By Mong Binh in HCMC
The recent US$20-million investment in the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi paid dividends when the hotel was announced as top heritage hotel by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
The hotel management is preparing to fly to Macau to receive the award at the PATA Gold Awards 2010 at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel on September 17. The award lauds the hotel’s efforts to refresh one of Southeast Asia’s most treasured properties and Sofitel’s relaunch of the Metropole as the hotel group’s first Legend property.
“The challenge for any hotel in the Heritage category is achieving the very delicate balance between celebrating historical charm, and satisfying tomorrow’s expectation,” said Kai Speth, general manager of the hotel.
Speth said in a statement that the luxury hotel’s obligation was to think about today, tomorrow and yesterday. “The PATA Award persuades us that we’re on the right track.”
Awards for the hotel’s investment were heralded by international travel magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, in April by naming it in its hotlist. Last year, the hotel won recognition in the magazine’s Gold List and Travel and Leisure magazine’s list of the Best 500 Hotels in the World.
The investment was spent on a chic Italian restaurant Angelina, Le Spa du Metropole that is the first spa to be opened in the hotel’s 108-year history, and themed suites. The suites indulge the hotel’s connections to Charlie Chaplin, Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, each of whom stayed at the property.
“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,” Speth said.
The restoration that began in 2004 used designers from Bangkok and New York to prepare the hotel for refurbishment and the Legend launch.