Riverside retreat

Banyan Tree debuts in Shanghai on a secluded North Bund greenbelt, Matthew Fulco reports.

Shanghai's geography is a boon for imaginative hoteliers. The 113-kilometer Huangpu River, the last major tributary of the Yangtze River before it empties into the East China Sea, cleaves the city of more than 20 million into east and west. Massive tankers move millions of tons of cargo along the Huangpu around the clock, making Shanghai the world's busiest container port. Viewing the activity from afar at twilight, against the luminous backdrop of the Lujiazui skyline, you can sense the city's ambitions. Those in the right company might even feel romantic.

That emotional resonance means the view sells. It's the main attraction in a city famed largely for its commercial prowess.

At Banyan Tree's resort on the North Bund, which launched earlier this month, postcard river views form the cornerstone of a guest experience new to the city, says Pancho Llamas, general manager of the property and a 10-year veteran of the Singapore-based hospitality group.

"Many hotels offer a room with a view. We provide a view with a room," he says, adding that all 130 rooms and suites look onto river vistas, a first for Shanghai.

Oversized windows and an arched floor plan accentuate the grandeur of the scenery, creating a sense of drama as you gaze out at the water and skyscrapers. Even from the third floor, you feel the city is at your feet.

Intriguingly, Banyan Tree has outfitted the tonier guestrooms with indoor dipping pools by the window, judging wisely that the waterside location would put guests in the mood for a swim. The azure-colored pools look as if they were airlifted from one of Banyan Tree's more luxuriant locales in Southeast Asia, adding an exotic flavor to the rooms that couples will enjoy. Before taking a dip in the pool, just be sure you're feeling vigorous. The New Age greeting music playing from the television might otherwise induce slumber.

Banyan Tree Shanghai On The Bund is the group's fourth "urban resort" after properties in Bangkok, Macau and Seoul, created "so the leisure market can enjoy the city," Llamas says.

To Banyan Tree's credit, the North Bund resort enjoys as idyllic a location as central Shanghai can offer. You don't need to be a feng shui master to appreciate the river panorama and leafy greenbelt, the latter spanning nearly 2 kilometers along the Huangpu River.

The hotel lies just far enough from the action to feel secluded, tucked away on a quiet block in the vestiges of a traditional Shanghainese neighborhood in the historic Hongkou district. Conspicuously absent are the hordes of wide-eyed tourists that frequent the central Bund thoroughfare along Zhongshan East Road.

That air of seclusion will attract celebrities eager for anonymity, Llamas says.

Guests, he predicts, will come largely from the domestic market, where the Banyan Tree brand is well established and has longstanding partnerships with many travel agencies.

As the hotel's first helmsman, Llamas aims to win hearts and minds once operations are stabilized.

"You have to surprise and impress guests," he says. "Luxurious facilities are just a small part of that. It's more about creating a vivid emotional experience, something that lingers in the memory long after the end of a stay here.

"If a guest wants to be chauffeured in a Rolls Royce, we can arrange that. But if the guest is a little more adventurous and wants to tour the city on the back of a motorbike, we can do that, too."

Banyan Tree enthusiasts will cheer the group's plans to open a second Shanghai hotel next year just down the river on the South Bund. Slated for a launch in the third or fourth quarter of 2013, the Shanghai Riverside will feature thirty traditional Chinese villas. Banyan Tree may arrange a boat to shuttle guests between the two Bund properties, Llamas says.

Overall, Banyan Tree has big plans for China, with more than 10 projects in the pipeline scheduled to launch by the end of next year across the country from Tianjin to Tibet.

Llamas, meanwhile, looks forward to experiencing winter in China.

"This is the first place I have lived where it gets cold in the winter," he says. "I am going to take my family skiing up North."

Contact the writer at matthew.fulco@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 10/27/2012 page13)