A Hotel Maker’s Inspiring Destinations
Before Grace Leo helped create Bono’s Clarence Hotel in Dublin, and before she refurbished the historic Hotel Lancaster in Paris, she was the daughter of Hong Kong hoteliers, learning the business from the ground up. As an adult, she left the city behind and formally studied the hospitality industry in the U.S. before settling, in the 1980s, in Europe, where she eventually redeveloped more than a dozen of the toniest boutique hotels in France, England and Portugal. Over coffee recently at Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Ms. Leo said, “It’s funny coming back to Asia, I feel like a foreigner.”
Ms. Leo, who is based in Paris, is currently working on the restoration of a former Dutch colonial residence in the Menteng district of Jakarta. She plans to turn it into a boutique hotel—her second project in the region, and, with a budget of US$12 million, the biggest so far. (The first project was Nyaman Villas in Bali.) She says she’d like to work on more projects in Southeast Asia.ccMs. Leo, the first woman to serve on the board of hotel organization Leading Hotels of the World, described some of the destinations she finds most inspiring:
1. Hong Kong
“The city is like an intense beehive with people working incessantly. Hong Kong citizens are extremely efficient, forthcoming, business friendly, deeply imbued with a service culture. It is an astonishing and harmonious cohabitation of the East and the West, and that’s no cliché.”
2. Bali
“…for innovative resort ideas and handcrafted objects that I can order for my hotels. Bali is an exotic cocktail of spirituality and hedonism, as well as a haven of artistic expression. Somehow the seaside-resort design movement has always been avant-garde here.”
3. Hakone, Japan
“I’m inspired by the tranquil landscape in the Hakone region at the foot of the mythical Mount Fuji. A short stay in a stunning ryokan [a traditional Japanese inn] like the Gora Kadan, take hot thermal baths followed by traditional massage that cure body and mind.
Sorry to disappoint,but Mr.McKeever has every 1 of his horses,which are healthy,licensed and accounted for by all the governing agencies.
And why would that be a disappointment? If that is true, please post evidence here!
Every one of the horses are alive and well. It isn’t HIS farm he sends them to, he BOARDS them there, with his own money. What have you done for a horse lately?
Don’t you have a dog to eat somwhere?
Do I have a dog to eat? Sorry. This is the United States and we have respect for our animals. I’m so sure he would pay to board his horses who have no more “money making” left for him. Where is the evidence then? Where does he BOARD them? I didn’t think so. Don’t you have a horse to abuse somewhere?
Shame on Shamrock. I think you’re full of Sh*t lady. Ladies and gentlemen. Let it be known that Shamrock was offered to have their horses rescued but the owner REFUSED!
Shamrock Stables had been getting away with paying $5,000 a month for stables that would normally cost $60,000 a month, and say they can’t afford the market rent. So, they turned to the city looking for a handout.
Ian McKeever, one of the stable’s owners, said at a news conference, “We hold New York’s most precious commodity in the palm of our hand, and that’s the tourist.” Not this tourist.
In his plea for support, McKeever also said, “Compassion is what I am looking for in these economic times.”
WHAT CENTURY ARE WE IN? WHere are the compassion for the horses you continue to push to work in this already overcrowded city, to be honked at in 90 degree weather and 20 below weather?
Carolyn Daly, representative for the stables AND PROBABLY THE FAT B*TCH POSTING TO THIS GROUP, said, “This is like someone losing their job, and the first thing they offer as a solution is taking your children.”
Sure, if your children had spent their days working in a sweatshop. If Shamrock’s relationship with the horses was familial and not financial, the animals would have been retired a long time ago.
http://vietnam-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/dog_meat_restaurants_in_vietnam
I really love and have a deep appreciation for interior design! I bet that Grace Leo would be a very exciting candidate for an interview.