Hangzhou, August 21, 2018 — Art at its core · Life moving forward. On August 17, the launch event and partnership signing ceremony for the new premium design brand under Zhejiang HowToTrip Hotel Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "HowToTrip"), Pagoda Hotels (hereinafter referred to as "Pagoda"), was grandly held. It officially announced the launch of the Hangzhou Vanke Future Light Pagoda Hotel, Lianyungang Sunshine International Pagoda Hotel, and Guangxi Biyuan Pagoda Hotel projects.
Hangzhou Vanke Future Light Pagoda Hotel
Lianyungang Sunshine International Pagoda Hotel
Guangxi Biyuan Pagoda Hotel
The lightweight and chic launch event was held at Pagoda INNO Hotel, the first brand experience store of Pagoda in China, located in Shanghai’s Wujiaochang Chuangzhi Tiandi. This also means that six months after its debut, Pagoda, with its pure brand style and steady market performance, has garnered significant attention and is welcoming new members with a momentum of “conquering three cities in a row.”
Embracing youth wholeheartedly, building a new community of “Botanical Kin”
“Millennials represent the future. The question for HowToTrip is whether we can create a more modern, more artistic brand to meet their needs — that’s the background of Pagoda’s birth,” said Mr. Wu Qiyuan, founder and chairman of HowToTrip. After more than half a year of operation, the positioning and expansion strategy of the Pagoda brand have become clearer: to create contemporary art hotels within modern architecture, with a passion for modern buildings and a fondness for contemporary art, blending the sleekness of modern structures with the warmth of artistic living.
Building on HowToTrip’s uniquely created “Art at its Core” BAS brand model, Pagoda integrates art throughout the entire guest journey. This also represents HowToTrip’s most radical self-innovation since maintaining an Eastern art-centered design philosophy for a decade.
“Curiosity, imagination, creativity” — these are some of the core keywords of Pagoda, expressing a highly clear attitude: complete transformation. Pagoda no longer emphasizes the sense of service prestige found in traditional hotels. To bridge the gap between guests and staff, its service philosophy has been boldly innovated. Pagoda builds atmosphere and stickiness through the closeness of a community. “Botanical Kin” is both a distinctive term for its young, elite user group and a label for Pagoda’s young, high-quality service team.
Within the larger “Botanical Kin” community, intellectually elegant, friendly, and laid-back guests interact with Pagoda staff in a more equal, relaxed, and free manner, undoubtedly creating a more unrestrained check-in atmosphere and delivering a brand-new, premium hotel accommodation experience.
The high quality and increasingly diverse trends of the actual user base may well reflect the necessity and success of Pagoda’s innovation. After more than half a year of operation, the actual user base of Shanghai Chuangzhi Pagoda INNO Hotel is actually younger and more diverse than expected. Age doesn’t seem to be the boundary — taste is. This has also injected more confidence into the future operations of the Pagoda brand.
Modern architecture and contemporary art — Pagoda aims for the ultimate
“This is an era of segmentation and personalization,” said Mr. Wu Qiyuan. Under the philosophy of creating a modern art lifestyle, Pagoda needs to find a suitable framework to carry artistic life and experiences, and modern architecture is an important choice. Modern architecture is the vanguard of the city, a trend indicator, showcasing urban cultural and artistic characteristics, and serving as a convergence point for cutting-edge lifestyles.
And urban landmarks are, of course, the crown jewels of modern architecture. He also noted that international luxury trend brands such as Park Hyatt, The Temple House, Niccolo, and W, backed by massive investments and renowned designers, occupy landmark buildings within urban complexes.
Unlike them, Pagoda leverages its unique pyramid model of high-end, selected design hotels, using precise concepts and a youthful momentum to choose outstanding, moderately sized regional landmark buildings.
From the perspective of hotel design, modern architecture inherently possesses organic connections with the surrounding environment, cultural-commercial atmosphere, interior spaces, and communities. With its light, luminous exterior designs, it incorporates more facilities and experiences that interact with the outdoors, such as rooftop gardens, terraces, infinity pools, and sightseeing elevators — all of which are rare and precious.
“The sleekness of modern architecture and the warmth of the hotel interiors create a texture that transcends everyday life,” said Mr. Wu Qiyuan. Elements such as architecture, space, interior decoration, furniture, lighting, and contemporary artworks are more likely to achieve a balance and fusion of design in modern buildings, creating a shared design language and level of communication, and forming a more unified aesthetic value. This is also an important reason why Pagoda is drawn to modern architecture.
As for contemporary art, Mr. Wu believes it is a freely developed method and outcome of artistic creation, without the boundaries of traditional art. Innovation and change are the charm of contemporary art. As the line between contemporary art and daily life gradually blurs, hotels are undoubtedly the best venues for contemporary art to unfold — anything is possible.
Mr. Wu explained that in Pagoda, whether it’s modern architecture, interior design, furniture, lighting, music ambiance, or personalized services, art is at the heart of the journey. Exceptional artworks and scenically designed living spaces will create more emotional and memorable travel experiences.
Meticulously crafting every touchpoint to present a fusion of intelligence, fashion, ease, and comfort — art can make life scenes full of surprises. Drawing inspiration from art, carefully curating creative life scenarios enhances the stay experience. Art can also foster an intimate, genuine atmosphere, breaking traditional barriers and establishing casual yet respectful interactions with guests. Creatively inspired services that come from the heart bring unique experiences and cultivate a photosynthetic ambiance that nourishes the body and mind — this is the essence of Pagoda’s “Zero-Pressure Living.”
Advocating a comfortable and pleasant “Zero-Pressure Living”
Focusing on product, service, and future development philosophy, Mr. Gan Shenghong, Executive President of HowToTrip, elaborated on the richer content definition of the Pagoda brand in his speech.
Mr. Gan introduced that in recent years, with the rise of consumption upgrading, the “premium consumption” trend among the middle class has become increasingly evident. Starting from the consumer experience perspective, HowToTrip has successfully broken out of the red ocean of mid-range hotels, introducing the Pagoda brand — infused with the gene of “artistic life aesthetics” — into China’s high-end, selected service accommodation market.
Positioned as a high-end, selected design brand, Pagoda is an iterative product of HowToTrip’s years of deep cultivation. It focuses more sharply on the “Urban Lifestyle” of the discerning middle class, especially their ever-evolving business and leisure needs. By integrating life aesthetics and creative interactions into hotel services, it offers “Zero-Pressure Living” experiences for urbanites with increasingly fast-paced lives.
Regarding “Zero-Pressure Living,” Mr. Gan provided a more detailed explanation. “Pascal” is a unit of pressure measurement, so “Zero-Pressure Living” refers to a lifestyle that releases stress. Enjoying a light and comfortable living space within a pressure-free visual field; achieving a pressure-free value experience through relaxed, pressure-free consumption methods and a moderate lifestyle; integrating into a pressure-free community to find a sense of belonging in a joyful and easy-going social or community environment, and so on.
Pagoda places greater emphasis on the taste of community life. In its hotel design, it integrates art and life aesthetics into living room-style lobbies, go-to-place composite living spaces, and rooms known as “photosynthetic spaces,” attracting and satisfying the travel aesthetics needs of the discerning crowd with an open and inclusive atmosphere.
Finally, Mr. Gan concluded by advocating an organic value of “less is more,” applying the effect of curation throughout the brand-building process. Pagoda’s definition of high-end, selected focuses on six aspects: prime location, modern architecture and contemporary art, value configuration, life aesthetics, botanical-inspired service, and community integration. In the future, as Pagoda expands into more first-tier and core cities nationwide, it will help propel HowToTrip further toward its goal of becoming a “leader in mid-to-high-end selected hotel brands.”