Dangerous (unstable, corroded)
Lockdowns during the Covid crisis, the disappearance of Chinese tourists, and the general struggles of Taiwan’s tourism industry are mirrored in the “International Wellness Travel” (新天堂國際養生行旅) project on the outskirts of Hualien. Here, “rust” speaks on more than one level.
From the roadside, the unfinished hotel already reveals its fate: a vast steel skeleton, eaten away by corrosion. The design itself is uninspired—a square footprint with a central courtyard, fronted by a protruding “ship’s bow.”The construction fence around the site is hardly secure. Its gates hang open, more a gesture toward liability than real protection. Visitors who slip inside can wander freely, risking falls in an environment left to decay. What makes the place striking are the immense steel supports—reminders of the ambition once poured into the project. Visitors who step inside quickly notice just how massive the steel construction really is. The scale of the beams and supports shows the kind of reinforcement a building of this size demands—an impressive sight, even in decay.
The hotel was one of several ventures by TaiKai Development Company 台開公司, which later ran into financial trouble. Construction on the “New Paradise International Wellness Hotel,” a collaboration between TaiKai and ibis Hotels, began on March 14, 2019. More than five years later, progress has stopped at the bare framework: one basement level and ten above-ground floors. For locals, the rusting giant has become Hualien’s most visible monument to abandonment.
The plans were grand—603 units, each about 11 ping (roughly 36 square meters), starting at 4.29 million NT dollars. Marketed to meet the standards of France’s ibis brand, the hotel was meant to tap into a global network of over 100 million members and more than 2,000 ibis hotels. It never happened. Creditors tried to push “New Paradise Mall” into a second auction in 2023, but the attempt failed. TaiKai continues to negotiate with lenders, delaying the project’s fate.
Today, the site remains frozen at roughly 50% completion. The exposed framework has rusted to a deep orange, and exploring it means moving with caution. Staircases creak, their steps corroded and slick. With no railings, the safest route is to hug the beams or edge along the structure itself. Online, urban explorers joke that the hotel would make a perfect backdrop for end-of-the-world films.
(Enjoy the sound: It is the sprichwörtliche Gang durch Rost—an abandoned vision now reduced to oxidized steel.)
Not all stories here are lighthearted. In August 2025, a car in the nearby Rainbow Plaza parking lot became the scene of a suspected suicide. Rainbow Plaza (彩虹廣場), once a venue for events in front of the hotel, now sits closed, a silent witness to the decline of the entire complex.
(Claudius Petzold)
