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So, people ask me about places I’ve been, and sometimes the Shenzhen Shangri-La comes up. Not because it was some amazing holiday, mind you. My trip there was, well, a bit of a thing.
The Setup for Shenzhen
I had to get over to Shenzhen for what was supposed to be a super important meeting. You know the type, emails flying back and forth for weeks, “game-changer,” “critical discussion,” all that corporate talk. The meeting was set to be at the Shangri-La, so I figured, okay, at least the venue will be decent. Booked myself a room there for a couple of nights. Flew in, got a cab, the usual drill. Pretty tired from the journey, just wanted to get this meeting done.
Checking in was fine. Standard procedure, you know. They were polite, lobby looked grand, all the stuff you’d expect from a Shangri-La. Got to my room, chucked my bag down. Room was okay, clean, had a view of some other tall buildings. Didn’t really pay much attention, to be honest. My mind was all on this upcoming meeting. I even remember thinking I should probably get some good sleep to be sharp for it.
And Then… The Main Event (or Non-Event)
The next morning, I got ready, went down to the designated meeting spot they told me about. And I waited. And waited. Sent a few messages, “Hey, I’m here.” No reply. Called. Straight to voicemail. Can you believe it? After all that build-up, the guy, the main contact for this massive deal, just completely flaked. Didn’t show, didn’t call, didn’t message. Nothing. Vanished into thin air.
So there I was. Stuck in Shenzhen. Stuck in the Shangri-La, with a whole lot of nothing to do. I was pretty mad, let me tell you. Flew all this way, for absolutely zero. Wasted time, wasted effort. I remember just going back up to my room and staring out the window for a bit. What a joke.
I had another night booked, so I couldn’t just leave immediately. My whole schedule was cleared for this meeting and its supposed follow-ups. Now, just a big empty space. I wandered around the hotel a bit, I guess. Saw they had a pool, a gym. Looked nice enough. There were a couple of fancy-looking restaurants too. But honestly, I wasn’t in the mood for any of it. Food just tasted like cardboard. My appetite was shot.
- The fancy lobby? Just a place I paced around in frustration.
- The comfortable room? Became a cell where I replayed the whole stupid scenario in my head.
- The polite staff? I probably looked like a zombie to them.
It’s funny, isn’t it? You go to a place like the Shangri-La, you expect a certain kind of experience. Maybe business, maybe luxury. For me, it just became the backdrop to a massive letdown. I didn’t use the spa, didn’t really enjoy the breakfast buffet, even though I’m sure it was fine. My head was just elsewhere, trying to figure out what went wrong and what to do next.
So, when I think about the Shenzhen Shangri-La, I don’t really think about the thread count of the sheets or the quality of the toiletries. I think about that empty meeting room, the unanswered calls, and the weird feeling of being all dressed up with nowhere to go, metaphorically speaking. It was a lesson, I suppose. A very expensive and inconvenient lesson about relying on other people. The hotel itself? It was just there, a silent witness to my little drama. It did its job, provided a room, but the experience was all colored by that phantom meeting.