Park Hyatt Shanghai

The lift from the ground floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center climbs 87 floors before its doors open on the reception of Park Hyatt Shanghai. The hotel fills floors 79 to 93 of the tower on Century Avenue in Lujiazui, the financial district of Pudong, and on a clear day its windows look down on the Bund, the Huangpu and most of the city.

History

The tower was developed by Mori Building, the Tokyo company led by Minoru Mori. Foundations were laid in 1997, but the Asian financial crisis halted work, and construction resumed in 2003 on a taller design. The building was completed in 2008 at 492 metres, and the Park Hyatt opened that year in its upper floors.

At opening it was the highest hotel in the world. It held that position until 2011, when the Ritz-Carlton opened at the top of the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong. The skyline around it has kept rising since: the Jin Mao Tower stands on one side, and the taller Shanghai Tower was completed on the other.

Architecture and design

The tower was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox of New York. Its shape is a square prism cut by two sweeping curves that narrow it to a single edge at the top, where a trapezoidal opening passes right through the building. The opening was planned as a circle and changed during development. Shanghai residents call the tower the bottle opener, and the name has stuck.

The hotel interiors are the work of Tony Chi, the New York designer, who kept them quiet against the drama outside. Stone, dark timber and pale fabrics dominate. Corridors are lit low, doors are heavy, and the decoration draws on Chinese references without quoting them directly. The effect is closer to a private residence than to a hotel tower, and the views do the rest.

Rooms and suites

There are 174 rooms and suites, all placed high above the city. Bathrooms are large, with deep baths set by the windows, separate rain showers and stone throughout. Bedrooms face either the river and the Bund or the wider sprawl of Pudong, and the higher suites add living rooms and dining areas. Window seats are built in, and blinds and lighting are controlled from the bedside.

Dining

100 Century Avenue, named after the tower's address, is the hotel's main restaurant, on the 91st floor. It is arranged around open kitchens serving Chinese, Japanese and western cooking, and its tables run along the windows. Further bars and lounges sit on the upper floors, where an evening drink comes with the lights of the Bund far below and, on some nights, with cloud drifting past the glass.

Wellness

Water's Edge, the spa and fitness floor, is on the 85th floor. Its indoor infinity pool runs along the windows, so that swimmers face the city from more than 300 metres up. The floor also holds treatment rooms, a gym and studios for exercise classes.

Location

The hotel's address is 100 Century Avenue, in the heart of Lujiazui. Lujiazui station on Metro Line 2 is close by, linking the district to People's Square and Nanjing Road under the river. Shanghai Pudong International Airport is the nearer of the city's two airports, and Hongqiao serves domestic flights and high-speed trains. The Bund is directly across the Huangpu, either by metro, by ferry or by taxi through the river tunnels. For a luxury hotel in Shanghai built around altitude rather than history, it set the standard when it opened, and the observation decks above it on floors 94 to 100 draw visitors who will never see the rooms.