A HOTEL spent US$7 million to install a 270-kilogram gold heart-shaped inlay in its lobby floor, attracting customers, but also sparking debate over the value of such extravagant use of capital.

The inlay was installed in time for the opening last Tuesday of the Paradise Island Hotel, located on Zhongyang Street in downtown Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The gold bullion, bearing the inscription "Swiss Bank Corporation" and "Paradise Island," glitters in two heart-shaped formations beneath transparent glass in the lobby.

"The gold floor is a great innovation. A lot of customers have been coming in to take a look and some of them stayed to have dinner," said Yin Yingchuan, sales director with Paradise Island Hotel Co Ltd.

Wanda Group owns the hotel, a property developer based in Dalian, a coastal city in Liaoning Province. The company spent 56 million yuan (US$7 million) on acquiring and transporting the gold bullion, Yin said.

Opinions are divided about the display.

One person, identified as Xu Bin, said: "The gold floor idea has made the newly opened hotel famous right from the word go, and it is also a show of economic strength by the hotel operator."

Professor Chen Yongchang, president of the Business Administration Executive College of Heilongjiang Province, described the hotel's initiative as unwise.

"A sophisticated entrepreneur would use the money as working capital and expand the size of his business to reap profits," said Chen. "Paradise Island's approach of immobilizing the money to show off contradicts the academic concept of efficient capital utilization."

(Source:Shanghai Daily)