A giant advertising signboard being built at a new Cheung Kong hotel in North Point could do more than buck up the company's balance sheet: it may make staying there a more enjoyable experience, says one Hong Kong geomancer.
The Harbour Plaza Hotel in King's Road is next door to the Hong Kong Funeral Home. The new 33-storey glass-walled hotel, which opened in March, was built in such a way that some guests could see into the parlour.
The signboard under construction is about 10 storeys high and five metres wide, mounted on a platform several floors above ground level. It will bear the hotel's logo and name, according to hotel managers.
The funeral parlour has a similar-sized signboard with North Point Funeral Home written in Chinese mounted at a lower level. 'We want to build a big signboard so people further away could see it advertising our hotel logo and name,' marketing communications manager Gladis Young said.
Putting up the signboard had nothing to do with the funeral parlour next door, she said.
But geomancer Kong Tin-yat said it was not fung shui but common sense to block a rather unpleasant view from guests. 'It's more that you suppose something is clean when you don't see it. It's a psychological effect,' he said. 'Collective grief emitting from mourners can form a strong electromagnetic field which undesirably affects the brain waves of individuals in the surrounding [area].' A hotel official said it had not received any complaints concerning its funeral parlour neighbour. Most guests had good things to say about the hotel after staying there.
