In aid of this year’s ‘World Earth Day’ on April 22, Mandara Spa at JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai will donate US$1 from each spa treatment to the Arbor Day Foundation. This is a non-profit US-based organization of nearly one million members that plants and promotes the conservation of trees. Mandara Spas worldwide are making similar efforts to support this cause.

Marriott International has recently signed an agreement with the State of Amazonas in Brazil to fund US$2 million to an environmental management plan to be carried out by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. Guests at Marriott hotels will be able to contribute to this fund by the end of the year.
Source: JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai

International Branded Hotels Shanghai (IBHS) has donated RMB225,000 (around US$32,000) to the Shanghai Charity Foundation. The cheque was presented by William Hall, Chairman of IBHS, (on the left of the photo) at the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University on March 21. The money will be used to help children with congenital heart disease who are treated at the hospital.

IBHS currently has 60 members which are all four- and five-star hotels in Shanghai. William Hall said the hotels work with various charities individually or under a group banner. IBHS plans to hold several fundraising events in 2008; the major one being the Annual Charity Golf Tournament in June which will run for its fifth year in a row.
Source: IBHS

The World Bank has just held a two-day conference entitled ‘Commission on Growth and Development’ at Sheraton Suzhou Hotel & Towers. The conference ended yesterday and attendees included Senior Minister of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, pictured here (center) with Neil McDonald, GM of Sheraton Suzhou (right) and Ngiam Kai Soon, Deputy GM of the hotel (left).

Sheraton Suzhou has over 1,000 square meters of meeting space including a Chinese style 486-square-meter ballroom, two conference rooms and six boardrooms. The hotel is designed in traditional Chinese architecture and includes the famous Suzhou-style gardens.
Source: PR Sheraton Suzhou Hotel & Towers

For the first time ever, 31 leading Chinese tourism officials met with more than three dozen U.S. state tourism directors during a day long summit in Charlotte, North Carolina, to explore ways for the two countries to increase cooperation on travel-related matters.

In 2006, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, China and the U.S. shared a total of 3.68 million visits, (this includes visitors to and from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). But with the rapidly growing exchange between the two countries in trade, culture, education and health care, tourism exchange between the both countries has a great potential and a bright future.

The summit also explored ways to improve structures between the national tourism administrations of the two countries. Efforts were made to actively explore opportunities for cooperation and exchange among the Chinese provinces and the American states.

Roger J. Dow, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Travel Industry Association and seen in our illustration, based in Washington, DC. said, ‘We can learn a lot from each other. During the next 10 years, the amount of travelers from both countries is expected to grow significantly. It makes sense that we explore ways to encourage travel to our respective countries.’

The summit was arranged by the Travel Industry Association (TIA), in conjunction with the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). The National Council of State Tourism Directors, an industry council housed within and administrated by TIA, also participated in the summit.
Source: Hospitality News

’Trees of Hope’ is a campaign run by the Make-A-Wish Foundation which grants wishes to children who are chronically ill. In the lobby of The Peninsula Beijing you can buy an ornament to hang on one of the Christmas trees on display, with proceeds going to the foundation.

Peninsula Hotels has run the campaign for the past four years, and in 2006, raised US$55,000 from guests’ donations.

In China, Peninsula Hotels has properties in Beijing and Hong Kong, and one scheduled to open in Shanghai in 2009.
Source: PR The Peninsula Beijing

The Westin Beijing, Financial Street has launched a fundraising event to raise money for Unicef immunisation projects helping children in the Asia Pacific region.

The event named ‘The Wheel of Hope’, which runs till the end of August, is part of Unicef’s ‘Check out for Children Challenge’. Hotel guests who donate RMB100 can spin a big wheel in the hotel’s lobby and win prizes of spa treatments, complimentary stays at the hotel and various other rewards. 

Starwood Hotels and Resorts (which owns The Westin) runs the ‘Check out for Children Challenge’ annually, and this year, the target for the Asia Pacific region is US$90,000. Since the program started in 1996 it has raised more than US$3 million, and in 2006, funds went towards immunisation programs in Myanmar, Mongolia and Bangladesh.
Source: PR Westin Beijing, Financial Street

HOTELS Magazine has ranked the world’s largest 300 hotel brands of 2007 in the ‘Giants 300′ list.

No.1 - InterContinental Hotels Group (556,246 hotel rooms)
No.2 - Wyndham Hotel Group (543,234 rooms)
No.3 - Marriott International (513,832 rooms)

China’s Jinling Hotels & Resorts ranked No. 73 with 43 hotels and 10,318 rooms (according to figures from 2006).

HOTELS is the official publication of the International Hotel & Restaurant Association and covers the hospitality industry in 170 countries.

Source: PR Jinling Hotels

’Soft power’ is becoming increasingly more important to the service industry, according to Tang Wenjian, Chairman of Jinling Holdings Ltd (pictured right). A company’s brand name, marketing capability, management standards and company culture are essential for the hotel industry to develop in today’s market, said Tang.

He was speaking at a forum for the China Hotel Grouplization Development 2007 at Jinling Hotel Nanjing, where Jinling Hotels & Resorts was included in the ranking of the top 30 Chinese hotel brands by the China Tourist Hotels Association.

‘Hotel managment can develop more professionally, soundly and scale new corporate heights based on utilizing “Soft Power” more effectively,’ he said. ‘This is required within centralized divisions and throughout large-scale operations of the hospitality industry’.
Source: PR Jinling Hotels

The Golden Week concept created more problems than it solved. It strained the transport system, drove away overseas visitors — a source of revenue — and generally created havoc. In the current state of relative prosperity they are an anachronism and now the word is the government is likely to scrap up its ‘golden week’ holiday system and make public holidays of more traditional festivals by 2009.

Zhang Hui, dean of the tourism administration department at Beijing International Studies University, told a forum in Xiamen, east China’s Fujian Province the week-long May Day holiday would be shortened to one day and the National Day holiday to two days.

Zhang Hui said the conclusion was drawn from discussions among domestic tourism experts.

According to a story published in the China Youth Daily experts suggested choosing three traditional festivals as public holidays.

Zhang Hui said, ‘Experts all agree that Mid-Autumn Day should be set as a public holiday and the government can choose two more from the Lantern Festival, the Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Dragon-Boat Festival and Double Nine Day.’

In addition, compulsory paid vacations, which might be written into the labor law, would be granted to employees. This is the key. Unless these holidays are written into law then many smaller employers will simply forget about them.

In theory the law will be that each person will have a basic seven-day paid leave a year, increasing by one day for every year of employment. The longest paid leave would not exceed 14 days.

How does that compare to other countries? If you look at Germany or Australia it is woeful. On the other hand, if you look at the United States it is not too bad at all.

One confusion arises from the term ‘golden week’ of which China currently has three. They are not weeks. The are for the Spring Festival, Labor Day and National Day holidays and are actually only three days holiday as a weekend on one side of the holiday is designated as two working days.

Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year, is something else again. It is a golden week of long, long standing-tradition and Zhang Hui said it would be preserved.
The ‘golden week’ holidays were introduced in October 1999 to boost tourism and holiday consumption. They are well past their usefulness.
Source: China.org.cn

The Internationally Branded Hotels of Shanghai (IBHS) are holding their fourth Charity Golf Tournament at Shanghai West Golf Club on June 1. IBHS is a group of 53 four- and five-star hotels in Shanghai who promote Shanghai as a destination and it is part of the Shanghai Hotel Industry Association.

Last year, the tournament raised RMB 160,000 for the Shanghai Charity Association and this year it has a target of RMB 200,000, says IBHS Chairman William Hall. “The tournament has been a great success over the last three years and is a major charity fund raiser for the association”.

This year, the event has attracted major sponsors such as Shanghai General Motors who are providing a Buick LaCrosse for a hole in one.
Source: PR IBHS