China's Capital Welcomes The First NUO Hotel Featuring "Modern Ming" Design And Contemporary Art

News provided by

Jun 05, 2015, 09:15 ET

BEIJING, June 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- "Made in China" Luxury Brand NUO has announced the opening of its first flagship, NUO Hotel Beijing, offering highly sensory guest experiences to luxury traveller.

China's Capital Welcomes The First Nuo Hotel Featuring "Modern Ming" Design And Contemporary Art

NUO stands for new and represents the golden promise that our brand is committed to. On September 20, 2012, NUO, the first Chinese international luxury brand, stepped from the mainland onto the world stage when it announced its global expansion strategy at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. In pioneering Chinese luxury hospitality as one of the country's first homegrown five-star hotel brands, NUO Hotels interprets its "golden promise" by drawing inspiration from the country's 5,000 years of history and cultural heritage and its commitment to serving as a custodian of traditional Chinese culture.

Developed in conjunction with Kempinski Hotels and entirely owned by Beijing Tourism Group (BTG), NUO aims to disseminate the novel lifestyle and attitudes of modern China while honoring its cultural heritage and supporting contemporary art and culture.

The NUO brand is based on four pillars: Chinese, luxury, contemporary and green. The service attitude is following BTG's Chairman Duan's innovative vision of Chinese hospitality, which is based on international standards, local flavors and adding value, a pioneering concept within China. These four pillars and service style represent NUO's core philosophy ensuring that guests enjoy an unprecedented hotel experience. NUO's brand identity is symbolised by a Chinese vase, representing hospitality, prosperity and commitment to a bright future. In addition to Beijing, NUO Hotels has development plans in China and rest of the world. Each NUO hotel has varying cultural style and design inspirations, being a showcase of a unique aspect of traditional Chinese culture or history of the property's location.

"The spectacular growth of the Chinese tourism industry in recent years has underlined the need for China to have its own distinctive 'made in China' luxury hotel brand," said Duan Qiang, chairman of BTG, owners of NUO Hotels. "As one of China's largest tourism companies, Beijing Tourism Group is proud to launch a five-star hotel group which celebrates Chinese heritage and culture."

As an essential extension of the NUO brand of hospitality, NUO Travel was launched by BTG to provide an upscale, world-class concierge and travel service for NUO Hotels guests worldwide. With the emergence of the sophisticated, discriminating type of global Chinese traveller who demand and expect only the very best, market conditions these days present an opportunity to introduce a true, "Made in China," five-star hotel brand and end-to-end travel experience.

A fleet of luxury "Red Flag" which is used to transport top Chinese leaders and foreign dignitaries visiting China, supplied by NUO Travel as the hotel's exclusive limousine service, are deployed to meet NUO Hotel Beijing's guests' transport needs. NUO Hotels and NUO Travel strive to meet the unfulfilled needs of guests who are seeking world-class luxury travel that nevertheless pays an authentic homage to China's rich culture, history and tradition.

NUO Hotel Beijing

NUO is growing on the roots of 5,000 years of Chinese history, following the cultural idiosyncrasies of each city in which it operates. NUO Hotel Beijing interprets and inherits the literature, art and culture of the prosperous Ming dynasty in modern lifestyle after eight years and over 3,000 nights of hard work and expectation.

Different from the royal culture and multitude culture, NUO Hotel Beijing mainly shows the "literati culture" of the Ming dynasty. Threading a common design inspiration throughout the Hotel are symbolic heritage footprints of a veritable who's who of the Ming Dynasty's most renowned scholars and philosophers, artists, poets and calligraphers, innovators and explorers, from intellectual Zhang Dai in the hotel lobby, writer Wen Zhenheng and poet Wen Zhengming in the guestrooms, calligrapher Xu Wei in Jia, the hotel's Chinese restaurant, prince-turned-philosopher Zhu Quan in Yuan Tea House... delivering the free, stylish and elegant lifestyle of Ming scholars. It, through the five senses of visual, hearing, smelling, taste and touch, presents the essence of "luxury": An elegant of lifestyle with continuously gracious pursuit of life.

"NUO Hotel Beijing operates under the guiding philosophy of 'using the past to serve the present'," said Adrian Rudin, General Manager of NUO Hotel Beijing. "With a civilisation that has fascinated travellers for more than 5,000 years, the depth of China's history is unparalleled; we look forward to welcoming guests from around the world to experience a contemporary and luxurious view of the most prosperous period of China's past at NUO Hotel Beijing."

Contemporary Chic

NUO Hotel Beijing serves as a landmark art destination, sharing the richness of Chinese culture for the pleasure of its guests, with a dedicated art gallery and the hotel lobby, guestrooms and suites, food & beverage outlets acting as backdrops for a stunning series of carefully curated pieces by the country's most critically acclaimed artists, from newly emerging to world-renowned, including four exclusive, custom-created artworks by iconic Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi, considered by international art experts as "China's greatest living artist." In his role as NUO's honourary art consultant, Mr. Zeng created two majestic masterpieces, "Le Shan," and "Landscape 2014," an oil painting, as the dramatic centre pieces of the hotel's grand lobby.

"Art should be intimately connected with life because beauty knows no barriers; it is all interlinked," said Zeng Fanzhi. "This collaboration with Beijing Tourism Group is a marvellous example; I hope to express my consistent pursuit of beauty through the continuing support of NUO Hotel Beijing. Only by insisting on bringing art into life, for everyone to appreciate and experience, will art truly inspire the daily life of everyone around us."

Residential-Style Luxury

With key interiors designed by Hirsch Bedner Associates, NUO Hotel Beijing is comprised of 438 guestrooms, including 55 suites, all with floor-to-ceiling views of the city. Elegant furnishings in warm woods and leather, hushed jewel-toned accessories, plush silk-patterned walls, rich wooden and textured marble floors combine harmoniously in a contemporary interpretation of Ming Dynasty-inspired residential style. Guestrooms bring the hotel's art destination experience vividly to life with each room featuring one of the original print wall mural of Zeng Fanzhi's paintings, an interpretation of "Stepping on Snow to Look for Plum Flowers," "Mountain," and "Rampike."

Culinary Voyages

In keeping with its commitment to serving authentic cuisine, NUO Hotel Beijing sources food ingredients from partner organic local farms and producers, which are then creatively prepared in the hotel's six restaurants and bars by a team of culinary experts from 10 different countries. Diverse dining and entertainment venues at NUO Hotel Beijing include Jia, the hotel's signature Chinese restaurant; N'Joy for international all-day dining; NUO'Ki for contemporary Japanese cuisine; sleek avant-garde O'Bar with its craft cocktails and outdoor terrace; gourmet boutique U'Deli as well as the hotel's sumptuously elegant, art-bedecked Lobby Lounge.

Chinese tea culture is significant to the hotel and unique to NUO Hotel Beijing is the Yuan Tea House, which debuts along with the hotel opening, with its graceful interiors evoking an exquisite courtyard in a contemporary interpretation of a Ming Dynasty-era tea house, and where a variety of premium teas sourced directly from tea plantations in Yunnan, Anxi and Wuyi mountain regions are offered, including bespoke teas created exclusively for NUO Hotels.

Lifestyle Sanctuary

For relaxation and wellness, guests may avail of NUO Fitness' well-equipped lifestyle gymnasium and a 25-metre heated indoor swimming pool. NUO Spa, with its eight treatment rooms and traditional Chinese medicine centre, offers authentic Chinese heritage treatments inspired by 2,000-year old medical texts, with proprietary oils and fragrances, derived from the medical texts of renowned traditional Chinese physician Li Shizhen, which have been custom-created for NUO Spa.

Meetings & Events

With its opening, NUO Hotel Beijing unveils a total of 2,500 square metres of conference and banqueting facilities, including 14 function rooms and the pillar-free 1,600-square metre Yongle Grand Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 1,600 guests and features natural daylight, a 9 metre-high ceiling designed for flexible lighting installations, 75 square metre wide LED screen, dynamic lighting to change the room's mood at the touch of a button, and direct-access elevators with the capability to accommodate cars. Event organisers benefit from a dedicated events manager on standby at all occasions.

Green & Smart

In keeping with NUO Hotels' commitment to "low-carbon green intelligence," NUO Hotel Beijing is equipped with a sophisticated air-purification system with high performance "F8 classification recognised by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN)", which efficiently filters up to 90% of PM 2.5 particles, an intelligent lighting system and an energy-saving curtain wall system designed by German firm Schuco which reduces air-conditioning and heating wastage in the hotel. The hotel has stayed faithful to the "green building" template, carefully adhering to gold-level certification standards in LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Building Rating System), as well as achieving gold level pre-certification. NUO Hotel Beijing's official opening on 5 June, same day as the World Environment Day is no coincidence. It further demonstrates NUO's commitment and support for eco-friendly lifestyle.

Hotel Reservations

For room reservations at NUO Hotel Beijing, please contact (+86 10) 5926 8888, facsimile (+86 10) 5926 8889, email: [email protected], visit www.nuohotel.com

For event reservations, please email: [email protected] or call + (86 10) 5926 8888.

For restaurant reservations, please email: [email protected] or call + (86 10) 5926 8281.

To media:

NUO Milestones

On 27th February 2008, the NUO Brand was officially unveiled. Both the English and Chinese name for NUO were announced together with the four NUO pillars - Chinese, Luxury, Contemporary and Green.
On 28th July 2011, the Grand Foundation Stone Ceremony for the NUO Project took place.
On 19th November 2011, the NUO Project officially started its work.
On 20th September 2012, the NUO Brand Launch Ceremony was held at the Temple of Heaven.
On 21st October 2013, NUO Hotel Beijing was topped off successfully.
On 26th November 2013, "NUO - Setting the Stage" media event was held and a new chapter of the NUO Brand began.
On 30th April 2015, the entire NUO Project was completed.
On 5th June 2015, the soft opening of NUO Hotel Beijing begins.