The Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney, has reopened 90 newly renovated Horizon Club rooms and the Horizon Club Lounge.
The Lounge, which is on Level 30, is now more than 20 percent larger and offers unobstructed view of Sydney's two biggest landmarks, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, through 42 feet high windows.
The 90 Horizon Club rooms and suites on the hotel’s six highest accommodation levels recently reopened, with two new larger rooms created after the removal of one suite. There is now an additional Grand Harbour View room and a Darling Harbour View room plus an upgraded disability accessible room.
The hotel rooms, which were last refurbished in 2006, have a new contemporary design with a pale gold and blue décor theme to reflect the colors of Sydney Harbour, against blonde timber panelled wardrobe doors and furniture and a custom-made embossed cherry blossom wallpaper motif behind the headboard and seating area.
Each premium room has cushioned window seats, a mini-bar, timber dresser with chair and an executive desk with built-in multi-plug international sockets, plus espresso machine, iHome dock, Bluetooth media hub and complimentary Wi-Fi Internet access. Bathrooms have a marble bath and separate shower and new vanities with illuminated mirrors.
The Royal Suite has the hotel’s biggest bedroom, a double lounge room, executive study room and dining room with seating for ten next to a kitchenette. The renovation refreshed the suite's soft furnishings.
The Presidential Suite commands the highest position of any suite in the hotel and has 170 square meters (about 1,829 square feet) of living space, with one bedroom, separate sitting room, kitchenette and dining room and a refreshed décor with new carpets and upholstery.
For the lounge, the original architect's concept was that of a lighthouse sitting at the head of the harbour foreshore. The Horizon Club lounge acts as the main viewing point from the building and glows like the lamp of a lighthouse.
The club lounge’s expanded dining area now accommodates 123 guests, with an additional 47 seats, and features one of Sydney’s only communal tables in a hotel club lounge – an about 13-foot-long marble-topped solid timber centerpiece with a cold well from which guests can help themselves to premium Australian wines and sparkling wines. Hand-painted Australian native flora mural designs decorate the walls.
A new brass telescope is on hand to take in sweeping views of Sydney Harbour, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
A brass and crystal LED chandelier by Mark Elliot, principal of Australian designers Point of View, suspends three giant brass rings of about 5 feet to 11 feet in diameter. Its glow can be seen from many points of the Sydney Harbour foreshore.
Grace Lei Guo, director of Sydney design firm Stack Studio, headed the redesign, having completed several Shangri-La hotel projects.