I have a few friends who love staying at hotels, and I do too, so I’ve been wanting to start a series about hotels I’ve personally experienced—beautiful ones, storied ones, historic ones, disappointing ones, quirky ones, unusual ones.

When I sat down to write this piece, the first hotel that came to mind was unexpectedly an ordinary Hyatt Place near Changsha Airport. I call it ordinary because in both function and price, it’s far from the luxury-hotel tier, yet the design inside and out left a deep impression on me.

The hotel is a curved building facing an artificial lake. Together with the landscaping and circular walking path, it looks almost like a budget version of a resort hotel.

Feicha @djkingsly

The exterior uses large expanses of blue, gray, and white glass, giving it a distinctly modern feel.

At first I assumed it was a new building. But when I got curious and looked into the hotel’s history, then found an old photo of the original structure, I was amazed by how good design can breathe new life into a building that was nearly obsolete.

The stiff, oversized round columns on both sides were transformed into dynamic forms that I first thought were torches, only to realize later that they were inspired by the blooming azalea, the city flower of Changsha.

At this time of year, the Hunan Botanical Garden should be full of azaleas in all kinds of shapes and colors.

The hotel’s most striking design feature is its open atrium, something you don’t see as often in newly built hotels anymore.

Looking up, it feels as if you’re standing inside an endless space tunnel, and suddenly scenes from all kinds of sci-fi movies flash through your mind.

Looking down from the top floor, though, it resembles an endlessly nested spiral slide—except you worry about dropping something onto the plants below.

Coincidentally, Hyatt’s very first hotel was also a small motel near Los Angeles International Airport.

And the Hyatt Regency Atlanta was where the extraordinarily influential “father of the atrium,” John Portman, first brought the vertical atrium concept to the hotel industry—and really to architecture as a whole.

Back then, every investor rejected Portman’s design for the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. The only person with the vision to back it was Jay Pritzker, who at the time was still the owner of a small motel chain.

The result was a smash hit. After that Atlanta property made a huge splash, Hyatt began pulling ahead and eventually became one of the world’s top hotel management groups.

As an aside, the Portman Ritz-Carlton Shanghai and Shanghai Centre—both remembered by many old Shanghainese as symbols of cosmopolitan luxury—were also designed by Portman’s firm. He passed away 3 years earlier, leaving behind many classics.

Passing through the lobby during the day and looking up again, the ceiling and railings—without the help of dramatic lighting—show a completely different kind of light and shadow.

Every time I stepped out of my room, I felt like I was on a spaceship headed to Mars—or at least on the set of The Wandering Earth.

The corridors are ordinary, but very comfortable. At first I didn’t know what the little dots on the room-number plaques were, and then it suddenly clicked: Braille.

The lobby, on the other hand, is anything but minimalist—bright, festive, and full of energy.

The hotel has seven floors in total, with guest rooms starting on the second floor. On my first stay I was on the third floor. The room itself was very ordinary, basically the standard setup for a midscale business hotel, but I was immediately drawn to a bare tree outside the window. It had a certain charm.

Coming back to the room at dusk to work by the window, making a pot of tea, and looking up at the tree was incredibly relaxing.

At sunset, the lake became especially calm, like a mirror. Through the curtains, I watched the sun slowly sink behind the hills.

So for my second stay, I requested the third floor in advance—only to be assigned the seventh floor again.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining: I ended up with the best possible view overlooking the entire lake. There’s more than one way to look at life, and sometimes there’s no need to cling to just one perspective.

Sitting by the window, I could watch the painfully slow maglev and planes taking off and landing.

Feicha @djkingsly

On a winter afternoon, when the sunlight slants into the room and falls across the bed, the whole space instantly feels warm.

My first stay happened to be around New Year’s, and the Christmas decorations hadn’t been taken down yet. The little snowmen were adorable, and every time I passed by, I had to pat them on the head.

The artwork in the hallways, the ceramic pieces of different shapes and sizes in the restaurant, and the lamps in the shared work area were all aesthetically pleasing as well.

Breakfast also includes quite a good bowl of Changsha rice noodles. The beef topping is excellent, but you need to get there early.

After breakfast, the best entertainment is to take a walk by the lake out front and feed the geese. The hotel seems to keep three large geese along with a flock of wild ducks. The ducks are well-behaved, lining up neatly in the water waiting to be fed.

The geese, however, are extremely aggressive. Every time they came charging over noisily at top speed, nearly every guest—including me—ended up dropping our bread and cookies and fleeing in panic.

Well then, after feeding the morning geese and brushing the bread crumbs off your hands, it’s time to take the hotel shuttle to the maglev station. The city of Changsha still has much more to offer. Happy travels~

Friendly reminder: The hotel is just a few minutes’ drive from Changsha Airport, and there’s an outlet mall nearby that’s active enough to be worth a visit—you can ride one of the hotel’s bicycles there. Even so, the hotel is really positioned for airport transit stays, not as a first choice for sightseeing in Changsha. If you take the maglev back and forth to downtown every day, you’ll waste two hours for nothing and miss out on Changsha’s vibrant nightlife.

About the Author

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