China's Hotel Boom
China is tipped to become the world's top tourist destination, and foreign hotel chains are rushing to cash in
BY SIMON ELEGANT | BEIJING

The view from the top of Beijing's newest and tallest skyscraper is to die for. Still a year from completion, the upper floors are a mess of flapping safety nets and tangled steel wires, but there are glimpses of what will be a spectacular, 360-degree panorama. The outlook to the west is particularly stunning—a sweep down the wide swath of Chang'an Avenue, past the Forbidden City over roofs and parks all the way out to the hazy crests of the Western Hills. It's the best view in China's booming capital, and you'd expect one of the country's corporate titans to be taking up residence on the top floors. But it's a testament to the rising prominence of one of China's hottest industries that the top five floors of the building will, in fact, be occupied by the lobby of a Park Hyatt that promises to be Beijing's snazziest hotel.

Even by China's skewed standards, the surge of foreign interest in launching and managing new mainland hotels is astounding. "It's stratospheric," says Patrick Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics, a U.S.-based industry-research group. "China is the most attractive place in the world right now for hotels. That's why investment capital is racing there and why the major international brands are racing there too." Indeed, 188 new hotels are under construction in China, says Ford, and 145 of them are four- or five-star offerings with more than 200 rooms. Even if some of these projects aren't completed, this building spree could bring as many as 30,000 new rooms to China at a cost of more than $8 billion.

China has, of course, seen its share of gold rushes before, many of which ended with little return (or large losses) for investors who stampeded in. But this time many foreign companies seem set to make a tidy profit, not least because this is one industry in which the Chinese are ill-equipped to undercut overseas rivals while also providing the requisite quality of service. "You can knock off Prada or Montblanc," says Ralph Grippo, China manager for Ritz-Carlton hotels. "But there's no way you can knock off luxury service. It's about human beings and experience. That's not something you can duplicate." Ford agrees: "There's no Chinese company right now that can go toe to toe with Marriott," or with other big chains such as Hyatt, Hilton and Westin. "They just don't have the brand name or international drawing power." As a result, local firms are eagerly teaming up with the foreign giants, which contribute their names and expertise, and also ensure that the hotels are designed to exacting standards. The local partners tend to put up the cash for construction, while the foreign firms earn steady management fees for running the hotels.

Heady projections about the future of China's travel industry also help to explain this frenzy of hotel building. Already the world's fourth most popular tourist destination, the country is expected to move into second position within a decade, according to the World Tourism Association. By 2020, China is forecast to overtake the U.S. as the world's most-visited country, pulling in some 130 million visitors a year. China's burgeoning domestic-tourism market is also critical in the bullish calculations of hotel companies. By 2010, the number of domestic tourists is forecast to soar from 1.2 billion to about 1.8 billion.

Further fueling this domestic-tourism boom is the dramatic rise in car sales and the rapid construction of a national highway network, making travel more practical and alluring. China has about 34,000 km of highways, a number that's expected to more than double by 2020. "The highways linking cities in Inner Mongolia are better than the road between Sydney and Melbourne," marvels Bruce McKenzie, who oversees China operations for the U.K.-based InterContinental group, which is among the most aggressive of the international players in China. It currently runs 54 hotels there, mostly under the Holiday Inn marque, and it plans to triple that figure by the end of 2008. Appropriately, Holiday Inn rose to prominence amid another boom, profiting from extensive highway construction across the U.S. after World War II. The chain started with four hotels in Memphis in 1952, expanding to about 1,000 by 1968. "We see the opportunity to replicate what happened in the U.S.," says McKenzie.

It may be a decade before business really starts to boom in some of the secondary cities now being targeted—metropolises like Hefei, Harbin and Chengdu. But early movers such as InterContinental hope to reap the benefits of choice locations and greater brand awareness by getting there first. Eric Wong, a property-sector analyst for UBS Hong Kong, observes: "If I'm a big hotel company, the question is, should I wait ten years to plant my flag in China now? The big chains have all decided, and are in the midst of a flag-planting race."

Yet with so many hoteliers vying over the same territory, an industry shakeout may be inevitable. "A lot of the newcomers are going in because the head office says, 'You have to be in China,'" says Wong. But there's a risk that this will lead to overbuilding and that many rooms will go empty in secondary cities. Even in primary markets like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, demand may not keep pace with supply. "It's already difficult to get a good location in the gateway cities," says Wong. "Some of the new grand palaces will be pulled off the market later on."

Less exclusive segments of the market are already getting crowded. The Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt chains all have plans for big pushes within the "economy" segment of the industry, defined as three stars and below, importing brands such as Marriott Courtyard and Hilton Garden Inns from the U.S. Several Chinese hotel companies, notably the Jinjiang Group, are chasing after the same market, intensifying the sense of urgency. "It's amazing how fast things move in China," says Brian Deeson, head of China operations for the French lodging group Accor, which has four Ibis Hotels on the mainland and plans to have 50 of them in operation by the end of 2008. "You have to keep moving very fast to keep your advantage."

From the Jul. 03, 2006 issue of TIME Asia Magazine

Interesting. Do you know of any Chinese chain hotels that are expanding in China?

China Travel Service operates a chain of hotels in the mainland, but I can't recall another local chain that has a consistent name on properties throughout the country. They may be owned by a common owner, but the hotel name sure doesn't show it.

INTERVIEW-France's Accor to expand China hotel network

SHANGHAI, March 19 (Reuters) - Accor , Europe's biggest hotel group, expects to exceed its plan of opening more than 61 hotels in China before 2010, stepping up expansion in its main growth market, a senior executive said on Monday.

Driving that will be rapid growth in business travellers using budget hotels such as its Ibis brand, Accor Asia Pacific Managing Director Michael Issenberg told Reuters in an interview.

"We have a target of 100 Ibis hotels to be opened and committed by 2010," Issenberg said.

"Tourism is definitely growing in China and we shouldn't underestimate that, but most of the hotels we're opening are targeted towards business travel, particularly the Ibis hotels."

The French owner of the Sofitel and Novotel brands announced on Monday the opening of its 44th hotel in China.

It added 53 hotels in Asia Pacific last year and now operates 300 in the region, compared with 4,000 globally.

In two to three years, Accor expects China to account for 25 percent of its hotels in Asia Pacific, up from 15 percent now, Issenberg said.

Globally, Accor aims to open 200,000 new rooms by 2010, with two-thirds in emerging markets such as China, India, Turkey and Algeria.

The company last year opened its first hotel in India, a Novotel in Hyderabad, and has at least 15 committed projects in the country.

"It takes time to develop in India," Issenberg said. "The hotels will start to open in the end of this year and growth will accelerate in '08 and '09."

In China, analysts expect the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and rising domestic wealth and tourism to drive strong growth in hotel demand.

"In those particular cities, in those particular years, these events will certainly drive a lot of demand, but you don't build a hotel for a single event," Issenberg said.

Among its global rivals, InterContinental Hotels Plc , the world's largest hotelier, expects China to help lift the Asia-Pacific region to 15 percent of its pretax profit over the next three to five years, up from one-10th now.

Accor said two weeks ago that it expected to expand its Ibis budget hotel network to 40 to 50 hotels in China by 2008, going head to head with aggressive Chinese hoteliers such as Jin Jiang International Hotel (Group) Co. Ltd. , the country's largest chain, and Home Inns & Hotel Management Inc. .

China attracted 124 million visitors and earned $33.5 billion from tourism last year, according to official data.

in my small county, we have three 5 star hotels, four 4 star hotels, and eight 3 star hotels.

FEATURE-China's booming budget hotels profit from no frills

SHANGHAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - German engineer Michael Bosch is not fazed by the lack of a gym and other creature comforts at his budget hotel in a converted Shanghai office building. He's stayed at such hotels on nearly a dozen trips to Chinese cities.

"All I need is a clean, warm place to sleep. I don't care so much about service," the 32-year-old said as he waited for 10 minutes for a distracted receptionist to attend to him at a Motel168 on the edge of Shanghai's financial district.

Millions of businessmen and tourists, both Chinese and foreign, are taking advantage of a boom in China's budget hotel industry, which offers rooms for less than $50 a night compared with around $200 at five-star hotels.

The number of budget hotel rooms has mushroomed in the past eight years from practically zero to over 100,000 with more than 100 brands competing for a bite of China's rapidly expanding domestic tourism market. More than a 100 brands have emerged.

The fast-developing Chinese budget hotel industry resembles the U.S. motel boom of the 1950s, which was fuelled by tourism and expanding highways.

"China has a population four times that of the U.S, and the potential to be the world's biggest budget hotel market," said Wang Lie, chief financial officer at budget chain Hanting Hotels.

Big and small Chinese investors, plus foreign heavyweights such as Morgan Stanley, Warburg Pincus [WP.UL] and Merrill Lynch , are piling into the industry, even though fierce competition and sinking room rates now threaten to hurt profits.

Political and social change, as well as China's economic boom, have aided the industry. Until recently, the government did little to encourage domestic travel by its citizens, partly because of concern about public security and social stability.

Many Chinese travellers had to stay at grim "guest houses" run by local governments, notorious for spartan dormitory rooms, lack of heating and poor plumbing.

But in 1999, the central government began promoting travel as a way to stimulate the economy, creating three week-long national holidays that boosted demand for hotel rooms.

That unleashed a travel boom. In 2006, 1.39 billion domestic trips by Chinese tourists generated $85 billion, up 17 percent from 2005, the latest official data shows. Industry sources say growth continues at a similar pace.

GOVERNMENT POLICY

China's business travel market is worth about $10 billion, the world's fourth biggest, according to American Express.

The Olympic Games in China this August, and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, are expected to help keep demand growing after Beijing decided last month to cut the number of week-long holidays from three to two.

"Money has been pouring into this red-hot industry and every player is expanding aggressively for market share," said Xu Rongzu, president of Shanghai-based Jinjiang Inn, which was founded in 1996 as China's first budget hotel chain.

In contrast to luxury travel, China's budget hotel industry is dominated by local brands. Though cheap hotels have lured budget tourists and backpackers from abroad, the vast majority of customers are locals who are unfamiliar with foreign brands.

Small, quick-footed Chinese firms have been able to dive into the market while potential foreign rivals are still doing feasibility studies, as average investment in a budget hotel is just $1 million and can often be recouped in three to five years.

The industry has drawn Chinese entrepreneurs including Ji Qi, 42, the crew-cut, fast-talking son of a farmer. He quit his job as a computer sales manager in Shanghai in the mid-1990s to travel in the United States for a year, before returning to establish a string of firms.

He co-founded online travel agent Ctrip in 1999 and Home Inns , now China's biggest budget hotel chain, in 2001. Both are listed on the U.S. Nasdaq market. Ji now aims for an overseas listing of Hanting Hotels, which he set up in 2005.

Ji says the budget hotel industry is attractive because the country is shifting from a growth model of "Made in China" to "Service by China", as pollution and international trade tensions mean it can no longer rely solely on manufacturing growth.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

The dominance of Chinese entrepreneurs has left private equity investment in local firms as the easiest way for many foreign investors to get into the boom.

Home Inns raised over $109 million in its October 2006 Nasdaq listing after investment from U.S.-based venture capital firm IDG Ventures. It plans to quadruple the number of its hotels to 1,000 in a few years and expand outside China into Asia.

Shenzhen-based 7 Days Inn, China's fifth biggest chain, plans to triple its number of hotels to 200 in 2008 after receiving in September a combined $95 million injection from Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Warburg Pincus.

But some big foreign chains think they have the expertise to compete in China, where establishing a name could help them attract business abroad from the hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists starting to travel overseas.

Accor , Europe's largest hotelier, aims to have as many as 120 Ibis budget hotels in China by 2010, up from nine now -- though most of Accor's Chinese revenue will still come from its higher-end Sofitel and Novotel hotels.

As with many Chinese industries, the investment boom may lead to a shake-out. Competition for customers and well-located properties is driving up operating costs while hurting rents and occupancy rates.

Room rates for budget hotels fell 45 percent on average in 2006 and occupancy slid to 82.4 percent from 89 percent, the most recent commerce ministry data shows -- though that remained above the hotel industry's average occupancy rate of about 60 percent.

Property rents, a big part of costs, rose five times faster than China's already-frothy real estate prices in 2006.

"The biggest challenge for budget hotel operators is cost control," said Jinjiang's Xu. "In addition to rising rents, rising energy prices and wages are adding pressure to costs."

The market has also been hurt by many substandard, privately run hotels which have been able to call themselves "budget chains" because of lax government regulation, said Zhang Minghou, an official at the China Hotel Association.

Zhang helped draft rules, to be published this year, designed to regulate the sector and service standards.

"China is no longer virgin territory for budget hotels, and the days of fat profits are over," said Ji Yue, director of U.S. private equity firm Sequoia Capital. "There are already some obvious market leaders. We expect to see consolidation."

Home Inns, Motel168 and Jinjiang Inn, which is part of the Shanghai Jinjiang International Hotels Group , already control a combined 44 percent of the market, and that may rise.

In October, Home Inns obtained 26 more hotels by purchasing two-year-old rival Top Star. Chief Executive Officer David Sun has said acquisitions will account for a fifth of Home Inns' expansion in the long term.

But other chains may still thrive through market segmentation, said Wang at Hanting Hotels. "The potential in China is enormous, and it's not a winner-takes-all game."

To avoid direct competition with leading players, Hanting calls itself a "mid-level" hotel chain and targets business travellers in particular.

Its hotels are decorated with oil paintings and each room is equipped with not one but two internet broadband lines.

And Malaysian-controlled cruise operator Star Cruises has entered the market by targeting the lower end, charging travellers less than $14 yuan per night compared with more than twice that at Home Inns. ($1 = 7.24 yuan)

The next grwoth area for China will I'd guess be luxury resorts since the chinese upper class is growing and foreigners are starting to move out of the typical Beijing, Xian, Shanghai tourist route. Places like Yangshuo and Zhangjiajie seem taylor made for countryside spa hotels.

The next grwoth area for China will I'd guess be luxury resorts since the chinese upper class is growing and foreigners are starting to move out of the typical Beijing, Xian, Shanghai tourist route. Places like Yangshuo and Zhangjiajie seem taylor made for countryside spa hotels.
Hainan as well :)

Places like Yangshuo and Zhangjiajie seem taylor made for countryside spa hotels.

I'd hate to see places like Yangshuo and Zhangjiajie become home to lots of 5-star spa hotels. That would totally destroy the atmosphere of these places.


But it's good to see that China is also building small budget hotels and not just 4 and 5-star hotels for business travellers. IMO the hotel standard in China is already really good. I've never paid more than $30 per night in China, not even in Shanghai and Beijing and the hotels were really good (well, except for the usual horrible rock-hard mattresses which can be found all over Asia)

Well, some of the 3* gets a bit scary, especially when chains are not popular in that segment of the market so it's hard to guarantee a minimum quality or consistency.

I suggest this thread be renamed China Tourism & Hospitality News.

http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/en/2009/07/24/12708-new-five-star-hotel-for-jiangjin-chongqing/
New Five-star Hotel For Jiangjin Chongqing

July 24, 2009 | Print | Email Email | Category: Industry News

The construction of a new five-star hotel — Fuqi International Grand Hotel — has started in the east of Chongqing's Jiangjin district.

Covering an area of 45,000 square meters, the 400 bed hotel is expected to be put into use by 2011.

The hotel is being developed by Longhuang Industrial Company with an investment CNY 250 million.

Jiangjin is near to the main urban area of Chongqing, and has a good industrial base.

http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/en/2009/07/24/12710-taiwan-and-mainland-to-set-up-tourism-offices-in-beijing-and-taipei/
Taiwan And Mainland To Set Up Tourism Offices In Beijing And Taipei

July 24, 2009 | Print | Email Email | Category: Industry News

The director of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Lai Sezhen, told local media that Taiwan and the mainland are planning to set up tourism offices in Beijing and Taipei by the end of 2009.

Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association made the decision during a meeting held in Hong Kong in early July. The offices will be in charge of such tourism related affairs as complaints handling.

According to Lai, the tourism offices will be of great help in offering tourism information to tourists across the Strait.

InterContinental to open first luxury hotel in Zhuhai
22 July 2009
SCMP

InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's largest hotel chain by number of rooms, is likely to open its first InterContinental luxury hotel in Zhuhai in Guangdong province.

Betting on the benefits likely to flow from closer economic ties in the Pearl River Delta region and further economic growth following the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the Singapore-listed Yanlord Land Group is building a four billion yuan (HK$4.55 billion) integrated residential-hotel and commercial development, Zhuhai Yanlord Marina Centre, in the city.

"We are in talks with InterContinental to run the hotel," said Zhong Shengjian, the chairman of Yanlord Land Group.

Mr Zhong was speaking after the ground-breaking ceremony for the development on Friday.

InterContinental was not available for comment.

When completed in 2014/2015, the five-block development, comprising 300,000 square metres of gross floor area, will provide high-end residential apartment units, a retail mall, grade A office space and a five-star hotel.

It is adjacent to the Zhuhai-Macau immigration checkpoint at Gongbei and will become the first luxury hotel in Zhuhai, which now has only the three-star Holiday Inn, also part of InterContinental.

The economy of Zhuhai is expected to get a boost once the proposed 29-kilometre Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is built, according to Mr Zhong.

Construction of the bridge is expected to start by the end of the year and or no later than 2010. On completion in 2016, it will cut travelling time from Hong Kong to Macau or Zhuhai to just about 30 minutes.

InterContinental was the first international hotel company to open on the mainland and is now the largest international hotel operator in the country, which generates about 5 per cent of the hotel group's total business. That contribution could grow to 15 per cent in two years, it says.

The group employs some 23,000 staff in Greater China and plans to create another 100,000 jobs over the next five years.

It has 12 InterContinental brands on the mainland and 20 more are in the pipeline, including the InterContinental Shanghai Expo, which will open next year and will be the only international hotel in the 2010 World Expo Park.

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/new-hotels/shanghai-expo
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http://images3.ichotelsgroup.com/cq/content/branded/ic/en/gb/new-hotels/shanghai-expo.-Content-000110-Image.Contentimage.2.2.gif

Set to open in December 2009, InterContinental Shanghai Expo is Shanghai’s newest luxury hotel, centrally located just 40 minutes from Pudong International Airport and 45 minutes from Hongqiao Airport. Built on the World Expo site in Pudong, with spectacular views of Shanghai’s skyline and the Hangpu River this hotel is ideally situated and is just eight minutes drive to the heart of Lujiazui, Shanghai’s central business district and numerous shopping areas. Metro stations 4, 6, 7 and 8 are within walking distance and the hotel is close to all city attractions in Puxi and Pudong. Combining the richness of ancient China and excitement of modern China a visit to this city will be an unforgettable experience.

InterContinental Shanghai Expo offers 400 contemporary guestrooms, all of which feature spectacular World Expo views or river views of Shanghai’s skyline. The hotel features 42 suites, including 37 executive suites, four Diplomatic suites with private balconies and a classic Presidential suite occupying half of Level 28.

InterContinental Shanghai Expo offers a spacious Grand Ballroom and Terrace Ballroom with an outdoor area. Both ballrooms are equipped with state of the art technology and have natural light with specially designed breakout areas. An additional 9 meeting rooms with spectacular river views are available with the latest technology, the ultimate place for your next party or private function.

Club InterContinental rooms located on Level 24 to 28 feature automatic coffee machines, special amenities and personalised 24-hour business and concierge butler service. Club InterContinental Lounge on Level 26 and 27 has a 150m2 terrace offering breathtaking views of the Huangpu River and World Expo site.

Spa InterContinental is your personal sanctuary in Shanghai with panoramic views of the city and a full range of Spa treatments combining the best of East and West in 11 oversized treatment rooms. A 25 metre swimming pool, large whirlpool and outdoor deck overlooking the Huangpu River lush garden is the ideal surrounding to stay fit or simply relax. The fully-equipped fitness centre features the latest generation cardio, strength and weight equipment. Spinning and yoga classes are available for all hotel guests.

A variety of dining options include cuisines from around the world as well as local favourites served in a Cosmopolitan or contemporary atmosphere with show kitchens and live cooking stations that add flair to every meal.

http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/en/2009/07/27/12719-king-town-hotel-opens-second-hotel-in-shanghai/
King Town Hotel Opens Second Hotel In Shanghai

July 27, 2009 | Print | Email Email | Category: Industry News

Looking forward to Expo 2010, King Town Hotel Shanghai has opened its second hotel in Shanghai.

One of the hotel's highlights is a historical fou — an ancient drum that featured in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics — which is displayed in the hotel lobby as a symbol of traditional Chinese hospitality.

The King Town Hotel is located in the Hongqiao area on Hongmei Road, adjacent to Hongqiao Golf Course, Hongqiao New Development Area and Caohejing Development Area and Xujiahui Commercial Area. The hotel is 10 minutes drive from Hongqiao International Airport and 40 minutes drive from Pudong International Airport.

King Town Hotel boasts 146 suites guest rooms equipped with high-tech facilities including high-speed wireless Internet access, LCD screen TV sets and computers fitted with wireless keyboard and mouse.

Food and beverage and recreational facilities include a Chinese restaurant, lobby bar, fitness center, business center, and conference and banqueting rooms.

http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/en/2009/07/27/12724-greentree-inn-opens-new-hotel-in-downtown-nanjing/
GreenTree Inn Opens New Hotel In Downtown Nanjing

July 27, 2009 | Print | Email Email | Category: Industry News

GreenTree Inn's third hotel in Nanjing has recently opened for business in the city's Gulou District.

Located inside the Machinery Building, No. 49 North Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, the hotel is close to the Greenland Business Center. The Hunan Road business district, Shiziqiao food street, Gulou Square, Jiangsu TV Station, Nanjing University and Nanjing Normal University are also nearby.

There are two other GreenTree Inn hotels are in Caochangmen and Yudaojie, which are quite convenient for business travelers.

Interesting. Do you know of any Chinese chain hotels that are expanding in China?

a lot of
上海如家
上海锦江白玉兰
等等。

Talking about Chinese chains...

http://www.chinahospitalitynews.com/en/2009/07/28/12734-yuanhe-jianguo-hotel-opens-its-doors/
Yuanhe Jianguo Hotel Opens Its Doors

July 28, 2009 | Print | Email Email | Category: Industry News

Yuanhe Jianguo Hotel, a new five-star hotel from BTG-Jianguo, officially opened recently in Xilingol in Inner Mongolia.

Yuanhe Jianguo Hotel has 241 guest rooms and suites including presidential suites and executive rooms. The modern meeting facilities, including a large multi-function room that can accommodate 500 people which is complemented by meeting rooms of various sizes, are supported by professional meeting teams.

For dining, the hotel has the Tianxia Yipin Chinese restaurant and the Powealth Korean restaurant. The coffee house serves a breakfast buffet.

This is the first five-star hotel in Xilingol. Guests here can enjoy the beautiful temperate grassland with original vegetation. Xilingol racecourse is just beside the hotel.

Not going to open a separate thread for Asia, so will put in here since some do relate to China projects :

Marriott plans 21 new Asian hotels amid global downturn
9 September 2009
Agence France Presse

Hotel group Marriott International announced Wednesday it was planning 21 new hotels in Asia, despite the impact of the global economic slowdown on travel and demand.

The company already has 37 hotels under construction across the region, meaning that it will have built 58 new hotels by 2013, creating an estimated 24,000 jobs.

"We are excited by these spectacular, architecturally interesting additions to our already dynamic Asia-Pacific pipeline especially since this growth is occurring in the context of the difficult global economy and tight credit markets," said Ed Fuller, president of international lodging.

"We see Asia as an exciting, dynamic market that we have continued to focus on since the start back in 1989."

The 58 hotels now under development will add more than 16,000 rooms to Marriott’s Asia-Pacific portfolio, bringing the company’s presence in the region to 154 hotels offering 51,500 rooms in 18 countries by the end of 2013.

The 21 newly announced hotels include two luxury JW Marriott hotels in China, 10 Marriott hotels in China, the Philippines and Thailand, two Renaissance Hotels in China and seven Courtyard hotels in Cambodia, China and India.

Marriott International entered the Asian market with the opening of Hong Kong's JW Marriott 20 years ago.

Shanghai luxury hotel market heats up
25 October 2009
Agence France Presse

The world's leading luxury hotels are rushing to expand in Shanghai ahead of next year's World Expo, with hopes high for the upscale travel sector in the Chinese financial hub despite the global downturn.

The opulent Peninsula, the only new building on the main part of Shanghai's historic Bund in 60 years, just opened, embracing the city's Jazz Age heyday with a chauffeur-driven 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom and a Great Gatsby-esque pool.

The Peninsula's owner, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited, is making a return to the "Paris of the East" where it was founded after a 60-year absence, but it is facing stiff competition.

Ritz Carlton is building a second hotel here, Hyatt already has three landmark properties and Shangri-La is expanding from one to four hotels.

Conrad, Jumeirah, Waldorf Astoria and the legendary Peace Hotel -- managed by Fairmont -- are all also preparing to enter the fray, with work done or nearly completed on each property.

"Is it madness?" asked Graham Kiy, general manager of the two-hotel Zendai complex designed by star Japanese architect Arata Isozaki.

A member of the Leading Hotels of the World, the complex is due to open in September 2010.

"The luxury travel sector itself has always been less affected by economic downturns. Luxury travel is a little bit down, but not as depressed as the three-star and four-star sectors," Kiy said.

He said occupancy at five star hotels was currently at 50-55 percent overall, rising to 60-65 percent at hotels with better locations.

The surge in luxury hotel openings -- which will add nearly 3,900 five-star rooms -- is linked to Expo 2010, which Shanghai will host next year. Seven million visitors, most of them Chinese, are expected to flood into the city.

"We're sure Expo will bring benefits to Shanghai in terms of visitors and media attention, but 2011 will be tough because there will be an oversupply of luxury hotels," Kiy said.

China has weathered the economic crisis better than any other travel market, said Philip Ho, Asia Pacific vice president for Leading Hotels of the World, whose latest property, the PuLi Hotel and Spa, just opened in Shanghai.

He points to research his company conducted earlier this year indicating that while globally more than 40 percent of people had cancelled vacations due to economic constraints, only 15 percent had done so in China and Hong Kong.

Fifty percent of Chinese and Hong Kong respondents to the luxury firm's survey said they would not change their travel habits due to the downturn and nearly 80 percent said they would not downgrade from five-star hotels.

"While the world has gone into a recession, China has not gone into a recession," Ho said.

The number of high net worth individuals in China surpassed the number in Britain last year to become the fourth largest in the world, according to research published by Merrill Lynch this month. China passed France in 2007.

China now has more than 364,000 people with more than one million dollars in liquid assets, the investment bank said.

That is a key figure for the luxury hotel sector, executives say -- and one that puts them at ease.

"China's a very big market and there's a place for everybody and everything," said the Peninsula's general manager Paul Tchen.

"With our arrival, we're providing another option ... Choice itself is a luxury."

Asians seek western training to help land plum hotel jobs
Global hospitality brands prefer workers with overseas experience
Vancouver Sun
16 November 2009

Global hotel brands continue to be as focused as ever on the Asia Pacific, especially China, for tomorrow's growth. They are staking out prime locations and building luxury properties. Behind every grand opening, there is a fresh hunt for hundreds of foot soldiers: front desk clerks, room managers, food and beverage crew, and back-office bean-counters.

Increasingly, the training of these workers is moving beyond the college classrooms of Beijing and Shanghai, even with their Western textbooks and video links. Instead, the picture now includes everything from Switzerland's finest hotel schools to $40-a-night, budget motels in Alabama to the housekeeping department of a five-star, downtown Vancouver hotel.

Meet Shine Yan, 23, for example. She arrived in Vancouver from China's Henan province a few years ago to study English. She recently completed an eight-month hotel management course at Vancouver-based Sprott-Shaw Community College and is doing an internship here. It's mostly office work, but her English is improving and she gets to be a cog in a fancy chain.

"I want to try and stay and upgrade my skills here," Yan said. "If I go back to China, I know I can find a hotel job easily because I have [overseas] work experience."

Inculcating a sense of customer service is one of the toughest challenges for foreign hotels wanting to expand in China, according to Toby Chu, CEO of Vancouver-based CIBT Education Group, which owns Sprott-Shaw and also runs a school of hotel and tourism management in Beijing.

"There was a big boom of hotels like the Venetian opening in Macau [in southern China, near Hong Kong] before the [economic] crisis, but many of the new workers were just not trained up to international standards. During the entire first month, guests at the Venetian there were lining up for 45 minutes to check in while staff stood watching," Chu said.

Ada Guo, a native of China's central Hunan province, is taking introduction to hospitality, facility management, and food and beverage courses at CIBT's school in Beijing. By the time she leaves China for her first time ever next year to do two years of school and training in the U.S., she will know a formal table setting inside out and be able to print reports with the most advanced of reservation systems.

Still, the placements are luck of the draw and she could get plopped into a $40-a-night budget motel near Gadsden, Ala., like one of her predecessors did. "It's just about getting some U.S.-based advancement of what they have learned in China," Chu said. "At least it is overseas experience. When they go back, they may not immediately be hired by the Grand Hyatt, but it's a start."

"The challenge in China is getting the balance right for the service level," said Graham Kwan, CEO of Melco China Resorts, a Canadian-listed company, which is developing a set of mountain resorts in China.

Time magazine recently described Melco's Yabuli ski destination in northern China as having undergone a Cinderella-like transformation, rating it the best resort makeover in Asia. Kwan, in his time overseeing this, has seen a wide spectrum of hotel service and management.

"One of the first properties we looked at, they didn't wash the sheets. They just washed the sheets in the swimming pool," Kwan said. "Then you go into the big, international firms and they have a lot of expatriate managers -- guys with French cuffs and cufflinks. But there you have a gap too because they are sitting in offices, not really understanding how to run a business in China. And you have all the grey in between."

"The hardware is superior to anything you'll see, the level of luxury, for example," Kwan said. "The software is where it can fall apart, or not."

Kwan, who first started travelling to China more than five years ago as a Vancouver-based Intrawest executive, said he has hired some Chinese graduates of Les Roches, a renowned Swiss hotel management school that has a campus in Shanghai. "More and more local Chinese are getting trained overseas or working with a large chain and then moving into other areas," he said.

"We need people who know the Chinese market, but who have a better understanding of other cultures and languages," said Evy Meng, a Beijing-based training manager for Ibis Hotel, an economy chain that is part of Accor, the giant French hotel group which aims to open 50 hotels, more than 10,000 rooms, in Asia this year. "This kind of person is difficult to find, but more and more people are coming back [to China] from schools and hotels overseas.

Chu's CIBT works closely with the educational arm of the American Hotel Lodging Association, distributing its materials, teaching its programs, certifying and placing graduates in China with member chains, including names like Marriott Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn, Westin Hotels and Resorts and the Shangri-La.

Most of these have their own internal training divisions, but the hyper pace of growth means there is room for the AHLA programs to serve as, at least, a solid first step, Chu said.

Ian Wilson, regional vice-president for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in Asia, said that in gearing up to open the chain's Yangcheng Lake property near Shanghai, the hotel received some 12,000 applications, interviewed 3,000 candidates and offered about 400 positions. With a new hotel in Beijing and the renovation of an iconic one in Shanghai both on the near horizon, Singapore-based Wilson said that "if you are a P.R.C. [People's Republic of China] native and you have worked overseas and gained experience in a five-star hotel, the world is your oyster."

Budget hotels set for big expansion
28 December 2009
Copyright 2009 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved.

Exercising a public flotation in the United States is the latest trend in China's budget hotel industry.

Spurred up by the domestic consumption stimulus program launched by the Chinese government and a commitment to boost the tourism industry, China's budget hotel operators have never been hungrier than now for raising money to meet an aggressive expansion plan. And for them, the US stock market is a good choice.

In late November of 2009, Guangzhou-based 7 Days Inn, the third largest budget hotel group nationwide by network, successfully made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $111 million.

It was the second budget hotel group to list in the United States, following Shanghai-based Home Inn, which was listed in 2006 on the NASDAQ.

The listing by 7 Days Inn is just a beginning, and it is expected to spur a wave of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the US by the industry.

Hanting Inn, another leading budget hotel, is awaiting a listing at the NASDAQ, said industrial insiders. Early in 2008, high-level executives from Green Tree Inn said the company was mulling over an IPO, either on the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ.

Right time for listing

"The time is ripe for Chinese budget hotels to go to the stock market. The earlier the better," said Alex Zheng, CEO of 7 Days Group.

The 7 Days Inn initiated its IPO preparation in late 2007 but the move was delayed by the global financial crisis. However, observers say this was a good thing for the company.

"We planned to list on the NASDAQ but now we are becoming strong enough to list on the main board after a year of expansion and improvement," said Zheng. The listing of 7 Days Inn is typical of moves within the sector.

"Many IPOs were grounded because of the global economic disaster. As the economic recovery for China is under way, the companies are naturally re-launching their IPO plans," said David Sun, chief executive officer of Home Inn.

In addition, their aggressive expansion plans are also forcing the budget hotels to grab as much money as they can.

Sun said Home Inn will have another 200 hotels under operation in 2010, from the current 600-odd properties. The chairman of Green Tree Inn said the portfolio of the brand will rise to 600 next year from 400 now.

Zheng, from 7 Days Inn, said that the company expected to surpass Home Inn and lead the local budget hotel market within five years. "We expect to have 1,800 hotels nationwide then," he said.

The expansion means handsome investment. "A budget hotel on average requires the injection of 6 to 7 million yuan ($878,708.88 to $1.03 million) so an additional 100 hotels will cost us as much as 600 to 700 million yuan," said Sun.

After the global economic doldrums struck, "overseas venture capital or equities, which were active during the past few years in the budget hotel sector, became quiet and are still waiting for better times", Li Xinjian, a professor from the School of Tourism Management at Beijing International Studies University.

"An IPO is a quick way to get money for these leading brands."

Apart from the Shanghai-based Jinjiang Inn, which listed domestically on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, many budget hotels are planning to go for listings in the US. "Listing overseas consumes more time, energy and effort but, if successful, it is a signal of how qualified you are and helps raise funds in a faster and more efficient way," said Sun.

Zheng, from 7 Days Inn, agreed. "Listing in the US will benefit us more in the long term by improving corporate governance and management," he said.

The listings of Chinese budget hotels are also invigorating the US stock market. "We were surprised to be warmly welcomed by the investors there," said Zheng.

On the first trading day, shares of the 7 Days Inn grew by 13.64 percent to $12.5, and Home Inn, the first US-listed budget hotel operator, has witnessed a share rise of nearly 64 percent to $36.18 from the opening price in 2006 of $22.

"We are not concerned about the price. When the network of the 7 Days Inn becomes larger, the price is bound to pick up," said Zheng.

During the past few years, the local budget hotel sector has been a hot spot for overseas venture capital and investors. In 2003, Home Inn raised funds from IDG Capital Partners and Sycamore Ventures, which paved the way for its massive expansion. The 7 Days Inn has received three rounds of injections from a slew of big names including Warburg Pincus, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.

Expansion, ripe time

The first budget hotel appeared in 1997, with Jinjiang Inn launching in Shanghai. But the industry did not take off until 2003 when a slew of brands were established amid a spree of expansionism.

According to the China Budget Hotel Website, Chinese budget hotels have increased to 2,800 in 2009 from 23 back in 2000 and the room number has surged to 313,000, up from 3,236 nine years ago.

"The industry is maturing, and another wave of expansion is coming," said Sun.

While the high-end hotel sector was badly hurt by the economic recession and is expected to suffer for quite a time, budget hotels have hardly been affected.

"To be frank, we have felt little negative impact," said Zheng.

During the period from 2007 to 2009, the 7 Days Inn's occupancy rate remained at close to "90 percent". "The figure surprised the American investors, but it's true," said Zheng.

As the corporate financial report showed, during the third quarter, Home Inn's revenues grew by 37.9 percent from a year earlier to 727 million yuan, and the performance was "much higher than expectation".

The company also announced the occupancy rate on average reached 97 percent during the third quarter in 2009, 11 percentage higher compared with the previous year.

"The last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 were a bit of hard, but everything has turned good since then," said Sun.

The growth momentum for budget hotels will be "sustained", given that business for the high-end hotels including the five- and four-star hotels is "expected to be sluggish for quite a period", said Li.

"Many travelers will be flowing into the budget hotels from the high-end, thanks to the shrinking corporate budget," he added.

During the central government's economic working conference held in early December, President Hu Jintao said the exports would continue to make grim reading because there were no signs that the developed nations and China's trading partners would recover quickly. He also emphasized that the government would make all efforts to stimulate domestic demand for stabilizing the economic growth.

Further, the State Council in December released guidelines on promoting the tourism industry, outlining measures to improve the infrastructure and relevant products and services, and also boost tourism-related spending.

According to estimates in the guidelines, by 2015, the number of domestic travelers will grow by 10 percent annually, and the number of inbound travelers will grow by 8 percent a year. Expenditure on tourism will account for 10 percent of Chinese people's outgoings.

"Expansion and development will be the key words for the budget hotel industry," said Sun.

Looking ahead, Sun said Home Inn will focus on the second- and third-tier cities around China. "We are confident about these areas. More and more Chinese in smaller cities will be able to afford to travel around, encouraged by the government's policy," he said.

The guidelines on tourism also pointed out the government additionally encourages qualified companies in the industry to grow bigger and stronger through mergers and acquisitions.

"There will be more deals in the coming years," predicted Li. "Chinese consumers will be more critical about the service and products as the industry improves. As the Chinese saying goes, 'The fittest will survive'."

China is becoming the world's top tourist destination, if you are planing to travel to China, I suggest you visit Beijing at first.

I know that 5 star hotels in Guangzhou expands from 5 to nearly 20 in the past 5 or 6 years

I know that 5 star hotels in Guangzhou expands from 5 to nearly 20 in the past 5 or 6 years

Yes - there are quite a number of new 5* hotels especially in the new Tianhe financial district.

Hoteliers expand presence in China
5 March 2010
Shanghai Daily

LEADING luxury hotel companies remain bullish on their prospects in China as they continue to expand their presence in the world's fastest growing economy.

The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, which operates more than 70 hotels across the globe, announced on Tuesday that it will open two more hotels in China this year to cement its position as the leading luxury hotel brand in the country.

With the opening of The Ritz Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, and The Ritz Carlton, Hong Kong, the United States-based hospitality company will increase its China presence to eight hotels by the end of this year.

"We made the decision more than 12 years ago when we opened our first hotel in the country that China was strategically important to us and we have time and time again shown our commitment to and belief in China as a crucial business and leisure market," said Mark DeCocinis, regional vice president of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

The 285-room Ritz Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, located in the South Tower of Shanghai ifc, a landmark commercial development in the heart of Lujiazui, will officially open in May to coincide with the World Expo while The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, is due to open in November as the world's tallest hotel, occupying floors 102 to 118 at the International Commerce Centre in Kowloon, the highest skyscraper in Hong Kong.

Raffles Hotels & Resorts, a luxury hotelier which opened its first China property in Beijing a few years ago, also said yesterday it plans to open two new hotels in Tianjin this year and in Hainan Province in late 2011.

"Globally, we plan to triple our portfolio over the coming three years," said Jeannette Ho, vice president of marketing and sales for Raffles.

IPO VIEW-Chinese hotel IPO faces economic tightening fears

NEW YORK/HONG KONG, March 19 (Reuters) - Discount hotel chain China Lodging Group Ltd is emblematic of China's blistering growth, but it could be hurt if the government takes steps to prevent the world's third-largest economy from overheating.

China Lodging, which hopes to raise about $100 million in an initial public offering next week, has grown rapidly by renting budget rooms under three different brands for an average of 174 yuan ($25.49) a night.

The number of rooms the company had to rent increased 160 percent in 2008 and another 35 percent in 2009. At the end of December China Lodging had 28,360 rooms for rent, mostly in big cities in the heavily industrialized eastern part of the country.

Its occupancy rate in 2009 was 94 percent, up from the mid- to high 80s the previous two years.

China's hotel industry has grown rapidly as foreign tourist and business travel has increased and Chinese citizens are traveling more within the country as incomes grow.

Marriott International Inc , Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc and Hyatt Hotels Corp all beat fourth-quarter expectations in part on strength from China.

Chinese citizens are willing to spend on hotels during pleasure trips but budget hotels are the choice for businesses aiming to keep costs down.

"Budget hotels are growing popular among business executives," said William Lo, an analyst at Ample Finance Group in Hong Kong. "(However), we think there is an oversupply in the hotel industry."

China is taking moves to cool its explosive real estate sector and hotels are rumored to be next. On Thursday, the Chinese government said it would require some large state-owned enterprises whose core business is not in the property sector to withdraw from the business, in a move to try and cool the red-hot sector.

Media reports said the government could next target the hotel industry that has assets worth hundreds of billions of yuan, given the huge number of players in the market.

"Clearly country-specific risk is a factor that investors are going to take into account and that affects the overall risk profile of the transaction," said Richard Truesdell Jr., co-head of the global Capital Markets Group at law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. The firm is an advisor for the offering.

A CHEAP ENOUGH PRICE?

China Lodging has not been immune to the financial meltdown. The company's hotels in Wuxi, Suzhou and Ningbo have seen a decline in business due to the global financial crisis because they rely heavily on international trade, the company said in its prospectus.

A late November IPO by Chinese discount hotel chain 7 Days Group Holdings Ltd could also give investors pause. The shares rose 13.6 percent in their debut but are now trading 6.7 percent below their IPO price. 7 Days Group had 28,266 rooms for rent as of Sept. 30.

"Chinese offerings have lost their luster," said IPO Boutique Senior Managing Partner Scott Sweet. "There's a lot of bad will right now with Chinese IPOs. U.S. investors have been hurt badly."

Sweet said investors are still smarting from losses in IPOs like Shanda Games Ltd , whose shares were hyped but are now 47 percent below their IPO price.

Sweet said China Lodging's price -- it plans to sell 9 million American Depositary Shares for between $10.25 and $12.25 each -- may need to be cut.

If the IPO prices at the midpoint of the expected range China Lodging will have a price-to-book value of 2.6 compared with 7 Days Group's 8.5 and Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc 's 3.9, according to IPOdesktop.com President Francis Gaskins. Gaskins expects the China Lodging IPO to do well.

BREAKING THE LAW

China Lodging, sharing characteristics with other Chinese IPOs, said in its prospectus that it might not be in compliance with certain Chinese laws.

The company said it does not hold land use rights or own any of the hotel properties it operates. As of Dec. 31 lessors failed to provide documentation for 46 properties.

It also holds several leases without the permission of the property owners or government authorities, it said.

China Lodging said it could be subject to fines and lease disputes for not registering with local housing bureaus and is uncertain whether it is running afoul of a labor contract law that has been in place since January 2008.

Such non-compliance issues may not be unusual among companies operating in China. 7 Days Group made similar statements in its prospectus.

"Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are proceeding with the offering," said IPOfinancial.com President David Menlow. "Evidently it's not such a major concern."

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the underwriters.

NO BLINDSIDING

China Lodging founder and Executive Chairman Qi Ji was co-founder of online travel services provider Ctrip.com and Chinese economy hotelier Home Inns, both of which are publicly traded on Nasdaq.

"It's not as though they're going to be blindsided by any of the metrics that are in the marketplace," said Menlow.

China Lodging is expected to price on Thursday. Other IPOs expected next week are telecom equipment maker Calix Networks Inc , First Interstate BancSystem Inc , crude oil and drybulk shipper Alma Maritime Ltd and chipmaker MaxLinear Inc .

The main weakness in China's hotel's for me come down to two areas...

1.Maintenance - Seems that far too often a new property is opened and thats the end of any significant work with the result that things go noticbley downhill after a few years. I'd guess goverment funding maybe the problem here with grants for new building but few for maintenance.

2.Lack of character - This seems to be changing a bit with some of the high end hotels but compaired to say India or South East Asia most Chinese hotels seem to follow the same bog standard business model even in tourist destinations. That may suit domestic tourists I spose but westerners tend to look for something a bit more interesting.

Hotels are not all government-owned. How can government funding be a key cause?

Yeah, what? That post doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Of course the government doesn't fund a Hyatt or a Shangri-La hotel for example. That's absurd. And I'm sure the international hotel chains don't neglect their China properties any more than their properties elsewhere in Asia and around the world. In any case, if there is any negligence going on it is those (foreign) chains that should be blamed and not "China" per se.

Marriott aims to double hotels in China by 2015

SHANGHAI, May 24 (Reuters) - Marriott International Inc , the largest U.S. hotel chain, aims to double the number of Marriott brand hotels in China within five years and intends to introduce a lower-priced hotel brand in the near future.

Marriott, which currently manages 46 hotels in China, expects to have 60 hotels by the end of the year and 90 in five years, making China its second-largest market by number of hotels, Arne Sorenson, Marriott's president, said in Shanghai on Monday.

"Clearly by the end of this year, if not already, China will be the second-largest market for us," Sorenson told reporters.

Sorenson said Marriott also soon planned to introduce a lower-priced Marriott brand hotel in China that would be similar to Fairfield in the United States.

Sorenson said China contributed less than 10 percent of the group's sales but said its sales growth was in the double-digits.

Marriott posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit last month and said it expects room rates to rise this year.

The European debt crisis has not had a large impact on the tourism industry so far, Sorenson said.

"We have to watch and see the way the financial crisis works in Europe. If it's simply about sovereign debt and central bankers, it won't be much of an impact on the hotel business," he said.

Interesting article on China's Hotel Boom.When I traveled for china I found that one is the best.Really love the food and luxurious facilities available over there.

the world's top tourist destination, yes sure ...

As world struggles with recovery, luxury hotels are burgeoning in China
Growing personal wealth, and desire to show it off, create draw for operators

19 May 2010
International Herald Tribune

High, high up, on the 118th floor of Hong Kong’s tallest building, a deep concrete pit awaits mutation into a swimming pool. Hard-hatted, dust-covered workers swarm about a site that will soon house six dining venues, a spa, a gym and 312 rooms with views of Hong Kong and the surrounding islands.

The opening of the Ritz-Carlton, which will be the world’s highest hotel — with an alfresco rooftop bar 490 meters, or 1,600 feet, above sea level — is still about six months away.

But already, the hotel has 20 bookings for wedding receptions and is getting six or seven more enquiries a day.

No wonder, really. As the global economy claws its way precariously back toward more normal growth, few places have regained their confidence — and the willingness to splurge on luxury goods and services — more quickly and firmly than China, including Hong Kong.

‘‘People book much further out here than in other parts of the world. With weddings, it’s partly to do with securing special locations on auspicious dates, but it’s also a sign of the confidence people have here,’’ Mark DeCocinis, Ritz-Carlton’s regional general manager, said in a recent interview at the construction site in the International Commerce Center. ‘‘The Asian hotel market has come back stronger and more quickly than other parts of the world — and China is leading the way.’’

New luxury hotels have been popping up all over the world. The Armani Hotel Dubai opened last month in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. But the pace of growth has been strongest in Asia.

Asia’s hotel boom has not been as easy as just build it, and they will come. A race to open hotels in Beijing to coincide with the 2008 Olympic Games contributed to a slump in average room rates and many empty rooms once the Games were over.

In Shanghai, where the World Expo opened this month, about 20 upmarket hotels will open this year, according to Tophotelprojects.com, an online database. The sheer volume of new rooms has raised concerns of potential oversupply.

It is a risk many hotel executives are willing to take. For even though much of the country’s giant population struggles to make ends meet, China is rapidly becoming one of the world’s largest markets for high-end goods and services.

By 2012, according to a study published by McKinsey last year, China will have more than four million wealthy households — defined in China’s case as having an annual income of more than 250,000 renminbi, or about $37,000. Only the United States, Japan and Britain will have more wealthy households by then.

Consumer confidence across Asia was hit badly as the global economic crisis rippled around the globe. But confidence and spending began to recover toward the end of last year, and travelers took to the road again.

While business continues to languish elsewhere, here in Asia, hotel revenue has been rallying and is now not far below where it was just before the crisis hit, hotel executives say.

‘‘We’re not quite back to where we were two years ago — but we’re close,’’ Robert Murray, who heads the greater China business of the French hotel giant Accor, said during a recent visit to Hong Kong.

Room rates, deeply discounted by many hotel operators as the crisis struck, have been slow to come back up, executives acknowledge. ‘‘But in terms of occupancy rates, we are already back where we were,’’ said Mr. DeCocinis, of Ritz-Carlton.

Anticipating Asia’s rapid growth, the hotel industry has been racing to bulk up its presence in the region.

Ritz-Carlton, which had only one hotel in China four years ago, plans to have eight by the end of this year. In addition to the site currently being completed in Hong Kong, another Ritz-Carlton, with 285 rooms and a ballroom of 1,135 square meters, or 12,000 square feet, that seats more than 840 guests, is due to open in the skyscraper-studded Pudong area of Shanghai on June 21.

Across the Huangpu River, the luxurious Peace Hotel, which has been a Shanghai landmark for more than eight decades and is now operated by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, is soon to open after a multiyear renovation. And Accor, whose brands include Mercure and Sofitel, plans to open up to 45 hotels in the Asia-Pacific region this year.

The openings illustrate just how promising luxury operators believe China to be. China’s rich people trust foreign brands, cherish service and like to display their wealth, including by dining out — all good from the point of view of hotel operators and luxury retailers.

‘‘China is our top priority globally now,’’ said Benjamin Vuchot, the Asia-Pacific chief of Van Cleef & Arpels, the French purveyor of exclusive jewelry, which is expanding aggressively in the region. ‘‘The world is seeing a fundamental shift in the balance in spending power towards Asia,’’ he added. ‘‘We’re getting ready for that.’’

Never mind that jewelry and top-notch timepieces like those sold by Van Cleef & Arpels are subject to a luxury tax of up to 30 percent in mainland China, or that hotels like the Ritz-Carlton or the Fairmont Peace Hotel will charge top dollar for a night.

Ritz-Carlton, which caters to the top 5 percent of business and leisure travelers, is confident that Chinese high spenders will come flocking.

It plans to open up to another 10 hotels and resorts in Asia in the next five years. Of those, five could well end up being in second-tier Chinese cities like Chengdu and Qingdao, Mr. DeCocinis said.

InterContinental to double Chinese hotels by 2015
29 June 2010

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - InterContinental Hotels, the world's biggest hotelier, plans to more than double in size in China in the next five years, a move which will give a major boost to its performance.

The British group, which operates Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands as well as InterContinental, currently runs 131 hotels in China with a further 146 in its pipeline, and will open 30 this year in the world's most populous nation.

"We are very optimistic about China for the rest of the year, and we are certain China will have a material impact on the group in the coming years," InterContinental Chief Executive Andrew Cosslett told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

The hotel market in China has improved since late 2009, reflecting a pick up in economic growth helping to boost the hotelier's $1 billion Chinese business and leading the global hotel industry out of recession into slow growth.

"We are doing better in 2010 than 2009 in most parts of the world but still not 2008. However, in China we are doing better than both years," Cosslett said at its London flagship Park Lane InterContinental Hotel.

The British group is the largest international hotelier in China after it first opened a Holiday Inn in Beijing in 1984. China is now the group's second largest market in terms of hotel rooms and revenue after the United States.

The Asia-Pacific region made around 10 percent of group profit in 2009, with the majority coming from China but this is expected to rise with its big expansion plans and the strong economic growth seen across China since late last year.

Chinese revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry measure, rose 27.1 percent in April compared with the group's overall 5.2 percent rise. Independent Smith Travel Research said Asia-Pacific industry RevPARs rose 25.2 percent in dollar terms during May, and analysts said the British hotelier usually outperforms the broader market.

Cosslett, 55, has been chief executive since February 2005 and has used the brand marketing expertise gained in his earlier career at Unilever and Cadbury to grow his global business to over 4,400 hotels and more than 650,00O rooms. He speeded up the move towards running franchised and managed hotels like its American rivals by selling off a number of owned properties in return for management contracts and returning the cash to shareholders.

Cosslett says the group is not wedded to keeping hold of its 16 remaining wholly-owned hotels and it would expect to sell thesm over time. The cash raised would be used to invest in the business, cut debt or returned to shareholders.

"When conditions improve we expect to move on these assets over time," said Cosslett, adding that they would only be sold when they could fetch a good market value, renovations had taken place and there was another InterContinental in the city.

The 16 hotels are valued at $1.8 billion with the majority of that coming from five InterContinental-branded hotels in London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and Atlanta.

The Atlanta Buckhead hotel is set to be the first on the block for sale, industry sources with knowledge of the situation said, while a second InterContinental is set to open in New York next month and a second in London next year.

InterContinental shares have risen nearly 30 percent from end-2009 and posted a strong recovery from the low of 434 pence in March 2009.

They have gained along with U.S. rivals Sheraton-owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International on hopes the hotel market recovery will continue.

Its shares were off their lows and down 1.8 percent at 11.39 pounds by 1330 GMT in a London market off 2.2 percent.

The hotelier still earns some two-thirds of its profits from the United States so conditions there are critical to its prospects.

"There are still some question marks about the economy there but I am optimistic the business traveller is returning although the booking window is still short," Cosslett said.

Last year I went to china with my family for the family tour. I just to stayed in shanghai. It was awesome city, I really shocked to seen there night life , peoples are very friendly nature and they was enjoying with very huge life.

Langham takes on top end of Shanghai hotel market
Xintiandi presence to be foundation for mainland expansion
2 August 2010
South China Morning Post

Competition in Shanghai's high-end hospitality sector is heating up, with at least two international players entering the market shortly before the curtain falls on the World Expo at the end of October.

Langham Hotels International, owned by one of Hong Kong's largest property developers, Great Eagle Holdings, is to open the doors of The Langham in Xintiandi - a prime dining and entertainment precinct in Shanghai - on October 1.

The 380-room hotel will compete for custom with the 270-room Fairmont Peace Hotel, a 102-year-old hotel on the Bund that reopened last week after a three-year face-lift.

Langham Hotels International chief executive Brett Butcher said The Langham would be the group's anchor project on the mainland. It is its third hotel in Shanghai and will be followed by two new hotels in Beijing and two in Guangzhou.

"The Xintiandi hotel will be a strategic flagship, which will serve as a foundation for us to continue to expand into other primary and secondary cities," he said.

"It will become the first major hotel in Xintiandi."

He said discussions were under way to develop new hotels in Chengdu, Sichuan; Ningbo, Zhejiang; and Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning.

Langham Hotels International recently paid US$73 million for the one-third of the Xintiandi hotel it bought from the Lo family, which controls Shui On Land, the developer of the Xintiandi district.

Butcher did not say how much The Langham would charge but said it would consider the Fairmont Peace Hotel as one of its competitors.

The Fairmont Peace Hotel charges at least 2,990 yuan (HK$3,428) per room per night, including service charge.

Some analysts said the two newcomers were entering a punishing sector, as the growth in supply of tourist beds in Shanghai had exceeded demand growth over recent years. The global financial crisis meant fewer corporate travellers visited the mainland last year.

Undaunted, Butcher said the number of hotel rooms in Shanghai, about 50,000, was about half of the total of 93,000 in New York.

He pointed out that mainland residents clocked up 1.3 billion trips within the country last year, a figure that had grown 10 per cent annually in the past few years.

Lily Ng, a Shanghai-based executive vice-president of hotel consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, said the new supply of international hotel rooms in Shanghai would hit a peak this year, at 10,654 rooms, about double the 5,278 rooms last year.

Ng expects the total number of internationally branded hotel rooms to jump to 32,045 by the end of this year but growth in new supply to taper off to 3,647 rooms next year and to 3,161 rooms in 2012.

However, she believes Shanghai hotels will continue to recover from last year's doldrums.

"The May performance improved significantly from last year," she said. "This trend will continue until the end of the year."

In the first five months of this year, revenue per available room - the benchmark for the profitability of hotel rooms - of Shanghai's five-star hotels soared 53.4 per cent to 845 yuan, Jones Lang LaSalle said.

That was on the back of a 9.4 per cent rise in the average room rate to 1,340 yuan per night and an 18.2 percentage point increase in average occupancy to 63.1 per cent, it said.

Managing In Asia: Hotel boss taps the luxury market in China
20 September 2010
The Wall Street Journal Asia

Steven Pan, Formosa International Hotels

It all started with a hotel bathroom, says Steven Pan, chairman of Taiwan-based Formosa International Hotels Corp., which paid $56 million in April to buy the international Regent luxury hotel chain.

"The Regent realized that the bathrooms, not the bedrooms, were where guests spent the majority of their time. So they expanded its size to almost one-third the size of the room," says Mr. Pan. This level of understanding customer needs is what's "going to make the next breakthrough in the hotel industry."

Regent -- acquired from Carlson Hospitality Group of the U.S. and Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel Group -- comprises seven hotels from Beijing to Berlin. Formosa previously operated just one hotel, the Grand Formosa Regent in Taipei.

Mr. Pan hopes the Regent deal will help Formosa in the key China market, "where the gross momentum of expansion will be in the short term." In the next five years, Mr. Pan says Formosa plans to build 30 to 40 more Regent hotels around the world -- half will be in China and the rest of Asia, a quarter in Europe and the Middle East, and the remaining quarter in the U.S. He sat down with Amy Ma in Hong Kong to talk about how he'll chart his course.

The following interview has been edited.

WSJ: Where in Asia is going to be Regent's first stop?

Mr. Pan: Hong Kong is our number one priority. But it is also the most difficult because there is very little space available. Besides Central, where else can we go? And land costs are some of the highest in the world.

WSJ: What about China? How hard is it to secure good real estate there?

Mr. Pan: You can be the best hotel in the world, but if you're on the wrong side of the street, you'll fail. There may be some pioneer resort locations in lesser-known cities in China, but most hotels are still going to go for the primary cities, like Beijing and Shanghai. It's fine though because these cities are large enough to support quite a few luxury hotels.

Getting the best location requires a combination of things, including a recognizable brand, good team and concept, and longstanding relationships with the real-estate developers.

WSJ: Hotel projects are notorious for taking a long time to pay back their investors. How do you increase your profitability?

Mr. Pan: Profitability for a luxury hotel has very little to do with the number of rooms -- we try to keep ours fewer than 200 rooms. A quarter of our cash comes from retail, which is one of our advantages because not every hotel operator has the brand strength to attract luxury retailers and run a high-end shopping mall. Hotel apartments sales are also performing extremely well, and we can charge a 30% to 50% premium to the rest of the residential market because of our brand.

WSJ: When the Regent came out in the 1970s with the four-fixture bathroom -- sink, shower, bath, and toilet -- competitors were quick to copy. How do you ensure competitors won't be doing the same thing this time around?

Mr. Pan: It's just like dating or applying for school. Competition is fierce. Right now we're focusing on making everything bespoke. That means we're incorporating the heritage and culture from the location into all aspects of the design and service in the hotels, aligning ourselves with local artists and intellectual communities. It's a case-by-case execution. So even if competitors try to emulate us, we're already onto the next bespoke idea.

WSJ: How do you get around the challenge of finding qualified local staff in cities in China where they may be less experienced?

Mr. Pan: We never hire for experience. We like to show them the Regent way rather than change them from their preconceived notions. We look for people from top hotel schools and college graduates that have studied abroad and aspire for a global lifestyle. Our management training style is very different in that we have a lateral structure and match up each trainee with a senior-level manager. Additionally, the initial team for any hotel opening will be handpicked from pre-existing regent staff -- a "dream team," maybe of the best chef from Beijing, the best general manager from Europe, and so on.

Hotels are not all government-owned. How can government funding be a key cause?

A bit late but yeah of course the hotels arent directly owned by the goverement, that doesnt mean there construction can't be backed partly by public money in some form whether its grants, low interest loans, tax breaks etc.

I'm not talking so much about your 5 star big brands which I'v never used but I'v stayed at a number of 3-4 star hotels in china where maintainance was clearly a problem, espeically outside Beijing/Shanghai.

A bit late but yeah of course the hotels arent directly owned by the goverement, that doesnt mean there construction can't be backed partly by public money in some form whether its grants, low interest loans, tax breaks etc.

I'm not talking so much about your 5 star big brands which I'v never used but I'v stayed at a number of 3-4 star hotels in china where maintainance was clearly a problem, espeically outside Beijing/Shanghai.

Don't think the government is issuing sub-rate loans to a particular industry. Rates are low now. It's cheap to get a loan from an established bank.

InterContinental sees China rev above $1 bln
By Doug Young

HONG KONG, Oct 14 (Reuters) - InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, the world's top hotelier by room count, said revenue from Greater China will exceed $1 billion for the first time this year, as it prepares to double its hotel count in the fast-growing market.

The rapid emergence of a traveling middle class in China has led the world's major hotel operators to pile into the market in recent years, with InterContinental, Marriott International Inc, Accor SA and others in the midst of major build-ups.

InterContinental, whose brands include namesake hotels along with Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn, had 132 hotels in Greater China, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, at the end of June, with another 148 in the pipeline.

Its rapid build up and soaring average room revenues had helped to push the company's annual Greater China revenue above $1 billion for the first time, making the market second only to the United States, said regional managing director Keith Barr.

"Our contribution to the company is growing at a significant pace," Barr told Reuters in an interview at the InterContinental in Hong Kong overlooking Victoria Harbour. "As we continue to grow at this pace we become more profitable."

With its rapid economic growth fueled in part by Beijing's 4 trillion yuan ($600 billion) economic stimulus plan, China has been one of the hotel industry's few bright spots during the global downturn that put a chill on travel.

In a similar nod to the country's growing importance to the industry, France's Accor, owner of the Sofitel and Novotel brands, said it would open its 100th hotel in Greater China next month, with plans to build another 40 through 2013.

On Wednesday, Hyatt Hotels Corp announced agreements for 11 new Hyatt-branded hotels in China, bringing its total properties under development in China for all of its brands to 22 in addition to 17 Hyatt hotels it already runs in Greater China.

FRANCHISING

Most foreign hotel operators in China to date have used a model that sees them directly manage hotels for local owners.

InterContinental, one of the first foreign brands to enter China when it opened a Holiday Inn in Beijing in 1984, also uses a franchising model in some of its markets, generally considered more efficient and less resource-intensive.

Chinese owners had been reluctant to sign franchising deals so far, which would require them to recruit and train their own management, as many lack experience running hotels, Barr said.

But as they gain experience, some were starting to show an interest in the business model and InterContinental had recently signed its first two franchise deals for the market, both involving Holiday Inn Express outlets, he said.

The company operated 26 Holiday Inn Express hotels, one of its more basic brands, in China, and planned to double that number in the next five years, he added.

"We expect to see franchising taking off in the next three to five years in this segment," he said. "I'd like to see about a quarter of our business in that segment be in franchise in the next three to five years."

He added that regional revenue per available room or revpar, a widely watched industry indicator, had grown nearly 30 percent so far this year in China and was likely to end up in the high 20 percent range for the year -- a huge feat for a global industry used to mostly single-digit gains in line with economic growth.

He said China's growth rate was likely to slow next year as the effects of Beijing's stimulus programme started to recede, but growth should still be strong.

"China next year won't have 28 percent revpar growth, everyone acknowledges that," he said. "We should expect to see revpar gains correlating with GDP. It's going to be a very positive year."

Foreign hotels flock to China
Building almost doubles in growth that's 'on steroids'
26 October 2010
USA Today

SHANGHAI -- The Four Points by Sheraton hotel in Shanghai's Zhabei-Daning neighborhood serves as the focal point of an outdoor mall that could exist anywhere in the USA.

Foreign-brand stores such as Japan's Uniqlo and America's Disney Stores sell skinny jeans, smartphones and toys that appeal to young Chinese families. The restaurants serve Italian pasta and burgers in patios that face a large outdoor stage. Eager bellhops at Four Points rush to assist business travelers struggling with their bags as patrons of an outdoor cafe across the street look on.

It wasn't always like this. Just a decade ago, Zhabei, only 3 miles from central Shanghai, was a rough part of the town of drab factory buildings and dilapidated apartments, and was known for roaming gangsters. But the local government has pumped massive investment into a new metro station and highway connections, helping make the neighborhood's proximity to downtown attractive to developers, new residents and a skyrocketing number of domestic and foreign travelers.

Malls like this one are popping up all over China, and hotels often are their anchors. U.S.-based hotel companies such as Starwood Hotels, which owns the Four Points by Sheraton brand, have paid attention. They're eagerly grabbing a slice of the action as China transforms its urban areas and its travel market explodes.

Marriott, Hilton and InterContinental are developing glitzy five- star properties on prime locations in gateway cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. They see dollar signs in second- and third-tier cities, too -- cities such as Tianjin in northeastern China and Hangzhou near the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China. U.S.-based international chains that had been more obscure in China -- the Hotel Indigo, Aloft, Courtyard by Marriott, Hampton Inn and Four Points -- are attracting investors betting that China is ready to embrace a diversity of brands.

"The magnitude of growth and urbanization in China is hard to understand unless you experience it firsthand," says Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood, in explaining why he's gathering 100 of the company's top executives in Shanghai this week for a meeting.

China's travel market has nearly doubled in less than a decade. It received more than 26.4 million foreign visitors in 2009 (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) compared with 14.6 million in 2001, according to the China National Tourist Office. Domestic travel is growing at a dizzying pace. From 2005 through 2007, the number of domestic visits grew 30% to 1.6 billion, the office's latest data show.

The surging demand is fueling a boom of unprecedented scale. The number of hotels in China has nearly doubled to 14,100 in 2008 from 7,400 in 2001, says travel consulting firm Horwath HTL. About 10% are international chains. And those figures don't include domestic properties that aren't rated at least one-star quality (five being the best) by the Chinese government.

As of the second quarter this year, another 1,200 were under construction or in development, according to research firm Lodging Econometrics. It's the highest level the firm has ever recorded. China trails only the U.S. in the number of projects under construction.

Hotel market hotter than NYC

"The hotel market in Shanghai is like New York and Los Angeles combined on steroids," says Dan Krassenstein, an American expatriate executive of a packaging company who often uses local hotels for business.

International companies generally don't take ownership in properties. But they operate them to their exacting standards and receive management fees from owners. It's a less risky business model, although Chinese owners insist that fees be tied to the hotel's profitability and not just revenue.

"It means we're both worried about the profit," says Keith Barr, InterContinental's managing director of China. "(Chinese owners) want to know we're looking out for them."

International hotel companies first entered China in the 1980s, and their properties served primarily as expat outposts. While their expansion in the country has been steady, much of it has been focused on city centers in major cities. They were usually properties funded by local governments and were stationed in select locations to project an air of prestige.

Government-owned enterprises continue to be active players in the market. But the recent building boom also has been fueled by capital from private developers and wealthy individuals who now work under more relaxed property-ownership rules, Barr says.

China wasn't immune from 2008's global economic crisis, and new deals and occupancy slowed for much of last year. But "China's government moved quickly to stimulate construction across all real estate sectors, with an infusion of capital into its banking system," says Pat Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics. "This encouraged more lending ... and led to a resurgence in hotel development."

Starwood says it has signed 21 new deals in China so far this year, compared with 18 all last year. "And development keeps growing," says Harris Chan, Starwood's vice president of operations support for China and Taiwan.

Demand is coming back, too, driven by domestic customers who enjoy greater freedom to move about. A new generation of Chinese, with growing purchasing power, are flocking to hotels for weddings, banquets, conferences and resort stays. International hotels in China saw 23% growth in revenue per available room, a key industry performance metric, in the first six months this year vs. a year ago, says Martin Rinck, president of Hilton Worldwide's Asia- Pacific operation. In 2009, the Chinese share of the room revenue at Ritz Carlton Shanghai Pudong grew by about 80% from 2008, says Rainer Burkle, the hotel's general manager. "Next four years, 50 million people will be moving into the middle class. They will be able to afford staying a Saturday night with their spouse at Ritz- Carlton," he says.

Locals like to be fussed over

International hotels have embraced uniquely local customs and practices to cater to Chinese customers.

Staffing levels are higher here -- averaging about one employee per room at high-end hotels -- than in comparable properties in Western countries. Chinese customers expect more in service. It helps that labor is much cheaper here. A check-in clerk makes $450 to $800 a month.

"Western customers don't like to be fussed over as much as Chinese customers," says Michael Malik, general manager of JW Marriott Shanghai, Tomorrow Square. "In Asia, you have to serve. They expect that."

Five-star hotels are required to operate at least one full- service Chinese restaurant, often used for wedding banquets. Business customers like to dine privately, and upscale hotels must have private rooms with dedicated wait staffs. "If you have 10 private rooms, you have to have 10 waiters. You can't be sharing staffing," Malik says.

To maintain quality, InterContinental Shanghai Pudong chefs make all food in-house. That requires 54 chefs for Chinese food, 47 for international cuisine and 18 more in the pastry kitchen.

At the newly opened Courtyard by Marriott in Puxi, eight clerks manned the check-in desk on a recent weekday evening. Several others roamed the lobby.

Other elements often found at full-service hotel rooms here: a hot-water kettle in every room for guests who bring their own cup noodles, a tea tray, slippers, umbrella and a free set of toothbrush, shaving kit, comb and shoe mitt. All employees at most international hotels are required to use Western names, such as Anne or Danny.

Too much growth, too fast?

Despite optimistic projections, some hoteliers wonder if there are too many rooms in large cities. In Beijing, there are more than 50 five-star hotels, many of which were built in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics. "The four- and five-star hotels are overbuilt," says David Sun, CEO of Home Inns, a fast-growing Chinese budget chain that hopes to ward off encroaching international competition. "And it'll double in the next three to five years."

Targeting third-tier cities for growth may not pan out as hoped because there aren't enough customers who can pay $200 a night, Sun argues. Van Paasschen of Starwood waves off such concerns. "In an economy this big and growing this fast, there will be points when supply and demand don't match up," he says, adding Starwood's revenue per available room in Beijing grew 40% in the most recent quarter.

International hoteliers are also betting that Chinese customers are ready for more diverse lines of foreign products beyond upscale and luxury business hotels. Hotel Indigo in Shanghai, for example, hopes to compete with other local "boutique" hotels for customers looking for hip design, modern furnishings and a youthful vibe. "There's a lot of demand in China for a hotel like this. They're looking for experience in their stay," says Bruce Ryde, the hotel's manager.

More moderately priced chains -- Hampton Inn, Four Points by Sheraton, Holiday Inn Express -- are proliferating in smaller markets. But local competition is stiff, as several home-grown chains, such as Home Inns and Jin Jiang Hotels, are poaching executives from their foreign competitors and adopting Western practices. They offer no-frills service at rock-bottom prices that will be difficult for foreign companies to match, Sun says.

Jin Jiang, which claims to be the largest Asian-owned hotel group, has more than 540 hotels operating or under development in 137 cities in China. A room at a Jin Jiang hotel in Shanghai, comparable to a Holiday Inn Express in the U.S., was recently $80 a night. "Because this is our home, we understand China better than anyone," it claims on its website.

INTERVIEW-UAE luxury hotelier bets on China, Qatar World Cup

DUBAI, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Luxury hotelier Jumeirah Group, owned by the ruler of Dubai, is setting its sights on China for long-term growth and plans to build a hotel in Qatar in time for the 2022 soccer World Cup.

Executive Chairman Gerald Lawless reiterated the group, a unit of indebted Dubai Holding [DUBAHC.UL], the personal investment vehicle of the Gulf emirate's ruler, would not be sold to help pay off debts.

"I'm sure that we have a very bright future within Dubai Holding," he told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.

Earlier this month, Dubai Holding's main unit, loss-making hospitality and property arm Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group, extended a $555 million loan reinforcing doubts over Dubai's ability to solve its debt troubles.

Jumeirah Group operates luxury hotels and resorts such as the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab hotel in Dubai.

UAE hoteliers are seeing signs of recovery after sharp drops in revenue in 2009.

"Future bookings are much healthier than they were a year ago. We are extremely optimistic that we have gone through the worst," Lawless said, adding hotel occupancy rates were expected to rise in 2011.

"Tourism to the region, to the UAE, Abu Dhabi and Dubai will continue to grow and we are very optimistic about 2011," he said, adding the group planned new hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Data from the Dubai Tourism Department showed the number of guests at Dubai's hotels rose to 4.2 million in the first half of this year, up 9 percent from 2009, driven by rising demand from Asia and the Gulf Arab region.

The group is also eyeing expansion with six projects in Chinese cities such as Guangzhou, Macau, and Hangzhou.

"We're finding that a lot of Chinese businesses are now coming to Dubai, and that is one of the strongest growth sectors that we've had," Lawless said.

The group plans to have 60 properties in operation or under development by 2012 as it expands outside the UAE to rival other international hotel operators. In April, it unveiled plans to open new hotels in Germany, the Maldives and Shanghai.

Lawless said the group planned a hotel project in Qatar, which in December won the right to host the 2022 soccer World Cup, the world's most watched sporting event.

"It's a great coup for the region. That one of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries can actually have the world cup. And I think it will have an extremely positive effect on tourism and on business generally in this part of the world," Lawless said.

"We would be delighted to have a hotel project within Doha, and I'm sure, definitely by 2022 we will, but I hope long before then."

What are China's major home-grown hotel brands?

What are China's major home-grown hotel brands?

The budget chains include Jinjiang Inn and Motel 168. Jinjiang is a 3-4* chain and rooms in big cities can go as low as CNY 200/night.

The budget chains include Jinjiang Inn and Motel 168. Jinjiang is a 3-4* chain and rooms in big cities can go as low as CNY 200/night.

What about ones that can join the big leagues? (Four Seasons, Hyatt, Fairmont)

What about ones that can join the big leagues? (Four Seasons, Hyatt, Fairmont)
Not in China now, but in Hong Kong, we have the likes of Shangri-La and The Peninsula.

"Luxury hotels are beginning in China," pointing out that some 20 new hotels will accessible in Shanghai this year, including the adapted Peace Hotel, now operated by Fairmont. And the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, which will be the world's accomplished hotel if it opens in six months, already has 20 bookings for marriage receptions and gets "six or seven added enquiries a day."

I have a question.

Does anyone know the name of this complex in Beijing that is located close to the Bird's nest stadium. The complex consists of several residential, office buildings and if I am not mistaken a hotel. The top of the highest tower looks like a flag waving.

I can't remember the name and I can't find a picture of it.

Thanks

I have a question.

Does anyone know the name of this complex in Beijing that is located close to the Bird's nest stadium. The complex consists of several residential, office buildings and if I am not mistaken a hotel. The top of the highest tower looks like a flag waving.

I can't remember the name and I can't find a picture of it.

Thanks

http://www.globalphotos.org/beijing/20090118/IMG_1063.jpg

This one?

^^ Its a pretty ugly building! :D

This one?

Yea that's it. Do you know its name?

Yea that's it. Do you know its name?

In Chinese : 盘古大厦

Appears to be an office building although it is part of a complex that is mixed-use.

in my small county, we have three 5 star hotels, four 4 star hotels, and eight 3 star hotels.

in my small city we have 5 stars....12 4 stars and innumerable 3 stars.

and this one is the best of all..The TAj,Lucknow
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/taj-residency-489x300.jpg

I have a question.

Does anyone know the name of this complex in Beijing that is located close to the Bird's nest stadium. The complex consists of several residential, office buildings and if I am not mistaken a hotel. The top of the highest tower looks like a flag waving.

I can't remember the name and I can't find a picture of it.

Thanks

It's an office building:

http://www.hudong.com/wiki/%E7%9B%98%E5%8F%A4%E5%A4%A7%E5%8E%A6

MGM Resorts Plans 30 Hotels in China to Tap Growing Luxury Travel Demand
Bloomberg
By Kelvin Wong - May 17, 2011

MGM Resorts International (MGM), the biggest casino operator on the Las Vegas Strip, may open as many as 30 hotels in China in the next three to four years to tap increasing demand for luxury travel in the country.

MGM Hospitality, a unit of the company that focuses on luxury hotels, is currently building 20 hotels in the Asia- Pacific region, with nine of those in Chinese cities including Shanghai and Ningbo, said Michael Sagild, managing director for Asia-Pacific development at the unit.

Demand for luxury goods and travel in China may rise by as much as 25 percent to account for 44 percent of the world’s total by 2020, Credit Agricole’s CLSA said in a February report. MGM Hospitality plans to open its first hotel in the country in Sanya, Hainan Island, in the fourth quarter, Sagild said.

“If I had spoken to you nine months ago I would have said we may get to about 15 hotels in China in the next three to four years,” Sagild said in an interview in Hong Kong, where he’s based. “Today, it maybe 30 because in the last four months there’s been an absolute rush on brands. There’s still a lot of developers who’re interested” in opening hotels.

MGM Hospitality is expanding in Asia with projects in cities including Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta, where “the growth in the wealth of some of the Indonesian families is just absolutely phenomenal,” said Sagild.

nice

Starwood May Consider Shanghai Listing After China Expansion
By Bloomberg News - Jul 12, 2011 12:21 PM GMT+0800

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT), which opened China’s first international-branded hotel 26 years ago, is prepared to consider a listing in the country, where its top executives have been based for the past month.

“If tomorrow, listing here is an easy thing to do, would we consider it? Yes,” President and Chief Executive Officer Frits van Paasschen said in an interview in Shanghai yesterday. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Van Paasschen, 50, and his top executives moved the company’s headquarters to Shanghai from White Plains, New York between June 8 and July 11 to “better understand” its second-largest market. China may eventually pass the U.S. as a hotel market, he said, where 90 hotels, or 30 percent of Starwood’s pipeline of 300 properties, are under construction in cities including Nanhai and Foshan.

Global companies ranging from Coca-Cola Co. to HSBC Holdings Plc (5) have said they’re interested in listing in China’s stock market, the world’s third-biggest by market value. China is “coming closer” to starting a board for the listing of overseas companies in Shanghai, Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said on May 20.

“If the likes of Starwood is listed in China, local investors will like the shares,” said Larry Wan, Beijing-based head of investment at Union Life, which manages the equivalent of $2.2 billion. “Looking at domestically listed companies, we don’t have any big-name company related to consumer brands.”
First International Hotel

The company now has more than 70 hotels in China carrying eight of its nine brands that also include Le Meridien and Sheraton. It opened the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing in 1985 as the first global operator to enter the market, it said. The new hotels will include all of its nine brands, the first country after the U.S. to offer its full line-up of properties.

Starwood is also entering China’s less affluent or so- called second- and third-tier cities, which van Paasschen said offer growth potential. These include the southern Nanhai and Foshan cities and the eastern coastal city of Qingdao.

“In 10 years or 15 years, if GDP is approaching that of the U.S., the hotel market should be as large,” said van Paasschen, adding that his one-month stay made him “no less confident about the growth in China than before.”

Van Paasschen said he isn’t too concerned about potential asset bubbles in the world’s second-biggest economy because there is less leverage in China than in other countries and primary demand for real estate remains strong.

India Opportunities

Starwood shares have declined 6.9 percent this year in New York trading, compared with a 4.9 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The Shanghai Composite Index has dropped 0.2 percent.

In Asia, Starwood has a “strong presence” in Thailand and has plans for smaller markets including Vietnam and Bangladesh, van Paasschen said. India may also become another key market in Asia in the future, he said.

“Without a doubt China today is the biggest and most rapidly developing market,” he said. “That said, India is seven or eight years behind and admittedly on a different trajectory, but there will be a time when India will be of the same magnitude. I am quite confident of that.”

Low Occupancy Threatens China Hotel Boom
Bloomberg
Nov 16, 2011 12:00 AM GMT+0800

The expansion in China of hotel chains including Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels Corp. (H) may be undermined by low demand as four in 10 rooms sit empty.

China’s occupancy rate was 61 percent in the first nine months of this year, the same as the year-earlier period and the lowest in Asia after India among 15 countries tracked by STR Global, a consulting and research group. In Shanghai, only about half of hotel rooms were filled, compared with more than 80 percent for Singapore and Hong Kong, it said.

The world’s biggest chains have been rushing into China, which overtook Spain last year to become the world’s third-most-visited travel destination after France and the United States, based on United Nations World Tourism Organization data. The number of internationally branded hotel rooms is expected to surge 52 percent by 2013 after rising 62 percent in the past five years, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, which tracks data in 30 Chinese cities.

“Hotels in some markets of China are clearly oversupplied in the next three to five years, and they won’t be generating good returns,” said Nigel Summers, Hong Kong-based director at Horwath Asia Pacific, which tracks the hospitality industry. “China has had a very strong demand. The question is whether the increase in demand is going to be big enough to handle all the new hotels.”

Hilton said it will have 100 hotels in China by 2014, four times the number of properties it manages in the country now. The company, based in McLean, Virginia, currently has two flagship hotels in Shanghai.

Short-Term Bubbles

For InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG), owner of Holiday Inns and Crowne Plazas, one in four of the hotel rooms that it opens globally over the next five years will be in China, it said.

“There could be short-term bubbles in the real estate market, but long term, we feel very positive about it,” Richard Solomons, chief executive officer of Denham, England-based InterContinental, said in an interview. “Even with the big increase in supply, we’re seeing double-digit” growth in revenue per available room.

The company said its revenue per available room, an industry benchmark tracking occupancy and room rates, rose 6.4 percent in the third quarter, led by a 10.8 percent increase in Greater China, which also includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

‘Strategic Part’

In the next decade, China will account for 25 percent of hotels managed by Ritz-Carlton, the brand owned by Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott International Inc., up from 10 percent now. The Ritz-Carlton in the resort city of Sanya, opened three years ago, is its most profitable worldwide, said Victor Clavell, Hong Kong-based vice president for Ritz-Carlton in the Asia- Pacific region. China is “a very important strategic part of the company,” he said.

Hyatt, controlled by the Pritzker family, said it has 31 hotels under development in China adding to the 14 already opened. The Chicago-based chain already has three hotels in Shanghai bearing the Hyatt brand.

After opening its first Andaz-brand hotel in Asia on Oct. 19, a boutique chain that targets professionals, Hyatt plans to add six more all Hyatt properties in the next five years as “the prospects of growth in China are significant because the economic growth is still relatively high,” CEO and President Mark Hoplamazian said in an interview in Shanghai.

‘Better Understand’

For Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT), owner of the St. Regis, Sheraton, Westin and W brands, China may eventually pass the U.S. as the biggest hotel market, CEO Frits D. Van Paasschen said in July after relocating to China for a month from White Plains, New York to “better understand” its second- largest market.

Starwood, which opened the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing in 1985, has a Sheraton close to Tiananmen Square, plus five other properties in the capital city. Starwood said Oct. 31 it will open five more Sheratons in cities including Hangzhou and Daqing by the end of the year, with the goal of more than doubling the number of hotels it operates under the brand to 100 by 2012. The company’s 25-year presence in the country gives it a “considerable head start in this fertile market,” Miguel Ko, Starwood’s Asia-Pacific chairman and president, said in a statement.

“China is a huge force and hotel management groups are definitely taking a long-term view; they need to grow their portfolios and footprints to add more flags,” said Jonas Ogren, who handles Asian business development for STR Global from Singapore. “In the near term, it seems like demand doesn’t have time to catch up.”

Long-Term View

Chinese travelers took about 2.1 billion trips within the country last year, with domestic arrivals projected to rise at an annual average rate of 9 percent for the next five years to reach 3.3 billion by 2015, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels said.

International hotel operators usually expand to extend their presence by securing management contracts from property owners to reduce financial risks. Dalian Wangda Group, Shanghai Greenland Group Co. and Poly Real Estate Group Co. are among local developers that have partnered with global operators.

Some city governments in China require hotels as part of so-called mixed-use property projects that also may include offices and apartments, contributing to the increase in supply. The city that’s most “in trouble” is the port city of Tianjin, Premier Wen Jiabao’s hometown, located southeast of Beijing, according to Horwath.

‘Enormous Growth’

The city of 9.8 million people already has a St. Regis, a Crowne Plaza and a Hyatt Regency, with construction to more than double the number of hotel rooms in the next three years in a city with an average occupancy rate of 45 percent, according to STR Global data.

“Every small government across China wants a five-star hotel in their city to support businesses and put them on the map,” Summers said, predicting longer-term “enormous growth” for the industry with a surge in domestic travelers.

Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Group Co., which owns the recently renovated 81-year-old Peace Hotel and other properties in Shanghai, is building the world’s highest hotel that will take the record from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Hong Kong. The venture with Shanghai Tower Development Co. will include the 258-room hotel from the 84th to the 110th floors of the 121-story office building when completed in 2014.

‘Trophy Assets’

“Hotels also tend to be trophy assets more so than residential buildings,” STR Global’s Ogren said. “So developers may be inclined to want to develop a hotel even though it may not by itself be a great investment.”

InterContinental will be the first global operator to develop a brand just for China targeting the rising number of Chinese travelers, said Solomons. The brand will be introduced early next year, while details including the name are still in the planning stage.

Global chains may find it difficult to maintain their standards with the rapid expansion, said Ricco deBlank, CEO of the hotel division at Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. (16), the world’s biggest developer.

Hong Kong-based Sun Hung Kai owns a Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai and plans to open four hotels in China over the next five years, he said.

“They carry the risk of diluting their brands,” said deBlank. “It’s a worry just to see all these brands going to China and other places in Asia at such a rapid race because they can’t go anywhere else, and Wall Street is expecting certain growth.”

in my small city we have 5 stars....12 4 stars and innumerable 3 stars.

and this one is the best of all..The TAj,Lucknow
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/01/taj-residency-489x300.jpg


Nice....:)

Accor to quadruple hotels
Shanghai Daily
2012-2-29

EUROPE'S largest hotel operator Accor SA aims to quadruple its portfolio in China over the next four years amid rising demand in the domestic travel market.

The Paris-based hospitality giant, which now operates 121 hotels across seven brands in 47 Chinese cities, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, plans to quadruple its China network by 2015, according to Sam Shih, chairman and chief operating officer of Accor China, yesterday.

Accor also inaugurated yesterday its newly-positioned Grand Mercure brand, which has aspects of Chinese culture and authentic European elements.

China to be hotbed of luxury hotels

Updated: 2012-03-17 09:20

By Yang Yijun in Shanghai and Wang Wen in Beijing (China Daily)


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Phoenix Island, in Sanya, is one of many large-scale developments providing luxury hotels and boutique apartments. [Photo/China Daily]


The massive construction project in the coastal city is a prime example of what's happening throughout China, as international and domestic companies move quickly to build luxury hotels.

According to Meadin.com, a web portal for the hotel industry in China, the country now has 660 five-star hotels and another 500 that are either under development or waiting for five-star recognition. Many large international hotel companies have recently announced development plans for China, not only for the largest cities but also for places that are slightly smaller.

The InterContinental Hotels Group Plc now manages 154 properties in China and has another 142 in its plans. The number of hotels under development in China, which accounts for a quarter of the company's total in the world, is the highest for any hotel group, said Keith Barr, chief executive officer of InterContinental Hotels Group Plc Greater China.

"As the first international hotel company to have entered the Chinese market, we arrived here first and we want to stay," he said.

Hilton Worldwide, meanwhile, plans to quadruple the number of hotels it has in China by 2014, bringing it to 100. The move will make China the company's second-most-important market after the United States.

Marriott International Inc also has big plans. Every month in the next three years, one hotel under the Marriott brand will be opened, said Simon Cooper, president and managing director for the Asia Pacific division of the company.

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics in China and the United Nations World Tourism Organization indicate that China will move alongside the US to become one of the two largest hotel markets in the world by 2025, when China is expected to have 6.1 million hotel rooms, the same number the US is to have by that time.

Boston Consulting Group, a management-consulting firm, has predicted that China will surpass Japan to become the second-largest market for tourism in the world by 2013, holding an 8-percent share of the global market.

The increasing popularity of travel has been a driving force behind the construction plans. The China National Tourism Administration said domestic travelers made 2.64 billion trips last year, 13 percent more than in the previous year. The number is expected to increase to 3.3 billion by 2015. At the same time, international travelers made 57.3 million trips, 2.3 percent more than in 2010.

Another reason for hotel chains' ambitious plans is the good business results they have lately enjoyed.

InterContinental Hotel Group's annual report for 2011 showed that its revenue for each available room, or RevPAR, increased by 10.7 percent in China.

RevPAR is a gauge of the hotel industry's performance and is calculated by multiplying a daily average cost of renting a room at a hotel by its occupancy rate.

Excluding hotels in Shanghai, which greatly benefited from the 2010 World Expo, InterContinental Hotel Group's RevPAR in China increased by 17.4 percent in 2011 from the year before. In comparison, the company's 2011 global RevPAR was up by only 6.2 percent year-on-year.

Furthermore, the company's revenue in China increased by 15 percent to reach $205 million and its operating profit increased by 24 percent to reach $67 million.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc's 2011 annual report showed that 61 percent of the hotels that company has planned will be built in the Asia-Pacific region; China alone will be home to 44 percent of them.

Last year, 28 percent of the company's management fees came from the Asia-Pacific region and 33.8 percent from the US.

Hoteliers said the biggest players in their industry will continue to try to establish themselves with the use of various brands designed for different markets.

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"Different sections of Shanghai require different types of hotels," said Gerd Knaust, general manager of Hilton Shanghai, the first international hotel in the city. "In commercial areas we could have Hilton or Doubletree. In a high-end area like the Bund, we could have Conrad or Waldorf Astoria. The mainstream will always go to the Hilton brand."

Another reason for the expansion has been local governments' eagerness both to make their jurisdictions more attractive and to increase property prices.

Phoenix Island, a man-made island resort in Sanya, is the construction site for a yacht marina and a hotel similar to the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, the fourth-tallest hotel in the world. The cost of the hotel property began at 18,000 yuan ($2,800) a square meter in January 2010 and is now 80,000 yuan a square meter.

Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge officer for Hotelsolution Consulting, a Shenzhen-based company that looks at the hotel industry, says developers that are building luxury hotels aren't out solely to make a profit.

"Sometimes they build high-end hotels to increase the price of the office buildings and residences in the same project," he said. "And sometimes they are required by the local government to build those hotels to burnish the city's image. In this case, even if the hotel performs poorly, it can be compensated by profits from the sale and rental of office buildings and residences."

Local governments, which often see five-star hotels as signifying their cities' increasing international appeal, also have good reason to encourage property developers to build hotels and attract international hotel chains as operators of those properties.

At the end of 2011, InterContinental Shanghai Puxi was recognized by Chinese authorities as being a national five-star hotel. There were then 53 five-star hotels in Shanghai, the fourth-greatest concentration in China.

Chengdu, the provincial capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, now has 12 five-star hotels and will have 35 five-star hotels in the next four years, according to CBRE Group Inc, the largest commercial real-estate services firm in the world.

Changzhou, a medium-sized city about 200 km from Shanghai, has 10 five-star hotels; another nine will be added to that total by the end of this year.

China Hotel Market Outlook 2011, a survey conducted by the hotel investment-services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, said increases in energy, operating and labor costs, rising inflation, lower occupancy rates resulting from the increasing number of hotels and frequent staff turnover are the biggest difficulties that hotels in China are faced with.

The survey looked at 266 hotels in China, almost half of which were five-star hotels and more than 34 percent of which had four stars.

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels said the increasing prices of utilities have made operating costs the biggest subject of concern for hotels.

Hoteliers often try to cope with such pressures by trying to balance the cost increases with revenue increases. Some time usually must elapse, though, from when room rates increase to when customers accept the new prices.

The survey's results further indicated that the current concerns about occupancy rates are greater than those about room rates. If the demand for lodging does not increase along with the supply, the increasing number of hotels will lead to a decline in occupancy rates.

Cooper said hotel companies will have great trouble hiring workers in the next decade.

"The famous hotel brands can easily find good locations for their new hotels in smaller cities, rather than in big cities," he said. "But there will not be enough young people coming into the labor market. It is also hard in smaller cities to find employees who speak English, which is the language that foreign brands do business in."

Some industry observers also say China has too many hotels.

"Comparing the hotel occupancy rate in China with that of other countries shows that there is a potential oversupply of hotels rooms in China," Zhao said.

Zhao said the hotel-occupancy rate was about 75 percent in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Paris in 2011. The occupancy in London was about 85 percent.

In comparison, the average occupancy for five-, four- and three-star hotels in China in 2011 was slightly more than 60 percent.

Wei Xiaoan, an expert in the economics of tourism with the China Tourism Academy, said at the 2011 Asia Hotel Forum that bubbles have started to appear in China's hotel industry.

"There is an oversupply of business hotels in the cities, but themed hotels, resorts and budget hotels hold good opportunities for investors," he said.

Contact the writers at yangyijun@chinadaily.com.cn and wangwen@chinadaily.com.cn

China is amazing and have amazing hotels

InterContinental Starts Brand Targeting Chinese Travelers
By Bloomberg News
Mar 19, 2012 7:00 AM GMT+0800

InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG), the world’s largest provider of hotel rooms, will begin opening locations as soon as next year under a new brand designed to appeal to Chinese travelers.

The Hualuxe brand of hotels will have teahouses instead of bars and feature other designs that target Chinese consumers, Chief Executive Officer Richard Solomons said in an interview. They’ll first open in China before expanding overseas targeting Chinese travelers, the company said.

InterContinental in the past was “based on bringing western brands into China,” Solomons said in Beijing. “What we have done is to, first time ever, create a brand that really talks to Chinese hospitality.”

Growing wealth and the construction of highways, rail lines and airports is boosting demand for hotels as more Chinese travel. One in four of the hotels in InterContinental’s pipeline is in China, Solomons said. The company’s operating profit in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau increased 24 percent last year to $67 million, according to its website.

The company has already signed 20 letters of intent to build Hualuxe brand hotels across China. InterContinental will manage the hotels built by the property developers that are its partners, Solomons said. Hualuxe hotels may be opened in 100 cities across China in the next 15-20 years, he said.

InterContinental’s sales in Greater China accounted for about 12 percent of its total revenue last year, Solomons said. This year, Greater China’s share of total revenue will be “a bit higher” than 12 percent, he said.