According to statistics released by the National Tourism Administration (NTA) China now has 12,930 star-ranked tourist hotels nation-wide.

There are 288 five-star hotels, 1,307 four-star hotels, 4,747 three-star hotels, and more than 6,500 one-and two-star hotels in China.

Officials with the NTA said that the star-ranked tourist hotels and A-class tourist destinations have helped elevate the level of China’s tourist service, as well as promote the protection, development, management and construction of tourist spots and destinations.

Well, yes, this is true. But with success comes problems. The main problem is one that any country faces when there is such a massive expansion — trained staff.

Take it each hotel needs 50 well-trained staff who are bilingual. Just keep it to three stars and above. That is 300,000 trained bilingual hotel staff. Of which there is a distinct shortage and this will become more and more apparent as the Olympics approaches and the new hotels open.

True, China’s tourist industry has developed rapidly since the implementation of reform and opening up policy in 1978. Last year, 2006, there were well over 100 million overseas visits. This according to Wang Jun, vice chairman with the China Tourism Association.

China is now ranked fourth in the world in terms of overseas tourist arrivals and the World Tourism Organization has predicted that China will become the No. 1 tourist destination and the fourth largest source of tourists by 2020.

All that is now needed is the experienced and trained staff to run all the hotels needed to deal with the massive influx of tourists.
Source: China Daily

Forty four- and five-star hotels will be built in Guangzhou in 2007. This is according to both the Guangzhou Municipal Tourism Administration (GMTA) and Guangzhou Municipal Hotel Association (GMHA). The hotels will be part of a new hospitality infrastructure which is needed in the region to meet the demand anticipated for the 2010 Asian Games, which are being hosted in Guangzhou.

Currently, Guangzhou has seven five-star hotels. The aim is that by 2010 there will be over 300 star-grade hotels that can cater to 300,000 guests. The main sites for these hotels of the future will be Zhujiang New Town, Tianhe Road and the Pazhou area.

In addition to these new hotels there will be a lot of upgrading and modernising to bring some older hotels up to four- and five-star standards. These include the Dong Fang Hotel, China Hotel and AiQun Building, all currently being renovated. Already finished are the Asia International Hotel and Phoenix City Hotel Guangzhou which have just been upgraded to five-star level after multimillion-dollar renovations.
Source: TTG Travel Hub

Starwood has entered into a strategic relationship with Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels, one of China’s largest hotel operators.

Starwood Capital Group will make a $30 million strategic investment in Jin Jiang, making Starwood the largest outside shareholder in the company. The partnership will work together to develop and strengthen each other’s hotel business, mainly in China, and will co-operate on hotel business projects.
Source: Commercial Property News

As a tourist destination Wenzhou has all of the natural assets but not enough of the tourist infrastructure. This will change. Wenzhou is a coastal city with 339 km of coastline with beautiful islands offshore. Dongtou, one of the counties in Wenzhou, is also called the ‘County of one hundred islands’.

Wenzhou also boasts wonderful landscapes with rugged mountains and tranquil waters, including three state-level scenic spots, namely the Yandang Mountain, the Nanxi River and the Baizhangji Fall-Feiyun Lake, and two national nature reserves, namely the Wuyanling Ridge and the Nanji Islands, among which Yandang Mountain has been named as World Geopark, while Nanji Islands listed as UNESCO’s Marine Nature Reserve of World Biosphere Reserves.

Wenzhou has a population of 873,000 and lies in southeastern Zhejiang. It borders Lishui to the west, Taizhou to the north, and looks out to the East China Sea to the east. It has a history as a foreign treaty port and its traditional economic role has been as a port giving access to the mountainous interior of southern Zhejiang Province.

It has, indeed, all of the natural assets. Now one of its hotels has been upgraded to reflect that.

Wenzhou Overseas Chinese Hotel (Huaqiao fandian) is a five star with all of the expected facilities for business people — meeting rooms, business center, international long-distance access, complimentary broadband access and all the other facilities travelling business people expect.

This is the first five star hotel in Wenzhou. Now expect more.
Source: Asia Hotels and research.

You can gain stars, and lose them. The Beijing Tourism Administration says 26 hotels in Beijing have lost stars after a half-year investigation into the quality of their work.

The Beijing Youth Daily, a Chinese language paper, reports the hotels were mainly downgraded for bad upholstery, poor-quality service and non-standard security management.

Another 11 hotels found to have problem in their management and service and were put on immediate notice to improve. A notice of criticism has been published on another seven hotels providing service not up to the standards of the stars.

The Beijing Tourism Administration sees this as part of the preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games. Administrators are working to see that all the starred hotels in Beijing will meet the standards necessary in staging a quality and distinctive Olympic Games.

The Beijing Tourism Administration supervises the hotels, making regular visits to ensure guidelines are met. No doubt, in the run up to the Games, these visits will be more frequent, tougher.
Source: Crinordic

Best Western China Company Ltd, currently has 17 hotels in China with 12 formal agreements for new development in place, making Best Western the fastest-growing hotel company in the nation.

William Dong, head of Best Western in China and seen here, said, ‘The flexibility of Best Western’s business model is attractive to developers and is the catalyst for the brand’s rapid expansion in China and throughout Asia.’

David Kong, president and CEO of U.S.-based Best Western International, said, ‘China is the fourth-largest business travel market in the world and the opportunities for Best Western’s expansion are tremendous. The key to our development strategy is to engage people from the region who have the business relationships and market familiarity.’

Areas where Best Western intends to grow include Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Xian, Nanjing, Kunming, the Pearl and Yangzi River Deltas and Baohai Bay.

The company expects to have 60 hotels offering 10,000 rooms by 2009. All hotels will be top-rated properties at the four and five-star level.
Source: Hospitalitynet

In a piece of PR hyperbole Accor has had a rush of stars to the head and says the future Sofitel Wanda Beijing has been built according to platinum standards which is higher than five stars. It will officially open in early 2007 on the most auspicious date possible, according to Chinese tradition — a date yet to be announced. The property owner wants his hotel to be the best in that city.

There are already several mock-up rooms. In them you have wireless Internet connections; electronic curtains; special glass walls in the bathroom that become opaque at the flip of a switch. (This is done with the magnetic release of a gas sandwiched between two panes and possibly may make a showerer feel slightly exposed.) There is, but of course, a built-in television in the bathroom.

I am not sure what sort of homes the executives of Accor come from but they say the decoration will be ‘homelike’, with marble floors, dark wood paneling in the bedroom with light wallpaper. We didn’t have marble floors at home. I don’t know anyone who did.

The site was carefully feng-shui-ed before construction began and will again be feng shui décor-adjusted before the opening so that it is full of positive energy flow.

The hotel will feature a French restaurant catered by Pré Catelan where the chef is Frédéric Anton. That is a two Michelin star restaurant (shown here) which is in the Bois de Boulogne (wonderful garden setting) and is comfortable rather than sharp edged and nouvelle cuisine. Be interesting to see how it translates to Beijing.
Source: HVS International

The number of stars that a hotel should have is very arbitary — except in China. In theory, there is always an official body which uses standard criteria for classifying hotels, but in many there is none. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and reliable standard but large differences still exist in the quality of the accommodation and the food within one category of hotel, sometimes even in the same country.

At least in theory, the term five star hotel means the ultimate luxury and, probably, expense. But many hotels now claim six stars and the Burj al-Arab in Dubai refers to itself as ‘the world’s first seven-star hotel.’ (The prices reflect that. The cost of staying in a suite begins at $1,000 per night and increases to over $15,000 a night. The Royal Suite costs $28,000 a night.)

China is different as it has a national standard which comes under the National Tourism Star-Grade Hotel Assessment Commission and hotels are regularly reassessed. (Perhaps not regularly enough but that will change as tourism increases.) At the moment 79 star-grade Hainan hotels that have had their qualification for five years are being examined. Those that do not conform to the standard will be downgraded or have their stars revoked.

It is important that Hainan sort out its accommodation standards for this island is one of China’s ideal tourist destinations. Its neighboring countries are Philippines towards the east, Malaysia and Brunei towards the south, Indonesia (Natuna Islands) towards the southwest, and Vietnam towards the west.

It has a mild climate and a favorable environment and is said to be conducive to long life. Sanya is famous for its tropical beach landscapes. Tianya Haijiao and Dadonghai are two well known beaches. As a tourist destination it is, as yet, practically undeveloped compared to similar Asian destinations. This will change.
Source: Travel China Guide