Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai Set to Open in Mid 2012

Charged with power, high energy and confidence, Shanghai’s Pudong area is where commerce and style meet in a constantly changing, extraordinarily exciting city. In the middle of all the action, Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai is set to open this summer.

High above the urban melee, Four Seasons will offer a chic enclave from which to do business in the city, with 187 rooms, a spa and health club, and sophisticated event spaces. At the lower levels, the Hotel’s stylish restaurants and bar set the stage for guests to mingle with Pudong’s high powered executives, fashion vanguard and urban professionals for fun, food and drink. As always, the experience is facilitated by the intuitive service for which Four Seasons is renowned.

“Shanghai is a sexy city; it seduces with infinite opportunity, its glamorous past and the incredible possibilities of its future,” says Rainer Stampfer, regional vice president and general manager of the city’s second Four Seasons. “This is the environment we are creating at our new Four Seasons – a place to do business, make connections, experience the city, and live the Pudong lifestyle to its fullest.”

The Pudong district, on the eastern side of the Huangpu River in China’s largest city, literally rose from farm fields in just the past 20 years. Viewed from the historic Bund, Pudong’s skyline is a fantastical landscape of modern architecture, including the famous Oriental Pearl Tower. Now centre of the city’s financial community and home to hundreds of international corporations as well as shopping, dining, nightlife, museums and attractions, Pudong is also home to business executives and the city’s rising professional set.

Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai is centrally located in Pudong’s Lujiazui business district, in the newly-built 55-story 21st Century Tower, which also houses Ferrari Maserati. The Hotel is minutes from the Shanghai Financial Center, IFC Mall, Pearl Tower, the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium and The Bund.

The Look of Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai
Already known locally as the “jewel box,” the Gensler-designed building is both modern and timeless, with contemporary interiors by Wilson Associates inspired by Shanghai’s golden age of international trade and culture in the 1920s and 30s Art Deco period.

The rich colour palette of Shanghai red, black and grey plays across smoked glass, Makassar ebony wood, stingray leather, mirror finishes and exceptionally high grade marble, with floor to ceiling windows letting in both the views and natural light.

For today’s demanding clientele, efficiency and functionality are found throughout the Hotel, with iPod docking stations and satellite television in all 187 guest rooms including 15 suites, state-of-the-art audio visual and conferencing equipment in all event spaces, and high speed wireless internet throughout the Hotel.

Dining for Business and Pleasure at Four Seasons
At the heart of the social experience at Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai is the street level Camelia, envisioned by SPIN Design Studio. Camelia will welcome Hotel guests, local residents and business people for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and with a menu of French and Japanese cuisines created by Executive Chef Weimar Gomez, who joins the team from Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris.

Camelia’s lively whiskey bar and wine lounge will offer labels from around the world to accompany business meetings, after work drinks and evenings out with friends and colleagues. A private sushi dining room for up to 12 guests will also be available.

On the second floor is the exclusive Shàng-xí, an elegant restaurant showcasing the very best in contemporary Shanghainese and Cantonese cuisine, as well as dishes inspired by regional cooking and the finest seasonal ingredients for lunch and dinner. AB Concept Design has included a number of seats in the main restaurant, with the further opportunity to entertain and dine behind the discreet walls of five private dining rooms.

Only at Four Seasons: FLARE Spa
The intimate FLARE Spa promises a very special urban getaway where one can renew and regenerate, and indulge in a few hours of pampering and attention to beauty. Treatment rooms including two luxurious VIP spa suites with whirlpool and rainshower for two. FLARE Spa will offer the latest spa therapies using the finest products in the world, plus a full service salon.

The 24-hour fitness centre includes sauna, steam rooms and ice fountains; a brine inhalation room in the men’s area and a tepidarium room (a Roman-style bath with heated floors and walls) in the women’s area.

Guests can also stay fit in the 18 metre (59 foot) indoor lap pool. Refreshments are served as guests lounge poolside, taking in the 41st floor skyline views.

The Secrets of Success: Doing Business at Four Seasons
For those doing business in Pudong, Four Seasons will be the preferred gathering place for meetings ranging from two to 200. In addition to six private dining rooms at the restaurants that are ideal for high level conferences, entertaining clients and hosting business celebrations, the Hotel offers 800 square metres (8,611 square feet) of meeting spaces, including a divisible ballroom, three smaller salons and a boardroom.

The individual business traveller will find room appointments that allow easy setup of one’s mobile office, with a multi-lingual concierge team and 24-hour business centre for support. For timezone hopping guests, round-the-clock in-room dining is offered, including a new 15 Minute Room Service menu. As at all Four Seasons hotels, one-hour pressing, overnight shoeshine and 24-hour laundry and dry cleaning assure that one is always at their best.

With skyline views from the 35th floor, Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai will also offer an Executive Club for business travellers, offering a quiet respite for breakfast, a boardroom and a dedicated concierge.

Memorable Occasions at Four Seasons
Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai is perfect for social events, from private luncheons to charity galas and society weddings. The Hotel’s team of experienced event planners, caterers and wedding consultants works closely with event organizers and bridal couples to create one-of-a-kind occasions that are uniquely customized, with every detail planned and executed with precision. It’s no wonder that events at Four Seasons the world over are known as “worry free” – allowing planners, hosts and guests to relax and enjoy the occasion and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Life by Four Seasons: Private Residences
The 21st Century Tower is also set to be one of the city’s – indeed the country’s – most exclusive addresses. For the first time in Shanghai, Four Seasons Private Residences may be purchased by a select few who will call Four Seasons their permanent home, or perhaps use it as a pied de terre for frequent business and social visits to the city. With interior design by internationally-renowned Yabu Pushelberg, 73 fully-appointed Private Residences come with full hotel privileges, including concierge and housekeeping services, and preferred reservations at both the restaurants and Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Pudong, Shanghai.

Four Seasons in China
In 2002, Four Seasons opened its first location in China in the historic central Puxi district, steps from the French Concession. A decade later, the company’s portfolio also includes hotels in Hong Kong, Macau and Hangzhou plus another in Guangzhou set to open this year, and a dozen more in advanced stages of development throughout China.