
A 61-year-old hotel that has never had a guest - funkyy
http://fortune.com/2015/08/11/hotel-italy-no-guests/?xid=soc_socialflow_facebook_FORTUNE
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seanmcdirmid
This is just par for the course in China. It is all about money laundering and
not real mismanagement, the reasons are all "unclear" because these buildings
are not built to be actually used...lots of corners are cuts and pockets are
padded. So having an excuse not to open works out, and places the inevitable
outrage into the next or next next administration.

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hellodevnull
>It is all about money laundering

Maybe, but (apparently) in China many dead malls that were never really used
were built simply to raise the GDP.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-ghost-cities-
in-2014-2...](http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-ghost-cities-
in-2014-2014-6?IR=T)

~~~
seanmcdirmid
That is the official excuse, but those malls are crappy, where did the money
really go? Bank lends money to SOE, SOE is told by CPC to build, SOE contracts
out to some cronies, cronies subcontract out to more cronies, and so on...lots
of cuts are taken, and finally something cruddy gets built that isn't useable
but it doesn't matter since it isn't needed anyways.

We would be better off paying migrant workers to dig and fill in holes. Then
at least you wouldn't have a monstrosity to tear down in a few years.

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yrro
Tearing down monstrosities doesn't seem all that worse to filling the holes
back in to me!

~~~
seanmcdirmid
A lot of waste and air pollution. Construction and demolition alone
contributed heavily to Beijing's bad air quality.

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scurvy
Reminds me of the Prora, a weird Nazi hotel compound on the Baltic Sea that
was never finished: [http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/01/the-10000-bedroom-
nazi-...](http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/01/the-10000-bedroom-nazi-hotel-
that-was.html)

~~~
icanhackit
> "Strength through Joy" ("Kraft durch Freude," KdF)

Interesting that _kraft_ is analogous to both strength and skill in German.
Similarly in old Norse it's both strength and virtue. In English _craft_ is
defined as skill, i.e. in making things, yet Northwestern European languages
place an emphasis on strength. I wonder if it's because as the language
developed it was a time when making things required more strength than mental
discipline/skill, such as lifting logs and stone for constructing shelter,
roads, retaining walls etc.

~~~
kriro
I wouldn't say "Kraft" is analogous to skill in German. In fact I'd be willing
to say it's never used in that sense. "Fähigkeit", "Fertigkeit", "Kompetenz"
and a few others are usually used for "skill".

"Kraft" can have a spiritual meaning of sorts (vitalize) though. "Kraft
schöpfen" is often used to sort of mean gather your thoughts and get
revitalized. That's how it's used in KdF. I guess "mental strength" fits most
closely in the KdF example.

There's also an old-ish word "Geisteskraft" which means something like mental
strength. However it does have a different connotation than skill.

~~~
icanhackit
> In fact I'd be willing to say it's never used in that sense.

I stand corrected. Based on a quick search, what I gather is that _kraft_
tends to be used (in conjunction with other words) to define forms of force.

Thanks for taking the time to explain in-depth.

~~~
selimthegrim
Think of the protest slogan in the eighties - "Atomkraft nein danke"

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nmrm2
What's astounding is that the regional government can fund something to the
tune of millions of dollars, then red tape it to death. Almost makes me wonder
if the project failed due to the vicissitudes of political climate.

Those sorts of politics happen in companies too, which makes me wonder if
there are similar "almost done, could be great, but never quite finished"
pieces of software.

~~~
brc
Looking at it simply, it's obvious that it was never designed to be opened.
Seems as though large amounts of public money have been in play. If you look
at the results it would seem to be that it was designed to siphon off funds.

~~~
danieltillett
It would seem that this was a success then. It take real skill to be able to
siphon of funds for the same building 4 times.

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batbomb
Makes you wonder what will happen to the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas

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iiiggglll
That thing is incredible. For those who are unfamiliar, it is an empty,
uncompleted, unoccupied multi-billion dollar resort-hotel on the Las Vegas
strip that was left unfinished after the big real estate market bust of the
late 2000s. The outer shell of the building was completed all the way up to
the highest floor, but the interior was never finished and according to
Wikipedia it would require an estimated $1.5 billion more to finish to the
point where it could open. It's been sitting unfinished in the middle of Las
Vegas for years now, much like the famous Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea.

The building itself is a sight to behold. Even in the outsized scale of Las
Vegas, it's considerably taller than most hotels on the strip. I took a walk
towards its end of the strip one night without knowing what it was, and after
initially seeing it in the distance and thinking it was fairly small, it just
kept getting bigger and bigger without seeming to get any closer. Finally I
got up next to it and counted the floors in amazement. It's very surreal to
see this giant unfinished monolith sitting completely dark in the middle of
all the lights and activity of Vegas. Amazingly, it's still the #2 tallest
building in the city (surpassed only by The Stratosphere):

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_L...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Las_Vegas)

~~~
wingerlang
Similarly, in Bangkok
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathorn_Unique_Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sathorn_Unique_Tower)

Also stands in a central spot right next to pretty expensive apartment
buildings.

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mmmBacon
Reminiscent of North Korea's Hotel of Doom more officially known as the
Ryungyong Hotel

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel)

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amazon_not
This is just a repost of the [http://www.thelocal.it/20150716/grande-hotel-
san-calogero-no...](http://www.thelocal.it/20150716/grande-hotel-san-calogero-
no-guests-in-60-years) story. Pretty brasen by Fortune.

~~~
digi_owl
Seems it must have been resold via some kind of wire service, as seaching for
it finds the same basic headline across a number of news sites.

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Garlef
Why is this article linked here? It seems to have very poor journalistic
standards: An article about a money sink on sicily, home of the cosa nostra,
without mentioning money laundering.

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stefantalpalaru
High journalistic standards mean that you only mention money laundering when
you have proof of money laundering.

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riquito
> it was finally completed in 1984

So it's 31-year old

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yuchi
While loading: “please tell me it’s not in Italy, please not here, please…
fuck.”

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bwb
Oh italy, you never change :)

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blue1
Waste of public money in Sicily is outrageous even for italian standards.

