The Lalu Sun Moon Lake

INFOIntroduction

If there is a name that can stir your emotions, it is The Lalu(Han Bi Lo in Chinese), even if each word in the name costs a hundred million dollars. In 1901, Mr. Ito built a small wooden cabin on the Lalu Peninsula for vacation use and called it “The For hundreds of years, with strict entrance control, only senior governmental official, generals, prime ministers, and emperors are allowed into The Lalu. Therefore, a myth is created to this building. However, how did The Lalu come about? In 1923, the Japanese Crown Prince Hirohito visited Taiwan and appointed The Lalu to be his official residence. He rebuilt the small wooden cabin into a two-story building and added eight guest rooms, including the east and the west wings, dining room, conference room and more. From this time on, The Lalu turned itself from a luxury vacation home into an official government guest house. In 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Government retreated to Taiwan, The Lalu became President Chiang Kai-Shek’s hostel, used primarily for vacation use and to entertain foreign head of states. In 1998, Mr. Cheng-Yi Lai, chairman of the Shining Group, received a phone call that filled his heart with tremendous excitement and doubt. For the past 30 years, his dream was to build a world class hotel along the shores of Sun Moon Lake. The man that made the phone call indicated to him that The Lalu was for sale. However, buying this historical building was not going to be a simple task. The seller was asking for a sum of NT$ 270 million and made it clear that it was not negotiable. It took over a year of hard work and negotiation, with the end result closing at the firm asking price of NT$ 270 million. Mr. Lai recalled and said, “Which name is always on people’s mind without ever needing any advertisement? This name has its place and historical value in public’s mind so the name itself is priceless. Even with millions that we spent on it, I think it’s still a bargain.” After 5 years and an investment of NT$ 1.86 billion, using the theory of utmost simplification of Zen style as the architectural design core from our award winning international design team, the renovation of this historical hotel began. It was rebuilt from the original palace style 6 story building, saving only its beams, columns and floor and replacing everything else. The new design divides the building into three separate building (building A, B and C) for different purposes. Building A is the main guest house. Building B is the structure that houses entertainment facilities such as the Spa, gym, Jacuzzi and Members Clubhouse. Building C includes the Villa area, conference facility, Library and parking lot. On March 3, 2002, The Lalu reopened to the public with its new design and resort style .

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