Sky-High Sneak Peek: Snaps from the IFC Guangzhou’s 75th Floor

A major downside of being a hotelier’s wife is the long hours of waiting for your husband to come home from work. Back when Herr Hubby and I first got engaged, a well-meaning girlfriend married to a fellow hotelier, told me: “Welcome to the club! You’re about to embark on a lifetime of waiting…” Rather stark, isn’t it?

But the life of a hotelier’s wife does have its many perks too. One of these is having insider access to a hotel even before it has opened, akin to getting a backstage pass in a theatre or a movie or television production set (alas, minus the thrill of meeting Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp!)

The weeks and days leading up to a hotel’s opening are uniquely memorable, fraught with drama, suspense, excitement, glamour, frenzied hard work and unparalleled tension. People have been known to collapse and end up in hospital from sheer stress and exhaustion, which actually happened to a chef I used to work with. Attention, TV producers out there, one of you seriously needs to do a reality TV series about the “back-of-the-house” theatrics and shenanigans that happen during a hotel opening…STAT! For sure, you won’t need a Kardashian to make sure it will be a big hit in the ratings.

In my previous life, I did two hotel openings back-to-back and probably never will again. It led me to a career burn-out and the realization that life is too short for such prolonged misery.

Herr Hubby is currently in the unenviable position of being part of the team responsible for opening the Four Seasons hotel in Guangzhou, located in the city’s tallest skyscraper and the Central Business District‘s iconic showpiece, the 100-storey International Finance Centre (IFC).  Because of his long hours at work these days, we’re currently making the hotel our home base while I shuttle back to our real home in the daytime.

Here are some astounding snapshots of the city view, from our room on the 75th floor:

astonishing night view of Guangzhou, with the Pearl River & its bridges and the stunning Guangzhou Tower

Huacheng Plaza (Flower City Plaza) lights up at night like a surreal landscape from the film “Tron: Legacy”

does this remind you of a scene from the latest Ridley Scott sci-fi flick?  the Haixinsha stadium glows like an alien spaceship in the foreground

The Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou officially opens for guests on 1st August. Check out the hotel’s newsletter, In The Know: Guangzhou, here.