Globe]
Tags: Hotel Openings / Aloft Hotels / Beijing Hotels / → All Tags
Aloft Beijing Is No Different From Aloft Everywhere Else
Aloft Hotels has not altered its DNA one iota in its newest location overseas. Like all the other Alofts that have opened in North America, Aloft Beijing resembles the offices of one of those dot-com startups in Silicon Valley in the late ‘90s—or at least how they show them in the movies. This actually makes sense here, because the soon-to-open hotel is located in Beijing’s high-tech and university sector.
The Aloft layout has not changed over in China either. The common areas have the bright, boxy furniture we've come to experience in the states complete with steel-beam ceilings with exposed air ducts. The rooms are also the same, right down to the Bliss products in the bathroom.
Keeping with the techie theme, everything is wired. Guests can check in using self-serve kiosks, and can also pick up free WiFi anywhere in the hotel, even in special pods by the pool. The hotel, whose rooms start at about $100 per night, is supposed to open by the end of the month.
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Aman at Summer Palace in Beijing is Like Going Sightseeing Without Leaving Your Hotel
The list of Amanresorts reads like a list of the top ten exotic places we'd like to travel to, and now that the Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing is open, we are dying to get there. Many of the rooms--there are only 51, so it's small and extra-friendly--are built in outbuildings of the Summer Palace and the special imperial Chinese details are everywhere. It's kind of like going sightseeing without leaving the hotel, but we really want to do it!
Yes, you could say that we're almost over-enthusiastic about Aman spots but then again, a whole lot of people agree with us. The weekend's UK Times review of the Beijing Aman was way over-the-top with enthusiastic adjectives. Service is great (if a little stumbly on the English language side of things), the location is sublime and the facilities, tours and rooms are pretty much perfect.
And so it should be, because a stay at any Aman isn't cheap. Creator Adrian Zecha even admits that you can only stay there if you "have more money than time". The cheapest guest room starts at US$480 a night plus 15% tax and the imperial suites go for $3,800.
Tags: Hotel News / Beijing Hotels / Olympics 2008 Hotels / Hotel Hype / Jock Jam Hotels / → All Tags
Beijing's Bird's Nest Will Soon Have Hotel Rooms
Is it just us or did the 2008 Olympics go by too fast? We're sad that the closing ceremonies are on the very near horizon. In fact, the only thing that's keeping our chins up is the chance to see David Beckham carrying the torch for London 2012.
And this little bit of news is helping our post-Olympic depression : The kick-ass Bird's Nest Stadium will be adding hotel rooms soon, reports USA Today. The stadium will also host at least 60 soccer matches a year and add VIP Skyboxes, meaning that it will be possible to watch an event here and sleep here too.
Names will be floated around soon for the stadium but we think Bird's Nest Hotel is just fine.
[Photo: F u n k y !]
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