A priceless experience
The hotel is also home to “Chiang Kai-shek’s Study,” where President and Madame Chiang’s stationery, books, and furniture from the guesthouse are on display, along with the large table used for meetings on military affairs, a demonstration of Chiang’s commitment to always thinking of national affairs even when on vacation.
The team working on renovating the study made an interesting discovery during their work—the room’s fireplace had a mechanism inside it that opened up an entrance to a secret tunnel. The tunnel led out to a field near to the other side of the main building which was big enough to land a small helicopter in. Unfortunately, the tunnel had long since been abandoned and had become blocked with rubble.
Since the group opened the hotel in late 2012, some of their competitors have visited to look through the newly renovated hotel, giving it rave reviews.
One review that left a particular impression on hotel assistant manager James Chung came from Steven Pan, chairman of Formosa International Hotels Corporation. Pan, who was an unexpected guest, ordered some simple European cooking from the hotel’s menu, and exclaimed that the food was the biggest surprise he’d had in Kending and was of a quality on par with Taipei’s five-star hotels.
Chung says that amongst the services the Gloria Hotel Group focuses on, dining is one of the foremost. Dinners at the hotel use the best fresh, local ingredients, and no fixed menu is used, allowing the chefs to exercise their creativity.
However, Gloria Manor’s lofty aspirations also come with a lofty price tag, with ordinary rooms starting at NT$10,000 a night, and the Presidential Suite going for a massive NT$38,000 a night, putting them in a price bracket well above Kending’s other hotels.
Gloria Manor’s major focus, says Chung, is on wealthy guests coming in from Hong Kong, Macao, and mainland China: “If we can build good word of mouth, we could position ourselves up there with the luxury hotels of Phuket and Bali, and with the help of the government and local residents, we can create a world-class, sustainable tourist destination.”
In its previous life, Gloria Manor was a holiday home for President Chiang Kai-shek. Now it is a high-quality hotel with a focus on modernized Taiwanese design and aesthetics.
Nestled in the foothills of Mt. Dajianshi, Gloria Manor offers a new way to fall in love with the natural beauty of Kending.