The 460-room luxury hotel, operated by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, is scheduled to open in 2015.

Shangri-La Hotel, Changsha will be part of the Central, a mixed-use development that includes an office tower, a large shopping mall, an exhibition centre and seven residential buildings.  The hotel will be located in Tianxin District and is within walking distance of Furong and Wuyi Roads, the city’s main financial and commercial streets, adjoining the main dining and entertainment area in Pozi and Jiefang Road.  It will be 30 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from the Changsha high-speed train station.

Shangri-La Hotel, Changsha will occupy the top 20 floors of the city’s iconic 268-metre-high building, overlooking the Juzizhou islet (a famous scenic island for locals in the middle of the Xiang River), Yuelu Mountain and the city.  The lower floors of the building will house offices and the hotel’s food and beverage outlets and meeting facilities.

Designed with comfort in mind, and to take advantage of the views over the city and the river frontage, the hotel’s 430 guestrooms will be an average size of 45 square metres and include 90 Horizon Club rooms, with the club lounge set on the top floor.  There will be 29 Bay Suites ranging in size between 135 and 225 square metres and one Bay Presidential Suite spanning over 300 square metres.

The hotel will feature a variety of dining and entertainment options including an all-day dining restaurant, a Chinese restaurant with 15 private dining rooms, a rooftop speciality restaurant, a tea lounge, a bar and a lobby lounge.  Recreational facilities including an indoor swimming pool, spa and health club will be available.

The meeting and banqueting facilities will include a 2,000-square-metre grand ballroom, a 500-square–metre junior ballroom and 10 function rooms.  A Government VIP Room and Bridal Room will also be available.

Also in China today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to Beijing.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

Beijing.city.mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.