The stunning Hotel Everest View was built in 1968 to attract wealthy, middle-aged Japanese tourists and was entered in the Guinness Book of Records in 1999 as the world’s highest luxury hotel, at 3964m (13,000 feet).
The idea was to transport guests directly from Kathmandu by helicopter into the Syangboche airstrip, and then to the the hotel from where they could, at US$275 a night, enjoy one of the finest views in the world from the luxury of its Japanese style patio.
Guests flew in, in droves, only to keel over the following morning from altitude sickness. After a couple of deaths, the airstrip was practically abandoned. This spelt disaster for the hotel, because its clientele weren't the kind to endure the hard, three-day trek up to Namche. Today, most tourists at the hotel are like us, trekkers, merely dropping in for a cup of tea in the course of their acclimatization walks.
One would think this would be lesson enough for hoteliers not to treat the Khumbhu region like your average beach resort, but construction of a five star hotel has once again begun on the ridge opposite Namche, practically on the edge of the Kwang De summit.