Hangzhou Jiutai Hotel

Diaoyutai Hangzhou is an innovation. There are mainly three types of Chinese-style hotels in my mind. The first type is exemplified by Amanfayun, whose goal is to materialize the kind of serene village way of life portrayed in many of Tao Yuanming’s poems. The second type is represented by the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, which builds on a strong European colonial background fused with a little bit of romanticized Chinese elements. Most of the top-tier hotels in Hong Kong with some histories, such as the Mandarin Oriental and the Peninsula, are also of this type. The third type is more common. The White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou is a typical example of that. This type of Chinese-style hotel was mostly built in the early phase of China’s economic reform. They, in my opinion, often pursue grandness quite blindly, often to the extent of being ribald. They capture the shape of Chinese elements but not their soul. Diaoyutai Hangzhou is an innovation because it is a highly Chinese hotel but does not fall into these three categories. It has created a new and enjoyable way to incorporate Chinese elements into a hotel. I believe I am not an exception that I got wowed by Diaoyutai Hangzhou when I stepped into its lobby. Have you ever watched the Chinese TV series portraying one of those great halls in the Forbidden City in their heyday? That sense of awe-striking imposingness and a delusion that countless treasures hide inside? It was approximately the impression that I got when stepping into Diaoyutai. Diaoyutai Hangzhou has an astonishingly spacious lobby with an astonishingly high ceiling. Such an enormous sense of space is filled with countless Chinese art pieces and delicate furniture. Diaoyutai Hangzhou is not shy from using massive furniture but does not allow it to become something big but void. No matter how huge the furniture is, the hotel insists on thoughtfully crafting it. For instance, if we look more closely, we can easily find that even the sofas and the chairs are art pieces that deserve appreciation, not to mention the vase and plants next to them. Simply speaking, the hotel does not miss any chance to exhibit traditional Chinese arts and craftsmanship. Often, if a hotel decides to head in this direction of being Chinese art-heavy, it can easily fall into the trap of being overwhelming, that it feels like the hotel is randomly flooding a lot of art pieces together. Fortunately, Diaoyutai Hangzhou escapes from this trap. It knows where to craft and where to leave its guests with some emptiness. Also, like its gut in using hefty furniture, Diaoyutai Hangzhou is not afraid of using the air space of its tall lobby. It has super tall Chinese-style screens that reach all the way to the ceiling, grid-patterned lights hanging down from the high top, and imposing moon gates separating the lobby into different sections. Such an aggressive use of air space is dangerous since, if it fails slightly, it can create a chaotic visual effect. Nonetheless, Diaoyutai Hangzhou succeeds in this dangerous experiment. This creates a lovely sense of visual complexity that seems to store endless details within. While the lobby is like a stately hall inside a grand palace, the room in Diaoyutai Hangzhou is like the Chinese chamber of the British Museum. I can see that the hotel intentionally tries to make the setting of its rooms as simple as possible: it widely adopts the color match of white and wooden color without putting many details on most parts of the room. This simple setting brings a sense of emptiness that beautifully neutralizes the exquisiteness of the room's few but highly well-crafted parts, such as its tea desk and the ground-to-ceiling yellow water lily wall. Such a match between sophistication and voidness enables the room to avoid being packed with details, which can derive a sense of discomfort. That is why I wrote that the room in Diaoyutai Hangzhou is a like a Chinese chamber of the British Museum – the minimalistic environment of the chamber allows visitors to empty their minds to be indulged in the beauty of Chinese arts and history, without letting the interior design viciously compete for attention with the exhibited items. In other words, the room is delicate without being annoying; full of a sense of culture without losing its freshness. Other than the interior design, there are two more exciting qualities of the room in Diaoyutai Hangzhou. Firstly, the room is spacious. I mean, extremely spacious. In fact, it is the biggest basic room I have ever stayed in in China. I guess it is nearly three times bigger than the basic room of the Park Hyatt nearby, which is already not a small one. Of course, as described above, such spaciousness does not result in emptiness since the hotel can always add the appropriate arts in the proper spot. The second fantastic quality of the room is that it enjoys a truly astonishing view over the Qiantang River. The hotel's location is as such: we have the flowering Qiantang Century City immediately across the broad and calm Qiantang River. On our side of the river, the long riverfront park runs right before us. The narrow strip of park is the only thing separating the hotel from the river. Thanks to such a prime location, the room enjoys a frontline, unblocked, and panoramic view over the mighty Qiantang River and Qiantang Century City. What makes the view even more Hangzhou is that the entire magnificent view is decorated by a line of green from the riverfront park immediately below us. Traditional Shanshui painting values the existence of both close and far-away views. If a picture only contains a far-away view, it lacks the necessary stability to be pretty. Therefore the view from Diaoyutai Hangzhou is precisely a magnificent contemporary Shanshui painting. It is not difficult to have a room with a panoramic river view, but it is rare to encounter one with a painting-like view. The whole picture becomes even more adorable if we visit the hotel in the fall, when the view is not only decorated by the green trees but also the golden, yellow, and red leaves! What can be more orientally elegant than sitting in such a cultivated and airy room appreciating the flow of a grand river mentioned in countless beautiful Chinese poets? Regarding the services, to be honest, I initially did not have much expectation on Diaoyutai Hangzhou. This is because it is still, unfortunately, rare to encounter a Chinese hotel brand that can constantly deliver first-class services. However, the people I encountered at Diaoyutai Hangzhou were, in fact, highly professional. It is hard to distinguish the service at Diaoyutai and those from the established international brands such as the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton. In other words, the people at Diaoyutai were not merely helpful when I asked them for help; they would actively check if I needed any help before I even asked. More importantly, they did not simply help. They helped with passion. This is, in my mind, the primary difference between a top hotel and a good hotel. The people in good hotels are often also helpful, but they do it highly mechanically. For instance, during check-in, they would give us all the necessary information very quickly, but there would be no person-to-person conversation in between. It is like a hotel full of cold machines. Diaoyutai Hangzhou is not like that. For instance, Gloria is the lady who helped me with the check-in. Gloria could process everything very quickly while maintaining an adorable manner. More importantly, she could aptly fuse the dry check-in process with light and lively conservations, in a highly elegant manner, of course. This makes the check-in process a delightful time. It sounds simple but is precisely the most skill-demanding part of service, and Diaoyutai Hangzhou could very well master that. Therefore, I cannot see any reason for me not to conclude that the service aspect of Diaoyutai Hangzhou has already reached, if not succeeded, the level of the highly established international brands. Thank you, Gloria and Diaoyutai Hangzhou! I hope you will continue to lead the development of Chinese domestic hotel brands. Diaoyutai Hangzhou is a very fine hotel in my mind. Not because it has a strong Chinese character but because it has a strong Chinese character in an innovative way that maintains a strong traditional favor while satisfactorily entertaining contemporary fashion. In an age where most high-end hotels celebrate either western or contemporary style, it is such a refreshing experience to stay at Diaoyutai Hangzhou.