Suzhou’s burgeoning hotel inventory receives a fresh infusion with the arrival of The Chedi Club in early 2013 – the first member of the lifestyle-oriented GHM group to put down stakes in China.
Featuring just 36 rooms, this exclusive sanctuary takes up the top floors of Global 188, a complex of Grade-A offices, high-end commercial spaces and an upscale serviced apartment project in downtown Suzhou. Touted to be the city’s tallest structure upon opening, the tower features a slick all-glass facade.
Positioning itself as an urban retreat, The Chedi Club plans to have a rooftop restaurant as well as a health club and spa with 12 treatment rooms, including a reflexology salon. Well-known designer Jaya Ibrahim and hotel general manager Giulio D’Alberto are now putting the finishing touches to create an ambiance that both say blends elements of cool and Suzhou aesthetics.
Dubbed the “Venice of the East” for the intricate network of canals interlacing the city and feeding its renowned classical gardens, Suzhou was for centuries a willow-lined, picturesque place for the wealthy and literate to retire to. The arrival of the Singapore-backed Suzhou Industrial Park, followed by the government-led Suzhou High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in the ‘90s turned the prevailing bucolic pace into one of frenzied development, which hasn’t stopped since. Another future landmark will be the Suzhou Centre of Capital Land, again by Singaporean investors, which stands out even in construction phase due to its distinctive curving twin towers.
The Chedi Club joins a market that has already welcomed the likes of the Kempinski, Pan Pacific, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Marco Polo and Shangri-La, and lately, the chic Torino Lamborghini hotel – the brand’s first China property and second for its fledgling chain (click here for more details).
For more on The Chedi Club, visit www.GHMhotels.com
Margie T Logarta