Luxury chain Kerry Hotels debuts in Shanghai

(Shangri-La)

Shangri-La has debuted a new luxury five star brand with the opening of a new hotel in Shanghai February 18.

Kerry Hotels is a new five-star contemporary brand from Shangri-La which the company says provides "a seamless link between business, entertainment and recreation."

The new Shanghai Pudong property offers 574 guestrooms decked out with the latest technology such as DVD players, Nespresso machines, iPod docking stations and 40-inch televisions, all held within in-room consoles that also feature high stools and minibars.

As one would expect from a luxury brand, round-the-clock butler service is available on the seven floors of club-class accommodation, although the new dining/entertainment concept developed by Stickman Tribe (which also counts the Ritz Carlton Sharm El Sheik and the Conrad Hilton Dubai among its clients) is likely to be of more interest.

Here, the hotel's dining experience is broken down into three sections - the COOK, MEET and BREW - with COOK offering arguably the most impressive experience in the form of 11 live show kitchens cooking a panoply of Asian cuisine for an à la carte restaurant that seats 365 people.

The BREW, a contemporary pub with views of Shanghai's Century Park, is centred around enormous three-storey steel brewing vats which stretch up to the MEET, a steakhouse set to open in April.

Clearly not a brand that intends to do things by halves, the Kerry Shanghai is also home to Shanghai's largest hotel sports club, the 6,000 square meter, three-floor Kerry Sports, which offers everything from spinning classes to a children's fantasy playground and a Chinese day spa also set to open in April.

The next Kerry Hotel is scheduled to open in Beijing next year, although a spokesperson for Shangri-La told Relaxnews that Kerry is "definitely a global brand," so it may not be too long before a new property opens up outside of Shangri-La's traditional Asian stomping ground.

It will join a host of top-end "lifestyle" brands launched in the past year by well-known hotel chains, including Jumeirah's new VENU Hotels and Vivanta by Taj.

http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/shanghai/kerryhotelpudong