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Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has opened its its third property in Zhejiang Province to add the Shangri-la Hotel, Ningbo which joins the Shangri-La Hotel, Hangzhou and Shangri-La Hotel, Wenzhou and brings its current portfolio to 27 Mainland China hotels.Ningbo is across the Hangzhou Bay from Shanghai. It is one of China’s oldest cities. In modern times, Ningbo has become a major exporter of consumer and electrical products, textiles, food and industrial tools, and is one of China’s busiest port cities.
Ningbo is a two-hour drive from Shanghai via the Hangzhou Bay Bridge — an amazing experience in itself — and a two-hour flight from Hong Kong.
It has 563 rooms and is in the heart of the central business district, at the confluence of the Fenghua, Yuyao and Yong Rivers. It is now the city’s latest luxury hotel, it is a 20-minute drive from the airport and within walking distance of Ningbo’s largest shopping area, Tianyi Square, and major tourist attractions.
The rooms have broadband internet access, as well as integrated audio-visual equipment. Guests can interface personal electronic devices such as MP3 players, iPods and digital cameras in their rooms. This is a first in Ningbo and, for this writer, a first worldwide.
Shangri-La Hotel, Ningbo is, of course, a MICE hotel, and facilities include a 2,000-square-meter, column-free (important bit that because you would not like to be sitting behind a pillar during a presentation) and a grand ballroom.
PRNewsWire presents the usual waffle about the range of restaurants but adds there will be a nightly jazz concert. Let us hope it is nothing like the woeful nonsense which was the curse of the Peace Hotel in Shanghai.