The new Shangri-La Hotel in Vienna (the second property in Europe after Paris), which was scheduled to open in April, has been cancelled after a dispute between the hotel operator and the property developer. All references to the Vienna property have been deleted from the Shangri-La website.

The hotel is - after 2 year construction - almost finished, rooms have been furnished and 200 staff had been hired.

Sounds like a very unusual case, very surpring that a hotel operator can pull out of the contract that late in the game.

Wonder what will happen to the hotel now. Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental have been rumored to be interested in Vienna as well.

Link (in German)