SHANGHAI
EDITOR’S CHOICE
SHANGHAI Peace of history
By Louis Allen, who was a guest of Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai.
Get your feet wet
With an unobstructed view of The Bund and Pudong in Shanghai, the Vue Bar at Hyatt on The Bund is proving an evening drawcard – and not just for the panorama but also for its spa pool. Because of its popularity, the bar is
expensive for a sole booking for a group, but there are options. The bar has two floors, so can be rented by the floor or by section. Catering is available. INFO
shanghai.bund.hyatt.com
ULURU, AUSTRALIA Meetings boost for red centre
In Australia’s red centre, Voyages Indige- nous Tourism is spending A$10 million on redeveloping and expanding its conference venues, renamed Uluru Meeting Place to acknowledge the local Anangu aboriginals, who have used the area as a meeting place for tens of thousands of years. To mark the opening of the complex in October, Voyages is offering an incentive program for meeting planners, rewarding them with travel incentives that include a stay at luxury property Longitude 131° whenever they book an event or conference. Uluru Meeting Place is part of a $25
million refurbishment that includes the five-star Sails in the Desert hotel. New contemporary interiors reflect the Aborigine heritage of the location, and the complex includes a new sub-dividible ballroom (seating 420 people) plus a
ballroom/amphitheatre (300 people) that can also be split to create an integrated conference arena. Working with its partner Accor, the
Voyages group plans to build its con- ference and events business. Profits from Voyages business activities
are used by the group’s owner, the Indi- genous Land Corporation, toward building the resort experience and supporting indigenous training and employment. Team-building activities at Uluru –
site of the Uluru monolith also known as Ayers Rock – include Aboriginal dot painting, the Uluru sunrise experience, camel riding and dinner under the outback sky (Sounds of Silence). Delegates can also take part in indigenous experiences such as performances and boomerang painting. INFO
www.ulurumeetingplace.com.au
Heritage program consultant and historian Jenny Laing-Peace points out the original hotel on the site as depicted in a hammered metal artwork in the foyer.
When the Toronto-based Fairmont group started renovating the famous Peace Hotel in Shanghai nearly four years ago, there was a surprise when workers knocked down a partition to find an octagonal atrium, shut away when a government department occupied the property for a few years. Now, with its bas-relief metal panels depicting early Shanghai, the foyer is a feature of the Fairmont Peace Hotel. Groups visiting the revitalised 83-year-old property can take a guided tour with the hotel’s historian, Australian Jenny Laing-Peace. There are 270 deluxe guest rooms and suites in the hotel, plus six restaurants and lounges including the Jazz Bar, a Shanghai institution since the 1930s, with its “old man” resident jazz band. On the eighth floor is the Peace Hall with its sprung timber dance floor, plus several meeting rooms and a terrace. On the 10th floor, the Presidential Suite occupies the penthouse where the hotel’s flamboyant creator and former owner Victor Sassoon once lived. Famous visitors include US Presidents
Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, while Noel Coward wrote Private Lives while convalescing from influenza at the hotel in 1929. Today, the property is ideal for corporate events and high-end incentive groups. INFO
www.fairmont.com/PeaceHotel
A corner of the Presidential Suite in the hotel – originally the penthouse home of the hotel’s creator, Victor Sassoon.
ISSUE THREE 2012 |
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