Frequent fliers who take advantage of cheap travel options flying on cheap airplane tickets or purchasing discount travel packages often are on the lookout for something different when selecting hotels. There is an emerging trend among new Asian hotels to embrace their local settings.
The following are new hotels have considered local culture in their design:
Hotel Fort Canning in Singapore displays archaeological digs under glass in the hotels lobby floor showcasing artifacts ranging from 14th century Chinese ceramics to 19th century beer bottles. Singapores multiculturalism is reflected in the hotels touches. For example, room service meals come in wooden tiffins reflecting Singapores Indian influence.
Hotel Kanra Kyoto in Kyoto, Japan offers 29 rooms, each with a different floor plan. Every room contains a Japanese cypress bathtub, nature inspired original art and artist made teacups. Ceiling panels in the lobby display images of the sky. The hotels rooftop houses a kitchen garden that grows many of the artfully composed vegetables making up a tapas style breakfast in its restaurant.
Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai has restored many of its historic features including a lobby stained glass rotunda and a nonfunctioning antique wood paneled elevator. It houses an exhibition hall for period art and artifacts that is overseen by a resident historian.
Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake in Hangzhou, China offers a series of pavilions capped by peaked roofs consistent with the regional style of traditional architecture. The resorts nine room spa offers treatments that include a bath steeped in 60,000 tea leaves from the local longjing tea bush. The restaurants specialties include fish soup with whelks and a fungus known as cordyceps, among other locally sourced fare.
Six Senses Con Dao in Con Son Island Vietnam encourages living close to nature. Each of its 50 beachfront villas have ocean facing walls of sliding glass doors, private plunge pools and bathrooms featuring open air showers. A craft shop, art gallery and library line a row of wood frame dwellings. Its spa offers green tea scrubs, stretching classes, and traditional Vietnamese botanical based hair washes. www.cheapfares.com