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They Love the Holidays This Much: The Shangri-La Pudong Built the World's Longest Yule Log

Where: 33 Fu Cheng Road, Shanghai, China, 200120

Like it or not, the holiday season has officially begun. And no one enjoys the holiday season more than hotels. From now through New Year's Eve, we'll be featuring all the holiday hotel news, deals, events and over the top decorations, we think are the best (or the worst.) Got a question about booking a hotel over the holidays or what to do when staying in a hotel over the holidays? Let us know!

The holidays make hotels do crazy things. Like erecting Christmas trees adorned with money or oversized gingerbread houses or life-sized chocolate Santas (nom, nom.) So it comes as little surprise that the Shangri-La Pudong Hotel in Shanghai, China attempted yesterday to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest yule log cake.

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Hotel Showers / Park Hyatt Hotels / Shanghai Hotels / Hotel Bathrooms / → All Tags

Park Hyatt Shanghai Keeps Your Feet Clean With Foot Showers

Where: 100 Century Ave., Shanghai, Shanghai, China, 200120

Bathroom Tuesday continues! Just when we thought hotels had figured out all the ways to pamper us, we happened upon a peculiar and peculiarly delightful little in-room amenity at the Park Hyatt Shanghai: foot showers.

Walking around the gritty streets of Shanghai can get downright dirty, so of course when you retire to one of your stratospheric rooms on floors 79-93 of the Shanghai World Financial Center (it used to be the world’s highest hotel before the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong opened in March), you want to wash all that grime off before exploiting your room’s other amenities to the fullest, in particular the free WiFi and the fact that it’s the only hotel in the city that filters its water so it’s safe to drink.

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Hotel Technology / Park Hyatt Hotels / Shanghai Hotels / Hotel Toilets / → All Tags

Park Hyatt Shanghai Is Serious About Its Service and Its Toilet Lids

Where: 100 Century Avenue, Shanghai, China, 200120

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]

Hotel Weddings / Hotel Wedding Crashers / Jock Jam Hotels / Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags

Hotel Wedding Crashers: Yao Ming Gets Hitched in Shanghai

Where: 33 Fu Cheng Lu | Pudong, Shanghai, China, 200120

Sorry ladies, Yao Ming is off the market. The 7'6" NBA baller got married to a female basketball player, Ye Li, (who stands at about 6'2") at the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai over the weekend.

Dozens of security guards patrolled the hotel, across the river from the colonial-era buildings of Shanghai's historic Bund, to keep a scrum of Chinese and international media at bay.

The ceremony lasted about three hours long (!!) and was attended by 70 family members, the couple said in a statement.

All we have to say is they are going to have some tall kids.

Related Stories:
· Yao Ming weds basketball beauty [Reuters]