Rosewood Beijing opens next month in a setting that evokes the feel of a mansion.

Rosewood Beijing opens next month in a setting that evokes the feel of a mansion.

 

Apparently a luxury memo was sent out recently and Beijing was the first to receive it. The luxury sphere has been atwitter lately with haute happenings from one of China’s major metropolises. First to make its grand debut will be the Rosewood Beijing, slated to open in October. This will be the first China hotel for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.

The ultra-luxe hotel will be in a prime downtown position. Passing between the towering “Sons of Dragon” statues guarding the entrance and arriving at a foliage-filled courtyard, visitors will feel like they have entered a private mansion tucked away from the highways and hutongs of Beijing. Nice!

Guest rooms start at 538 square feet. Of the 283 rooms, 16 will be Grand Studios, 31 Manor Suites, five Spa Suites, 15 Rosewood Suites and a Presidential Suite. Six restaurants and lounges and a Sense spa with six treatment rooms and five spa suites for overnight stays round off the amenities. Posh Touch: Treatment rooms have balconies. Travel advisors can contact Dianna Balabon ([email protected]), VP of sales & marketing for Rosewood, for A-lister arrangements.

We’re not done. In 2015, Beijing gets a Mandarin Oriental in the new headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV), located in the city’s central business district. Cool Touch: Two restaurants on the top two floors of the hotel will be linked by a champagne bar suspended over the staircase. Luxe indeed. It all means guests will have a birds-eye view of the cityscape. Six dining and drinking venues and an 11-room spa are also on tap.

To experience Beijing up close, we suggest a private guide in the form of Lin Xu of VariArts Travel. Our group publisher, John McMahon, toured with Xu last year on his visit to Beijing, where he stayed at the St. Regis and visited the Shijia Hutong Museum, which aims preserve hutong history. Hutongs are narrow streets with courtyard residences; many are being torn down as Beijing continues to evolve.