Hanoi’s Metropole to bring home The Gold from Macau (Vietnam)
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Hanoi’s Metropole to bring home The Gold from Macau (Vietnam)
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Category: Asia Pacific - Vietnam - Exclusive experiences
- Rewards
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2010-08-24
Hotel takes top award in Heritage Category in PATA Gold Awards 2010
The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi’s $20 million investment in its legacy will glitter anew at the PATA Gold Awards 2010 Sept. 17 as one of Vietnam’s most illustrious hotels accepts the top award in the Heritage category.
The award lauds the hotel for its efforts to refresh one of Southeast Asia’s most treasured properties and for Sofitel’s relaunch of the Metropole as the hotel group’s first Legend property.
“The challenge for any hotel in the Heritage category is achievement of a very delicate balance between celebration of historical charm, and satisfaction of tomorrow’s expectation,” said Kai Speth, general manager of the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi. “Where so many hotels are only thinking about today and tomorrow, we have an obligation to think about today, tomorrow and yesterday. The PATA Award persuades us that we’re on the right track.”
Conde Nast Traveler, one of the world’s top travel magazines, anticipated PATA’s (Pacific Asia Travel Association) enthusiasm for the hotel’s heritage in April when it named the hotel to its Hot List.
In 2009, the hotel won recognition on Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List and Travel + Leisure’s list of the Best 500 Hotels in the World, as well as a slew of other prestigious accolades.
The Metropole’s $20 million refurbishment funded the development of new facilities, the creation of themed suites and enhancements to furnishings and hardware. The restoration began in 2004 and was revealed as a fait accompli last year with the Legend launch.
The new facilities at the Metropole include, Angelina, a chic Italian restaurant that raised the bar on sophisticated nightlife in Hanoi. The hotel also opened Le Spa du Metropole last year. Remarkably, this was the first spa to be opened in the hotel’s 108-year history.
The Metropole’s themed suites indulge the property’s connections to Charlie Chaplin, Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, each of whom stayed at the hotel. Located in the historic, 1901-built wing, each of these suites is imbued with colonial-era aesthetics.
“When you’re in the Graham Greene suite, it’s not that difficult to imagine him sitting here, churning out the 500 words he was reputed to do every day like clockwork,” said Speth. “Being able to imagine that – to fall into that time warp, if you will — is exactly the kind of spell we’re trying to cast.”
The hotel called on designers in Bangkok and New York to prepare the hotel for refurbishment and the Legend launch (confirm the New York connection, as per Tribeca Designs).
The Metropole will accept the award at the in a ceremony at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on Sept. 17.
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