Big may be beautiful, but small, design-focused and unbranded is
the new trend in Shanghai’s hotel sector. While the city’s
five-star corporate palaces continue to expand and thrive and the
budget hotel sector continues to develop fast, Shanghai’s boutique
hotel sector is starting to emerge from the shadows of the sky
towers. This is great news for visitors seeking to stay in style,
because as with most trends in China where Shanghai leads, the rest
of the country soon follows.
Until late 2006, Shanghai’s booming tourism industry created
only three boutique hotels: the 53-room suite-style 88 Xintiandi,
favored by business travelers; the 12-room Old House Inn located in
an old Shanghainese lane house and decorated in period style; and
the even smaller The Nine, an exquisite four-room hotel in a
restored French Concession villa on a quiet side street.
Leading Shanghai’s new boutique openings in late 2006 were Lapis
Casa and M Suites. Located in the heart of downtown, adjacent to
the popular Xintiandi dining and shopping district, Lapis Casa is a
Mediterranean courtyard-themed hotel with Spanish archways, a
terra-cotta terrace and heavy wooden doors. The 18 individually
designed rooms, however, are dressed in period Shanghainese style,
some with four-poster beds, antique-style furnishings and green
jade sinks. Each has a plasma-screen TV, rainforest shower and
Internet access. A Mediterranean restaurant is scheduled to open in
late spring.
M Suites is situated in a converted 1930s art deco brewery
beside the Suzhou River in the north of the city near the
fashionable Moganshan Lu contemporary art district. Distinctly
modernist and minimalist in design, the hotel has 24 rooms in
contrasting styles and sizes. The most striking rooms are the
river-view duplexes and the Emperor, Empress and Concubine suites,
with expansive tiled bathrooms, large Jacuzzis, copper-tinted
mirrored hallways and fine river views. The hotel has its own boat
mooring, a rooftop terrace bar and one of the city’s most acclaimed
fine-dining restaurants, Mimosa, run by Stefan Stiller, the only
three-star Michelin chef cooking daily in Shanghai.
Combining classical luxury,
1930’s-style Chinese and French decor and high-tech modern
amenities, Mansion Hotel is one of Shanghai’s hottest properties.
Set in a beautifully restored 1930’s villa once owned by the city’s
most notorious mafia boss, Du Yuesheng, it has history and
character in abundance. The 32 spacious rooms are decorated in
classical-period style, with art deco chandeliers, specially
commissioned 1930’s French- and Chinese-styled sofas and armchairs
and stone-tiled balconies. Modern amenities include wireless
Internet, in-room iPod dock, rainforest shower and 42-inch plasma
TV. There are two restaurants and a fifth-floor roof garden dining
terrace. The owner’s vast collection of classic 1920s memorabilia
including gramophones, typewriters and movie cameras and archive
Shanghai photos are also on display throughout the lobby
lounge.
Opening in summer 2007, Jia Shanghai will be the city’s most
chic contemporary design hotel, and the first sibling (Krabi Island
in Thailand is next) of the Philippe Starck-designed Jia Hong Kong.
Jia means “home” in Mandarin, and this new hotel is designed for
guests with an appreciation of life’s finer pleasures. The 55-room
boutique property occupies a renovated 1920s building in the heart
of fashionable Nanjing Xi Lu, a district boasting Shanghai’s
glitziest boutiques and restaurants. Design features include
timber-paneled walls, Chinese rugs, purpose-built kitchen pods and
a home-theater entertainment system. The hotel also has a
fine-dining Italian restaurant.
Among Shanghai’s future openings are the Pudi Hotel, a 50-room
modern art deco property near Fuxing Park managed by Accor, and the
city’s first gay-friendly boutique hotel, Pink Home, located in a
renovated French Concession villa on Gao’an Lu.
Boutique Beijing and
More
Like Shanghai, Beijing has a number of new boutique hotels
expected in the coming months. Two of the capital’s most stylish
bar/restaurants, Face and Green T House, are both planning to open
hotels this year. In addition, a new design hotel will open inside
one of the capital’s premier tourism attractions, the Summer
Palace, and the developers of Shanghai’s Mansion Hotel are working
on a new hotel project close to the Great Hall of the People in
central Beijing.
Beijing’s premier boutique residence has long been the Red
Capital Residence, a small courtyard hotel with five luxurious, yet
quirky, rooms themed in Mao-era style and decoration. The
below-ground Bomb Shelter bar and cigar humidor is unmissable. Red
Capital’s American owner, Laurence J. Brahm, has recently opened a
new sister boutique hotel in a traditional Tibetan courtyard house
in Lhasa, Tibet, called House of Shambhala.
For a stylish stay at the foot of the Great Wall of China,
Commune by the Great Wall is located in the stunning Shuiguan
Valley, about 35 miles north of Beijing. This eclectic collection
of high-design villas and chalets is complemented by an Anantara
spa, fine-dining restaurant with deck terrace overlooking the
valley and a private section for walking on the Great Wall. Commune
has drawn leading global designers, architects and celebrities
(Jennifer Lopez and Serena Williams have both partied here) to
enjoy its views, contemporary Asian architecture and interiors and
art exhibitions.
Opened last fall near the Forbidden City, Beijing’s newest
boutique lodging is Hotel Kapok. Already singled out by style
magazine Wallpaper as one of China’s hottest new design hotels,
Kapok has 80 minimalist rooms in three categories: Fashion, Court
and Suite. The rooms are dressed primarily in white, with earthy
stone-gray and bamboo-green tones to infuse color. Each has a
plasma-screen TV, plus high-design lamp stands and custom-made
lounge chairs. There’s also a contemporary Western restaurant and
bar, a small gym and a sauna.
So even as new mega-hotels go up all around the country, now
could be the time to book adventurous clients in the highly
designed inns of China.
