The 279-room Rosewood Beijing will open Summer 2013 as the first China property for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts®, spearheading its ambitious Asia expansion plans. The hotel will be located in the central business Chaoyang District, opposite the iconic CCTV Tower. Designed by Melbourne-based Bar Studio, the ultra-luxury property will represent a number of firsts for both Rosewood Hotels & Resorts and Beijing. “Guests will see A Sense of Place®—our guiding philosophy to reflect and celebrate each location’s culture, history and geography—exquisitely expressed in Rosewood Beijing,” says Radha Arora, president, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. “Contemporary and warm, homelike and refined, energetic and serene—all these aspects will be incorporated into the hotel’s design and ethos.” The hotel will offer more landscaped outdoor space than any other Beijing luxury hotel, with terraces, gardens and balconies integrated into the design of many of the restaurants, spa, recreational facilities, meeting and function areas. Bangkok-based P Landscape, acclaimed for its resort landscaping, will apply the same sensibilities in this urban hotel. With their residential-style layouts and floorplans, guestrooms will be designed to evoke sensations of luxury apartment living and, at 538 square feet (50 square meters), they will be amongst the largest in the city. The wide proportion of the rooms will allow maximum window aspect, enhanced by window seats. Natural finishes and textural overlays, spacious bathrooms and walk-in closets, and non-traditional, residential components and accessories with subtle Oriental overtones, will complete the sophisticated, homelike surroundings. Seven restaurants and lounges will serve authentic international cuisines amidst innovative design style. For example, the Chinese restaurant will feature a casual and contemporary lower floor restaurant as well as nine private dining suites on the floor above. The spacious dining suites—up to 1,200 square feet (110 square meters) in size—will be designed for exclusivity and luxury, including dining area, separate lounge, cloak room, and outdoor terrace. The Rosewood Sense® spa brand, featuring treatments reflecting the location’s cultural and natural environment, will make its first appearance in Asia and be accompanied by another Rosewood first: five spa suites designed for overnight stays. Complementary recreational facilities will include an indoor swimming pool, gym and yoga studio. An exclusive access lounge will be a spacious venue with an open kitchen, free-standing bar, Internet corner, boardroom and outdoor terrace. Meeting and function space will total almost 33,000 square feet (3,048 square meters.) This will include a pillar-less ballroom of 8,252 square feet (767 square meters) featuring an adjacent outdoor garden for weddings and other special occasions. The Pavilion—residential-style meeting and function space—will be a first for the group and debut a signature of all future Asia Rosewood properties. Occupying the Rosewood Beijing annex, The Pavilion will include two combinable areas for memorable events, with dining spaces, bar, lounges and show kitchens—all finished and accessorized as in an elegant private home. Mr. Marc Brugger has been appointed managing director of Rosewood Beijing. A Swiss native who speaks five languages, Mr. Brugger brings 20 years luxury hotel experience to his new role. Rosewood Beijing is the precursor to fast-paced Asia growth targeted to add 10 properties in operation or in the pipeline in the region to Rosewood’s portfolio within five years.