the hotel is designed in a beach resort-style within the downtown area of the city and is located on the shang palace estate, which covers 8.6 hectares, and includes the hotel, shangri-la plaza, the residential st. francis shangri-la place and a new shangri-la plaza east wing opened in 2013. the hotel is considered one of the landmark buildings in manila due to it being the first of its kind in the city, and its clientele consists 85 per cent of locals rather than foreign tourists.