One of communist China’s first luxury hotels reopens in Beijing as the BEI Zhaolong Hotel
- First opened in 1985, the ‘legendary’ Zhaolong Hotel was named after the father of Hong Kong shipping tycoon Pao Yue-kong
Hyatt recently launched the BEI Zhaolong Hotel in Beijing’s Sanlitun district, following an extensive renovation of what its opening press release describes as the “legendary” Zhaolong Hotel. The property was one of communist China’s first luxury hotels when it opened, in October 1985, a few months after Sheraton took over the running of the loss-making, state-managed Great Wall Hotel, just up the road.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in the US, holds Edward Hopper exhibition
In his 2002 bestseller The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton notes that American artist Edward Hopper crossed the United States five times between 1941 and 1955, staying in “Best Western motels, Del Haven cabins, Alamo Plaza courts and Blue Top lodges”. These were the kind of places – “whose neon signs blink ‘Vacancy, TV, Bath’ from the side of the road” – where he found inspiration for some of the greatest travel-themed paintings of the 20th century.
Starting with upbeat travel-trade magazine covers for the likes of Hotel Management and Tavern Topics in the 1920s, Hopper finally found fame presenting the stark solitude of life on the road in realist oil paintings such as Hotel Lobby (1943), Hotel Window (1955) and Western Motel (1957; above). On trains, too, he placed his always perfectly lit, pensive characters, in Compartment C, Car 293 (1938) and Chair Car (1965).
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in Richmond, has a new exhibition titled “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel”, hailed as “the first in-depth study of hospitality settings depicted in the works of one of the most celebrated American artists”. On show are more than 60 of Hopper’s paintings, drawings and magazine-cover illustrations, as well as works in a similar vein by the likes of John Singer Sargent and David Hockney. Sadly, although the exhibition runs until February 23, various accommodation packages involving an overnight stay in a 3D recreation of “Western Motel” are already fully booked.
Highest sky deck in the Western Hemisphere to open in New York City
Hong Kong’s first observation deck, incidentally, opened on February 29, 1868, at the junction of Queen’s Road and Pedder Street. It was an octagonal cupola with eight windows, reached by a spiral staircase from the fourth floor of the new Hongkong Hotel, from where, it was reported, “a fine view is obtained of the harbour and island”. It would have been barely 20 metres high.
Deal of the week – two nights in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Jebsen Holidays’ two-night Ho Chi Minh City package starts from HK$2,520 per person (twin share) for a stay at the Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon, which is a fairly comfortable property located about halfway between the airport and the more popular downtown areas. A step up, at least in terms of location, is the New World Saigon Hotel, which is offered from HK$2,770, but the Caravelle is better overall, starting from HK$3,380.
