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The waves break into flowers on the rock. The water and the sky merge into one color as the countryside echoes the music of birds. No human words suffice to describe the picturesque Swan Lake. Different from the West Lake “who is always charming in either light or heavy makeup”, Swan Lake has an idyllic scenery like the peaceful retreat in the Peach Blossom Spring written by Tao Yuanming. Void of clamor and vulgarity, this enclave of peace is the ideal place to compose poems while listening to the swan singing and appreciating the green mountain and flowing waters.
 
It only takes more than ten minutes to ride from Hangzhou Railway Station to Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort. Standing beside the Tiger Mountain and surrounding the Swan Lake, Sofitel Xanadu, the first international five-star resort in Hangzhou, possesses a unique landscape. Adjacent to Hangzhou Polar Ocean Park, Xiang Lake and Hangzhou Paradise, and within 30 minutes’ ride to the Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, it is an ideal location for business and vacation travelers.

Even in the scorching summer, refreshing breezes waft in from the lake and mountain. An idle stroll in the courtyard accompanied with soft and melodious music is a typical day of the hotel life. Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort features 301 guestrooms including 19 suites, 62 Club millesime rooms, and private villas and presidential suites beside the lake. Each room is well appointed, with some featuring balconies looking out into magnificent views of legendary lakes and mountains.
 
Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort offers a variety of recreational activities. In addition to the regular entertainment facilities, there are events specially organized for tourists, including the red bayberry picking in the early summer when guests could taste the fresh seasonal fruit, the autumn osmanthus and moon appreciation night, tasting grapefruit tea made from fresh grapefruit picked from the garden, Swan Lake kayaking game, morning jogging and bicycling around the lake, Tiger Mountain climbing, Yoga and Taiji practicing on the Pontoon on Lake, cooking class taught by the chef, and watching “swans feeding fish”. As the season changes, the hotel keeps organizing new relaxing events. There are already over 20 activities for guests to choose from. Moreover, the natural environment surrounding the hotel is ideal for fishing, boating, or swan feeding. Such a close contact with swans is an exclusive experience.
 
Fine food and beautiful scenery are inseparably connected from ancient times. What a delight it would be to sip a cup of tea or wine on the Pontoon on Lake surrounded by the green mountains and lake. It is a good choice for either family gathering or outdoor parties. Tao Yuan Chinese Restaurant provides wide array of cuisines including savory Cantonese dishes, assorted flavors from Hangzhou and exquisite local specialties. New fashionable elements are fused into the traditional flavors. In addition to the taste feast, the restaurant furnishes guests with particular consideration about privacy, where 37 private rooms beside the lake and a banquet hall seats up to 350 people.
 
As a luxury hotel brand in France, Sofitel has its own pure French cuisine. Zest Café serves International Buffet including Seafood, Brazilian BBQ, cocktails and extensive French Dessert selection. Muse Lobby Bar is also a good choice for coffees, afternoon tea, cocktails and cakes accompanied by the music from Sensation Live Band. The French luxury and Chinese delicacy combine together to create the Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort in paradise.

If the natural environment brings endless visual feast, the inspiration service group would create extravagant living experiences.
 
The hotel has adopted a humanistic practice in dealing with group business travelers and individual tourists. Check-in for group travelers will be processed through the normal way in the lobby where various meeting facilities and special staff provide detailed business service in every possible way. Meanwhile, individual tourists will check in at Club Sofitel. These guests would receive more considerate services compared with other hotels. For instance, as early as the guest is picked up at the airport, the hotel staff would enquire about his room service requirement upon arrival so that everything would be ready in the room when he enters the hotel. All these novel and personalized services origin from a particular team, the inspiration service group, who produces creative ideas on the basis of local conditions. The group, taking advantage of the natural environment of the hotel, has designed creative wedding services for couples who pursue romance and originality, such as Swan Lake wedding, barbeque wedding, swimming pool wedding party, "love on the bike" wedding, private villa wedding, and pure French wedding. These novel ideas, blended with the distinctive hotel culture and outstanding ambience, offer multiple choices in different price ranges.
 
According to the General Manager Mr. Philip Wei Li, similar creations exist everywhere in the hotel. Right after he was appointed, he has strengthened the concept, which he referred to from time to time in the interview, that the beauty of the hotel should be represented in a more delicate way. Mr. Philip Wei Li, with 19 years’ experience in hospitality, cares about every detail including changing the dark color theme of sofa, increasing fragrance and candle lights at night, and setting up audio facilities beside the lake for a dual sensual enjoyment. Mr. Wei Li said, “If we feel what our guests feel, we would know what they want and naturally would pay attention to details for a better experience of French luxury for guests.” Starting from this year, the development of hospitality in Hangzhou is speeding up and Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort, according to Mr. Wei’s calm and confident response, has prepared itself for more competition. The hotel has perfect facilities including an astylar ball room with capacity of 800 guests, standard guestrooms, suites, club, villas and unique natural landscape which is rare in other hotels. As for the service quality, the management runs the Keys of Luxury Experience training for the staff with a main purpose of cultivating employees’ all-sided quality to suit the culture of Sofitel that “Life is Magnifique”. Meanwhile, the hotel is provocative in expanding its services. The new exhibition center which opened for use this January is a good example. Just before our interview, the hotel has hosted a Porsche Design exhibition and Audi A3 sale. In the automobile industry, which is the most dynamic business nowadays, the hotel has focused on the most important group including Audi, Ferrari and Bentley, which have the same luxury quality as the hotel. This decision is influenced by the General Manager’s early experience in introducing Miss World and Mr. World competition into Sanya. The incessant seeking for new inspiration and turning it into reality is the spirit of Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort.

Mr. Wei’s words are undoubtedly the best summary of the interview. As the early international five-star hotel in Hangzhou, Sofitel Hangzhou Xanadu Resort has welcomed guests with a new and exuberant image, revealing its unique spiritual energy combining the French romance and classical Chinese tone. It can be described as originality, freshness, receptiveness, and easiness. Little by little, we have found that the so-called competition is rather a metamorphosis of the hotel. What matters more is not to pass competitors but to transform oneself.
 
As one enjoys the peaceful view and tastes the fragrant tea, the hotel attracts the guest to linger on. Even Peach Blossom Spring appears to be a drag in comparison and even the most skilled brush fails to paint the fascinating landscape. Like what ancient people have said, “I miss Hangzhou most. In the moonlit temple I traced the scent of sweet osmanthus. Undisturbed in the Jun Pavilion I watched for the bore to rush in. Hangzhou, when will I have another sight of there?”

    浮花浪蕊，水天一色，燕语莺啼，面对旖旎如画的天鹅湖,笔者还是有些词穷。别样于淡妆浓抹总相宜的西湖，这里山水清绝，花态柳情，山容水意，仿佛真的置身于陶渊明《桃花源记》的世外桃源。少了喧嚣和俗套，与天鹅对歌，与湖天对吟，与青山流水汇为知音。
 
    从杭州火车站驱车不过十几分钟便来到索菲特世外桃源度假酒店。作为杭城首家国际品牌五星度假酒店，其坐拥天鹅湖，背依老虎洞山，拥有绝佳的自然地理位置，毗邻湘湖、极地海洋公园和杭州乐园。到萧山国际机场也只需三十分钟的车程，正因如此，酒店成为了旅游度假与商务会议的首选之地。

    夏日炎炎，而这里依然是清风阵阵，闲庭信步，相伴以舒缓的音乐，好一番偷得浮生半日闲的景象。酒店拥有301间各具特色的客房，其中包括19间套房，62间索菲特会所客房，及湖畔私密别墅与总统套房。江南园林触手可及，湖光山色更是一览无余。
 
    酒店多样化的休闲娱乐活动，除了常规的硬件娱乐设施外，还有很多为了度假量身定做的活动。如初夏的杨梅采摘，让您品味娇艳欲滴的应季水果，或秋季桂花赏月夜，或品味用园内新鲜采摘的柚子制作柚子茶，或天鹅湖上与朋友一同享受趣味皮划艇赛，或清晨沿湖慢跑，或双人自行车环湖游，或登老虎洞山，或在湖上亲水平台练瑜伽与太极，或参加大厨的“煮妇学堂”课、或观看“天鹅喂鱼”的奇观等等，这些贴近自然舒缓身心绝好的放松方式，酒店会跟随季节的变化推陈出新，像此类的活动酒店就有20种之多，让客人有更多的选择置身于大自然的怀抱。除此之外，酒店所拥有的天然环境可以让客人闲时试着在湖边垂钓、泛舟，亦或用鲜蔬喂食天鹅，这样和天鹅近距离的接触更是在一般酒店所无法体验到的。
 
    自古以来美食和美景是密不可分的，试想在天鹅湖上的亲水平台，青山绿水环绕之下的世外桃源品一壶清茶或是小酌一杯，将是怎样一番闲情雅致，领略奢华以外的别样风情，无论是家庭聚会或是户外派对都是不错的选择。桃源中餐厅，汇集了新派粤菜、杭帮菜、本地三江特色菜，厨师在传统口味的同时加进了新的时尚元素，在满足味蕾的同时还特别尊重客人的私人空间，设置了 37 个风格迥异的包厢和一个足以容纳 350 人的宴会厅，包厢临湖而建，让您在美景中尽情享受饕餮美食。
 
    作为法国奢华酒店品牌的索菲特当然也拥有自己最正宗的法式料理，走进最忆西餐厅您就可以享用丰盛的国际自助、精选的海鲜、纯正的巴西烧烤、鸡尾酒以及精美的法式甜点。如果不是那么迫切的投入大自然的怀抱，缪斯大堂吧也是宾客放松心情不错的选择，各式鸡尾酒和茶点，伴有灵感乐队的现场表演。法式奢华与江南风情的完美融合，这就是索菲特世外桃源度假酒店。

    如果说得天独厚的自然环境可以带给您无限的惊喜，那么酒店的灵感服务团队将会带给您另一种奢华体验。
 
    在谈及如何平衡商务团队客人和旅游散客的时候，酒店运用了一种非常人性化的方式：在面对人数较多的团队入住时，酒店会以正常的方式在酒店大堂安排入住，完善的会议设施及专业的服务人员将会给客人提供无微不至的商务服务。而如果旅游与度假的散客入住，酒店则会安排在索菲特会所登记与入住，相比其他酒店，这些旅游散客将会得到更加贴心的服务。如早在客人接机服务时，酒店的服务人员就会问及客人到店后需要的餐饮送房服务，以至客人到达酒店的同时，送房服务就已经全部准备好甚至已经送到客人的房内。这些非常新颖与人性化的服务灵感都来自于酒店独特的一个团队--灵感服务团队。他们会因地制宜的策划出很多新鲜的点子，比如针对酒店独特的环境优势他们为追逐浪漫情怀的新人们量身定做最与众不同的创意婚礼，包括天鹅湖上婚礼、湖畔烧烤婚礼、泳池派对婚礼、单车恋曲婚礼、别墅婚礼、纯正法式奢华婚礼等等，这些创意都融入了酒店独特的品牌文化和环境优越，让新人可以选择高中低的价位更加多元化的选择。
 
    总经理魏黎先生表示，这样的创意存在于酒店的每个细节，在他上任之初，就对酒店很多方面做出了进一步的强化，采访由始至终他一直在强调一个理念，那就是要把酒店美丽的地方以更加细腻的服务呈现出来。拥有19年酒店从业经验的魏黎先生，注重酒店的每一个细节，包括改变原来比较暗色调的沙发，增加香氛与夜间的烛光，在湖边设置音响设施，让客人接受双重感官的刺激。魏黎总经理说：“要想知道客人要什么，就把自己当成客人去感受，自然而然的会关注细节，从而能更好地呈现给客人法式奢华体验。”从今年开始，杭州的酒店业发展势头开始提速，索菲特世外桃源度假酒店是否已经做好准备应对越来越多的竞争对手，魏黎先生回答的很从容并且自信。酒店拥有完备的硬件设施包括可容纳800人的无柱宴会厅，客房从标房、套房到会所、别墅一应俱全，独特的自然美景浑然天成，这些都是其他酒店不一定拥有的。另外针对酒店的服务质量，管理层对员工进行了KLE (Keys of Luxury Experience奢华体验的关键)的专门培训，主旨在于从内而外的培养员工素质使其符合索菲特奢华品牌——“Life is Magnifique 生活无限精彩” 的文化理念。酒店还在积极拓宽酒店的服务方式，今年1月份刚刚投入使用的会展中心就是一个很好的例子。在笔者到来之前酒店刚刚承办了保时捷城市设计展与奥迪A3新车发布会的外卖，面对现在最为活跃的领域——汽车行业，酒店抓住了最主要的客户群，例如奥迪，法拉利，宾利都是酒店重要的客户，这些客户都有着和酒店品牌相符的奢华气质。这无非与总经理先前的工作经验有关，早在任职于三亚的时候就曾参与过世界小姐和世界先生的活动引入工作，不断地发现新的灵感并且将其变为现实，这就是索菲特世外桃源的精神所在。

    魏黎先生的话无疑是对此次采访最好的总结，作为杭城早些的国际品牌五星酒店，索菲特世外桃源酒店却以最新最具活力的姿态面对来来往往的宾客，向我们揭示了这座融合了法式浪漫和中国古典情调的世外桃源神秘的精神力量，创新，鲜活，接纳，从容......渐渐地笔者发现，与其说这是一种与其他酒店的竞争不如说是索菲特世外桃源完成自我飞跃的一个过程，重点不在于超越别人，更多的是在于自身蜕变的精彩。
 
    感受这簟纹如水，清逸如兰，品味中西合璧的文化冲击，不禁留恋往返，若是此刻重温《桃花源记》会否觉得顿生贫乏之味。纵使古时工笔的水墨丹青亦是难绘，唯有不舍昼夜，怡然自乐之。最忆是杭州，山寺月中寻桂子，郡亭枕上看潮头，何日更重游？