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Hot Openings: Shangri-La comes to Lhasa

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts opened a property in Lhasa, the administrative center of Tibet, on Thursday, April 17.

The 289-key Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa incorporates several elements of the local Tibetan culture. Upon arrival, guests are offered a traditional ceremonial white silk scarf and barley is thrown onto a wooden container Tibetans use to pray for a good harvest. When they reach their guestrooms, guests are served yak butter tea in Tibetan pots. The hotel’s staff gives guests a musical sendoff with traditional songs and local stringed instruments.

Lodgers Lounge, Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa
Lodgers Lounge, Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa

Guests enter through a Tibetan-style gate into a traditional Linka garden with indigenous plants and two pavilions that are lit with yak butter lamps in the evenings. The lobby’s highlight is a 21-ft (6.5-m) chandelier made of 61,000 pieces of crystal and red fabric; the chandelier’s design draws inspiration from a prayer wheel. The reception area features a hammered oxidized bronze interpretation of swirling clouds, a Tibetan symbol of unity and strength.

The cloud motif carries through the carpeting to the property’s 262 guestrooms and 17 suites. Starting in July, guests in Horizon Club rooms will have access to the Horizon Club Lounge, with concierge service, breakfast and evening cocktails.

To help guests acclimate to Lhasa’s altitude, Shangri-La Hotel, Lhasa offers a full-service clinic and a glass-walled oxygen lounge with reflexology treatments and the same oxygen level as sea level. CHI, The Spa, has a menu of massages, facials, and treatments inspired by Tibet. The hotel also offers a gym, an indoor swimming pool, and indoor and outdoor event and meeting space.

Shambala, the signature restaurant, specializes in Tibetan and Yunnan cuisine and will open in July. The space is lit with oil lanterns and decorated with Tibetan carpets, decorative metal fixtures on low ceiling beams, and an endless knot pattern that’s said to be auspicious. The Lodgers Lounge, with light snacks and beverages, shares a patio with Altitude, which offers buffets for breakfast and dinner and à la carte service for lunch; guests can try imported seafood, local cheese, and grilled yak steaks. The signature Chinese restaurant, Shang Palace, has a menu of Sichuan and Cantonese fare served in a dining area decorated with floor-to-ceiling screens; ten dining rooms are also available. Guests enter Shang Palace through a corridor decorated with six large, illuminated Tibetan drums.

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