Yesterday I learned a piece of stunning news over China International Radio to the effect that the most underdeveloped district in Beijing – Mentougou District (the west suburbs of Beijing) would build a seven-star hotel similar to the design of the Burj Kahlifa in Dubai.
It is said that the 7 star hotel in Beijing will cost 1 billion euros at least! This first seven star hotel in Beijing will be built in cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A 500-meter-high tour tower at the west end of the extended Chang’an Street as a new landmark of the Mentougou District will be constructed.
Like a farmer boy, I’m quite ignorant of what the seven star hotel will be like and fail to imagine how luxury the hotel will be. I have to search online for the photos of only seven star hotel Burj Al Arab Hotel to feed myself.
It is said that there are two ways of entering Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai either by going by Rolls-Royce or helicopter. Maybe a bit exaggerated, but it is certain that ordinary people cannot afford to come to such a luxurious hotel.
Although Mentougou District cannot be compared with Dubai, Mentougou should not be worried about the clients. Here, after all, it is Beijing, the capital where the rich people get together. It is sure that no ordinary working-class people can afford it, such laid-off workers, farmers. So who are the hotel’s target customers? It is estimated that they are real estate businessmen, the big boss of a class of “get rich first” and nobility. They have money, and it is nothing wrong for them to enjoy the luxury. We are used to waching them spending extravagantly.
However, I don’t know whether the seven-star hotel will aslo attract the customer spending of “public funds” (spending the money from the government). It will become “Golden Cave” of a number of public servants. This is not just an abstract speculation. There are no top-level domestic venues without the “support” of these “public funds” in China.
People with “Public Funds” never talk about prices. The more expensive, the better in term of showing their the identity. I’m also worried that the seven-star hotel in Beijing will become the resort of a number of meetings, training courses, seminars and net working place using “public spending”.
One big reason for the local officials in Mentougou District to break the groud for the seven star hotel is that it will bring more tourists both home and abroad and boost the local economy. Well, as for the international tourists, in my opinion, they are more interested in Chinese culture and history, something unique in China. Why fly thousand miles to enjoy so called “western luxury”?
Maybe the decision makers of the seven star hotel are standing on the 20th floor with a better view while I’m only on the 5th floor with limited eyeight.
Maybe, I’m too worried about the 7 star hotel, which is still at the planning stage.