The Langham Shenzhen

There are cities and then there are Special Economic Zones. We’ll spare you most of the backstory; suffice it to say that Shenzhen’s exponential growth has meant that it’s very quickly become the sort of place where the great luxury-hotel groups of the world are falling over one another for the opportunity to practice the art of hospitality on one of the world’s most prestigious stages. This, in short, is how you end up with a hotel like the Langham Shenzhen, where a century and a half of English hospitality heritage meets one of the great cities of the twenty-first century.

It’s apparent at a glance that the Langham is confident in its traditional approach. But for some subtle electronic wizardry, these rooms could have been put together at more or less any time in the last hundred years. The smallest of them is a capacious 40 square meters — that’s 430 square feet — while the ordinary suites are twice that or more, and the Presidential Suite and Chairman’s Suite expand into further multiples.

A handful of restaurants serve everything from upscale Cantonese fare to a note-perfect British high tea complete with Wedgwood china. And the spa, fitness center, and twin swimming pools are all suitably grand as well. In terms of quality the Langham Shenzhen is up there in the top tier — and if you lean towards the classics, then your decision is already made.