The things we lost in the fire

Last night I fell asleep, as I have been most nights, to the BBC.  I work up around midnight to what I thought was a dream.  A hotel was burning down in Beijing that was slated to open in weeks.  What a funny dream I was having.  Finally, at 4am when I woke for the day, I realized I was not dreaming.  The New Mandarin Oriental had burned to the ground.  Of course their will be a lot of speculation as to why it burned down, but so far fireworks is being blamed.  The Lantern Festival and fireworks all over the city went on until the wee hours of the morning.  

On my way to the hotel, I had my taxi take me past the shell of the Mandarin Oriental.  It was quite sad.  All those Jobs.  All that work.  All that investment.  The silver lining - as there always is one - we will get some great colleagues out of it.  But please, all you hoteliers, take a moment of silence for the loss.  It may have just been a building to some, but to that company it was a flagship property far superior to all the rest.  Still very sad!