Original Release: [Shangri-la Archive]
New Luxury Hotel In Vancouver Signals Shangri-La Expansion Into North America
Updated: July 2006
Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, reinforced its expansion outside Asia Pacific with a management agreement for a five-star deluxe hotel in Vancouver, Canada opening early 2008. The hotel is being jointly developed by Vancouver-based Peterson Investment Group and Westbank Projects Corp.
The deluxe Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver will be strategically located one block from the city’s premier business address at West Georgia and Thurlow Street. Set in the heart of the city, the hotel is an easy walk to all downtown offices, shopping, restaurants, theatres, the convention centre, the world-famous Stanley Park, and a half block from the popular shopping district on Robson Street.
The hotel will occupy fifteen floors of a new 62-storey landmark building, the tallest in Vancouver with cutting-edge architectural design. The entire multi-purpose complex will showcase innovative residential living, a sculpture galleria curated by the Vancouver Art Gallery, high-end retail shopping, innovative live/work condominiums, creative restaurants and the Shangri-La Hotel, all in all “the best of cosmopolitan West Coast life”.
Contemporary in style, the hotel’s 120 guestrooms and services will follow the operating philosophy of the “Horizon Club” floors, Shangri-La’s exclusive retreat for discerning travelers, offering a host of special amenities and privileges such as round-the-clock personal butler service and express check-in and check-out services. There will be five types of guestrooms averaging 550 square feet (approximately 51 square meters). All accommodation will incorporate three components to deliver a suite-type concept: an oversized bathroom with separate shower; bed area; and living/working area.
Shangri-La services and facilities will include 24-hour room service, express laundry and valet service, satellite digital TV, wireless broadband internet service, Sensurround AV system and LCD television monitors in both the living room and bathroom.
The Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver will provide a creative feature restaurant with outdoor seasonal dining, a lobby lounge serving light meals with a bar overlooking the Vancouver Art Gallery Public Art Site, and a juice bar serving guests in the spa and pool area. The hotel’s intimate function and private dining facilities will feature three rooms with seating capacity for 16 to 80 people, a canopied exterior terrace with access to the function rooms, library with fireplace and a 48-seat screening theatre.
Other major hotel facilities will include a business centre, extensive fitness facilities including a Pilates and stretch area and a year-round outdoor infinity pool and whirlpool. Shangri-La’s new CHI spa concept will debut in North America when the hotel opens. CHI fuses centuries-old healing traditions, philosophies and rituals from China and the Himalayas, offering a rich Tibetan theme and style. This 6,500-square-feet (640-square-metre) spa is expected to be the largest in Vancouver.
Commenting on the new hotel, Shangri-La’s chief executive officer and managing director, Giovanni Angelini, said, “It is a wonderful opportunity for Shangri-La to enter the North American market with this landmark hotel and dedicated partners. It is an important step in the group’s expansion plans outside Asia Pacific to develop Shangri-La hotels in international gateway cities around the world, targeting the prime North American market plus the fast-growing outbound traffic from China and the rest of Asia.”
Ian Gillespie, president of Westbank Projects Corp., added, “We selected Shangri-La to manage the hotel due to the strength of its award-winning brand and its reputation for service excellence and Asian hospitality. The group will introduce our hotel to its loyal guests including its more than 400,000-strong Golden Circle membership and via its network of hotels and worldwide sales offices. The appointment of Shangri-La reflects our focus on becoming a major force in the hospitality industry.”
Peterson Investment Group and Westbank Projects Corp. have developed over $2 billion in projects consisting of over 3.8 million square feet of retail, mixed use, residential and office developments. The group is one of the most active integrated development companies on the west coast of North America. The product mix includes luxury condominiums, urban infill housing, class A office space, neighborhood grocery anchored shopping centers, rental apartments and hotels.
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, currently manages 49 hotels under the five-star Shangri-La and four-star Traders brands, with a rooms inventory of over 23,000.? The group has over 40 projects under development in Canada, mainland China, France, India, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Qatar, Seychelles, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States. For more information and reservations, please contact a travel professional or access the website at http://www.shangri-la.com.
