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Intimate beauty at Four Seasons HotelHangzhou at West Lake
By Yao Minji |
November 21, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BUSINESS trips are exhausting. Often, they mean simply traveling from the airport to the conference venue, spending the day there and having no time for sightseeing.
It can be even worse when the meetings take place in crowded and fast-paced cities with high pressure. This is one reason why cities like Hangzhou, with beautiful scenery right in the heart of downtown, have been attracting more MICE - meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions - business.
"The market will continue to grow because event planners and CEOs who organize these are looking for more than just a good and well-equipped conference room," Rudolf van Dijk, general manager of Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake, tells Shanghai Daily.
"The trend is that people don't want to go to bigger and busier cities. Instead, they want a destination that offers them various options that can help them relax away from packed meetings," says the general manager. "That is exactly our advantage. We can't accommodate large groups of people, but we are experts in exclusive and high-end events for executives who want to escape from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong."
Van Dijk's objectives are achieved by having a fantastic venue to start with.
The intimate lakeside village is steps from the West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The general manager witnessed the resort being built from scratch three years ago, yet the hotel gives the impression of having stood at the spot for centuries.
Featuring pagoda-like peaked roof pavilions, water features, including a lagoon and streams, as well as the traditional color scheme of white walls, black tiles, gray rocks and red columns, the contemporary and chic hotel has been designed into a water garden, a famous traditional architectural style in the Hangzhou region.
The design concept of such a garden is to create unlimited views in a limited space, which has been well executed in the layout of the Four Seasons. Blending into the surrounding natural views and the West Lake, the hotel also offers a sense of intimacy and tranquility through the creative arrangement of space, buildings, rocks and trees.
Even when the hotel features just 78 guest rooms - including five suites - plus three residential-style villas for families and larger parties, one can easily stroll through the garden without bumping into other guests.
As van Dijk says, the hotel is not the biggest, but it is well-equipped with top facilities for both meetings and relaxation. The 320-square-meter ballroom is on the first floor and comes with a 125-square-meter foyer with a terrace that overlooks the garden lagoon.
Three smaller conference rooms are also available for more intimate meetings, while the garden has become one of the most sought-after spots for wedding ceremonies in Hangzhou.
The picturesque Eden can host up to 220 guests for a romantic wedding ceremony in the heavenly surrounding featuring mist-covered lagoons, subtly-composed rockeries, 40 different kinds of flowers and trees and traditional buildings and corridors that match the scene.
Three years ago, when van Dijk first arrived at the city to supervise the project and the opening of the hotel, he compared the process of building a fantastic place up from zero to "having a baby." Now after three years, the baby has grown very fast but he has been overwhelmed by positive feedbacks from returning guests - reassuring him and his staff that they have been on the right track.
"Many guests are impressed by the size of our rooms, which start from 63 square meters, the sense of privacy because the rooms spread out through the spacious hotel, how easy it is to get to the West Lake and our great food and great spa treatment," van Dijk says. "They love the sense of relaxation that we provide."
A passionate cyclist, van Dijk and his family have fallen in love with Hangzhou, a place with countless great cycling routes, during his three-year stay.
"I've realized why people call this place 'the heavenly city'," he says.
The hotel general manager and his staff have designed all kinds of activities for guests who want a taste of the heavenly city after their long and tiring conferences.
West Lake offers guests a variety of options, including appreciating the famous show - Impression West Lake, directed by Zhang Yimou, or cycling around the lake, as Hangzhou is one of the few Chinese cities that provide free rental service of bikes.
For those who prefer more relaxing activities, the hotel's Jin Sha restaurant provides a diverse menu of Shanghainese, Cantonese and classic Hangzhou dishes that can be appreciated along with the beautiful garden. And nine spa treatment rooms, spacious and well-equipped, are ready for those who need some pressing and kneading, along with traditional Chinese and Asian herbal treatment.
"We don't do volume. We do quality, privacy and exclusivity," van Dijk concludes.
(Qu Zhi also contributed to the article.)
It can be even worse when the meetings take place in crowded and fast-paced cities with high pressure. This is one reason why cities like Hangzhou, with beautiful scenery right in the heart of downtown, have been attracting more MICE - meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions - business.
"The market will continue to grow because event planners and CEOs who organize these are looking for more than just a good and well-equipped conference room," Rudolf van Dijk, general manager of Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake, tells Shanghai Daily.
"The trend is that people don't want to go to bigger and busier cities. Instead, they want a destination that offers them various options that can help them relax away from packed meetings," says the general manager. "That is exactly our advantage. We can't accommodate large groups of people, but we are experts in exclusive and high-end events for executives who want to escape from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong."
Van Dijk's objectives are achieved by having a fantastic venue to start with.
The intimate lakeside village is steps from the West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The general manager witnessed the resort being built from scratch three years ago, yet the hotel gives the impression of having stood at the spot for centuries.
Featuring pagoda-like peaked roof pavilions, water features, including a lagoon and streams, as well as the traditional color scheme of white walls, black tiles, gray rocks and red columns, the contemporary and chic hotel has been designed into a water garden, a famous traditional architectural style in the Hangzhou region.
The design concept of such a garden is to create unlimited views in a limited space, which has been well executed in the layout of the Four Seasons. Blending into the surrounding natural views and the West Lake, the hotel also offers a sense of intimacy and tranquility through the creative arrangement of space, buildings, rocks and trees.
Even when the hotel features just 78 guest rooms - including five suites - plus three residential-style villas for families and larger parties, one can easily stroll through the garden without bumping into other guests.
As van Dijk says, the hotel is not the biggest, but it is well-equipped with top facilities for both meetings and relaxation. The 320-square-meter ballroom is on the first floor and comes with a 125-square-meter foyer with a terrace that overlooks the garden lagoon.
Three smaller conference rooms are also available for more intimate meetings, while the garden has become one of the most sought-after spots for wedding ceremonies in Hangzhou.
The picturesque Eden can host up to 220 guests for a romantic wedding ceremony in the heavenly surrounding featuring mist-covered lagoons, subtly-composed rockeries, 40 different kinds of flowers and trees and traditional buildings and corridors that match the scene.
Three years ago, when van Dijk first arrived at the city to supervise the project and the opening of the hotel, he compared the process of building a fantastic place up from zero to "having a baby." Now after three years, the baby has grown very fast but he has been overwhelmed by positive feedbacks from returning guests - reassuring him and his staff that they have been on the right track.
"Many guests are impressed by the size of our rooms, which start from 63 square meters, the sense of privacy because the rooms spread out through the spacious hotel, how easy it is to get to the West Lake and our great food and great spa treatment," van Dijk says. "They love the sense of relaxation that we provide."
A passionate cyclist, van Dijk and his family have fallen in love with Hangzhou, a place with countless great cycling routes, during his three-year stay.
"I've realized why people call this place 'the heavenly city'," he says.
The hotel general manager and his staff have designed all kinds of activities for guests who want a taste of the heavenly city after their long and tiring conferences.
West Lake offers guests a variety of options, including appreciating the famous show - Impression West Lake, directed by Zhang Yimou, or cycling around the lake, as Hangzhou is one of the few Chinese cities that provide free rental service of bikes.
For those who prefer more relaxing activities, the hotel's Jin Sha restaurant provides a diverse menu of Shanghainese, Cantonese and classic Hangzhou dishes that can be appreciated along with the beautiful garden. And nine spa treatment rooms, spacious and well-equipped, are ready for those who need some pressing and kneading, along with traditional Chinese and Asian herbal treatment.
"We don't do volume. We do quality, privacy and exclusivity," van Dijk concludes.
(Qu Zhi also contributed to the article.)
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