China Travel Guide
Tags: Hotel Delays / Hotel Openings / Shangri-La Hotels / Beijing Hotels / → All Tags
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."
Tags: NYT Reviews / Beijing Hotels / Boutique Hotels / → All Tags
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.
Tags: Pan Pacific Hotels / Hotel Openings / China Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Pan Pacific Hotels Start To Take Over China With Second Hotel
The Pan Pacific Hotels group are at the start of a "growth strategy" for China – they sure aren't the only ones – and that means they're going to open their second hotel in China in January 2010.
After opening up the Pan Pacific Xiamen earlier this year, they will now be taking over and rebranding the Sheraton Suzhou Hotel and Towers in the east coast city of Suzhou. It's a 484-room place which Sheraton just added a brand new wing of 99 rooms to earlier in the year (obviously nobody told them they'd be handing it over).
Before the January reopening they'll be putting some Pan Pacific "brand standards" in place. And then the group will be looking ahead to its continued attempt to rule China, with its third hotel planned for Tianjin in 2011.
[Photo: bernardoh]
Tags: Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel Opening / Shangri-La Hotels / China Hotels / → All Tags
New Shangri-La Ningbo Gives Shanghai Luxury Style For Just $120 a Night
Although properties in New York and Chicago are out of the picture for now, Shangri-La Hotels are continuing to expand in Asia, just opening a new fancy high-rise is the Chinese city of Ningbo. The Shangri-La Ningbo would be your typical five-star property, if it weren't boasting of special introductory rates as low as $120 and a residential community of 60 apartments.
Available until December 31 for stays in a deluxe room, the $120 opening deal will hopefully attract tourists on a sidetrip from visiting Shanghai, as Ningbo is just across the Huangzhou Bay. For that $120, you'll get a whole bunch of free stuff: free buffet breakfast, free broadband internet access, free use of hookups and speakers for iPods and other digital accessories, and access to the gym with pool and two tennis courts.
Tags: Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel Openings / Peninsula Hotels / Shanghai Hotels / → All Tags
Peninsula Shanghai Opening October 19 for $295 a Night
The ninth addition to the posh Peninsula collection of hotels, The Peninsula Shanghai, opens on The location is out of this world – on the banks of the Huangpu River and conveniently located near the shopping capital of Nanjing Road. But it’s the super huge rooms – larger standard rooms than any other major hotel chain in Shanghai – that have set size queen’s tongues wagging.
Tags: Swine Flu Hotels / Shanghai Hotels / Hotel News / Ray Nagin / → All Tags
We Hope Ray Nagin Has Free Internet at the Jinjiang Inn
There's been another quarantine in China for folks possibly exposed to the Swine Flu and this time New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is amongst the group under lockdown at the Jinjiang Inn in a suburb of Shanghai.
Nagin and his wife Seletha have been in quarantine since Sunday, along with a member of the mayor's executive protection team, after they had the misfortune of sitting within a few rows of a French student now confirmed ill with the A-H1N1 virus on their flight from the U.S.
Nagin planned to be in China for several days for trade-related meetings but it looks like he'll just be killing time in the hotel room instead. Authorities are also screening his phone calls while there to "keep him safe."
The Jinjiang Inn is a popular Chinese budget hotel brand and the rooms do come with internet access. From what we could gather, some Jinjiang Inns offer it free, some do not. Coincidentally, an AP reporter was quarantined at the same hotel last month. There was limited English language television channels and lots of boredom. Hopefully, they waive the internet charges for Nagin.
But just remember, he's definitely not Twittering about this thanks to China's strict social media controls.
[Photo via The Times Picayune]
Tags: Hotel Technology / Park Hyatt Hotels / Shanghai Hotels / Hotel Toilets / → All Tags
Park Hyatt Shanghai Is Serious About Its Service and Its Toilet Lids
Allegedly the highest hotel in the world, the Park Hyatt Shanghai (which takes up the 79th to 93rd floors of the Shanghai World Financial Center) isn't just amazing for its high views and dizzying heights. It's also one of those hotels that's found all kinds of small and not-so-small ways to make it stand out from the crowd.
For one, the service is intense. And we mean intense in a good way — as in, there's a lot of it. Every floor has a 24-hour housekeeper and they'll greet you when you arrive, help you unpack and get your first cup of Chinese tea brewing. Apparently there are 750 employees for the hotels 174 rooms. Yep — quite the ratio.
According to a recent review by Toronto's Globe and Mail, the Park Hyatt Shanghai is also good at including technology and gadgets that are actually useful and not impossible to use. There's free WiFi (just as there should be), cordless phones, a DVD player and heated flooring in the bathroom. But there's one piece of technology that the reviewer thought was going too far, and in fact got listed as the only negative of their whole hotel experience:
A toilet lid that lifts of its own accord may be more service than is needed.
More than we need? Actually, we're thinking that could be a great way to avoid leaning over and lifting up the toilet lid, although we're wondering what kind of command we have to use so that it does actually lift. We love technology for lazy people.
[Photo: LitteMay]
Tags: Hotel Swag / Westin Hotels / Beijing Hotels / Hotel Promotions / → All Tags
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]
Tags: Swine Flu Hotels / Hong Kong Hotels / MetroPark Hotels / → All Tags
Guests at Hong Kong's Swine Flu Hotel Are Freed
Just in time for the weekend, 280 hotel prisoners guests and employees who were quarantined at the The Metropark Hotel in Hong Kong have been given the "all clear" and released today.
A man who identified himself as a South Korean businessman shouted "I'm happy! I love Hong Kong people!" before breaking into song and hugging a policeman guarding the hotel. He did not give his name. Another guest, Indian businessman Kevin Ireland, told The Associated Press he plans to check into another hotel and go out to dinner with friends.
Wait. Hold up. You just got released from a hotel and now you are going to check into a new one? Oh, that's because the Hong Kong government felt so bad about locking the guests up they gave them two nights free at another hotel along with other extras like Hong Kong Disneyland tickets, restaurant vouchers and movie tickets.
Apparently, the guests were cranky to be cooped up in the hotel the whole time but they gradually began to like it. The hotel's Facebook page showed guests giving tips to the hotel staffers. We don't think it would be so bad to be cooped up in a hotel except we'd dread having to eat the hotel food all the time. Let's hope they gave the guests free movies on demand too!
To read about the quarantine from a first-hand perspective check out this WSJ blog.
Tags: Hotel Hell / Hotel News / Hotel Sick / Hong Kong Hotels / → All Tags
Confirmed: A Week of Quarantine In a Hong Kong Hotel Is Not Awesome
This morning, we were perusing the ol' headlines and noticed a very special one out of Hong Kong that read, "Quarantined guests at Hong Kong hotel get free accommodations." Well, um, yeah — we would assume that the 300-or-so people holed up in the MetroPark Hotel on a seven-day quarantine (due to a confirmed case of swine flu in a hotel guest) wouldn't have to pay for their rooms.
And as awesome as seven free nights in a pretty nice hotel might sound, rest assured that the quarantined guests are not having the time of their lives. Today's Wall Street Journal ran a dispatch from a guest on the inside of the hotel, who calls the seal-up her "seven-day 'life in prison.'
Tags: Hotel Sick / Hotel Hell / Hotel News / Hong Kong Hotels / Swine Flu Hotels / → All Tags
Hong Kong Hotel Quarantined Due to Swine Flu Case
Oh noes. Here comes the first report of a hotel completely sealed off because a guest staying there has been diagnosed with swine flu. Seriously. An entire hotel is under quarantine for seven days.
BBC News reports:
About 300 people at a Hong Kong hotel have been placed under quarantine after a guest there became China's first confirmed swine flu case.
The 25-year-old man, who is now in hospital after testing positive for the virus, had travelled from Mexico via Shanghai, Hong Kong's leader said. Local TV footage showed police wearing masks guarding the hotel exits.
Guh. Can you even imagine being sealed up in your hotel for seven days? Talk about hotel hell.
The Mexican man who was diagnosed with the virus sought treatment at a hospital on Thursday evening, and his hotel — The Metropark Hotel — is now under a seven-day quarantine, and Tamiflu had been given to the 200 guests and 100 staff inside.
[Photo: Reuters]
Tags: Hotel Openings / Shanghai Hotels / Sofitel Hotels / China Hotels / → All Tags
Sofitel Continues to Conquer China with 23rd Hotel
Whoa, we are totally blown away by the fact that Sofitel, after the recent opening of their Huanghe Sheshan Resort outside of Shanghai, now has 23 China properties. That is beyond awesome, considering how some chains tend to tiptoe cautiously into Asia. So what does this extra-urban resort bring to the area besides another Sofitel sign? Apparently, an escape from the bustling city and a whole boatload of objects d'art and Hermes toiletries.
Set within the Sheshan National Tourism Resort and only a 35-minute drive from the city, the hotel boasts 368 rooms, including 53 Luxury Suites and an Imperial Suite. An extra seven luxury villas also exist for the express purpose of making government officials and business delegations feel at home without metro surroundings. Hmm, this doesn't sound like the Sofitels we know (and love); this is like Mandarin Oriental territory. Nonetheless, this is a full-service resort with multiple restaurants, spas, pools, bars, and pool bars. For those desperate for an escape from the Shanghai grind, rates for spring are looking trim at 161 Euro for a Luxury King room.
[Image: Sofitel Huanghe Sheshan Resort]
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