Sheraton Dongcheng Hotel

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has signed its 100th hotel in China. The Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel will have 470 rooms, approximately 36,000 square feet of meeting space, 3 restaurants and bar, a health club, spa and indoor heated swimming pool.

The hotel is part of the final phase of the Global Trade Center (GTC) mixed-use complex development.

The complex comprises offices, retail shops, condominium, serviced apartments, and the hotel. The Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel is scheduled to open January 2011.

Starwood currently has two hotels under construction in Beijing: aloft Beijing Haidian and Four Points by Sheraton Beijing, Haidian; as well as 4 hotels in operation: Great Wall Sheraton Beijing, The Westin Beijing, Financial Street, The Westin Beijing, Chaoyang and St Regis Beijing.
Source: Japan Today

Futian Shangri La

Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen, a new five-star, US$200 million, flagship Shangri-La hotel, has opened in the heart of Futian, the business district of Shenzhen.

The hotel is a few minutes’ walk from Shenzhen’s mass transit railway system, which links directly to Hong Kong via the Huanggang border crossing and Futian port. It also offers easy access to Shenzhen International Bao’an Airport and the Shekou ferry terminal.

The new hotel is in a a 40-storey building with 498 guestrooms, 50 suites and 53 serviced apartments.

Among the facilities available in the rooms are an iPod dock, a 37-inch LCD television in the room with a 15-inch version in the bathroom, wired and wireless Internet connectivity, and DVD and CD players.

As a MICE hotel, Futian Shangri-La has a 1,800-square-metre grand ballroom with a high ceiling of 9.5 metres and a hydraulic built-in stage. Also available is an auditorium, a junior ballroom, a boardroom and a range of 10 function rooms.

Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts currently owns and/or manages 55 hotels under the Shangri-La and Traders brands.
Source: China NewsWire

Chief Executive Andrew Cosslett

The world’s biggest hotelier, InterContinental Hotels is set to miss its target to have 125 hotels in China by the end of this year.

The British group, which operates InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels, said it is likely to miss its China target due to the Sichuan earthquake in May and the Chinese government’s move to cool the domestic economy.

The hotelier, which is the biggest international player in China, already has 95 hotels open in the country.

Chief Executive Andrew Cosslett said at first-half results briefing, ‘We are likely to fall short, but reach 125 very soon in 2009 reflecting the constraints of the government cooling the economy and the Sichuan earthquake.’
Source: Reuters

Four Points by Sheraton has announced the launch of its first Four Points by Sheraton hotel in North China.

Technically it is the Four Points by Sheraton Beijing, Haidian Hotel & Serviced Apartments. Following the successes of other Four Points hotels which opened in Greater China including in cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changshu, Lhasa and Taipei.

Four Points by Sheraton Beijing, Haidian Hotel & Serviced Apartments will be in the same style.

The Four Points in Beijing is located in the heart of Beijing’s technology district — Haidian District —  a 5-10 minutes drive away from major government and business organizations, research centers, Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, and major universities.

The Asia Pacific’s largest Shopping Mall — Golden Resources — is within walking distance with more than 1,000 shops, restaurants and movie theater.

Four Points by Sheraton Beijing, Haidian Hotel & Serviced Apartments has 355 guestrooms and 177 serviced apartments.

The hotel is equipped with 1,054 square meters of meeting and banquet space for groups up to 850 people, including a 720-seat pillar-less natural light Grand Ballroom and 7 other function rooms all equipped with state-of-the-art technology making it very much a MICE hotel.

The hotel also has an indoor heated swimming pool, fitness center and a full-service spa.
Source: eTravel Blackboard

Starwood Hotels — the first international hotel chain to enter China when the Great Wall Beijing Sheraton Hotel opened in 1985 — has announced the signing of its 100th hotel in the country.

The 470-room Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng hotel will form part of the Global Trade Centre mixed-use development that comprises offices, retail stores and serviced apartments.

Starwood currently operates 43 hotels in China, and has 57 new properties scheduled to open. These include 22 Sheratons, 12 Four Points by Sheratons, eight Westins, five W hotels, four St Regis, three Le Meridien hotels, two aloft hotels and one Luxury Collection hotel.

(Perhaps one should not add this editorial comment: This is possibly the first picture provided by a hotel chain with real, live and dashed attractive models. Let us pray this is the start of a trend.)
Source: BizChina Update

Margaret Bowler, director Global Hotel Relations at HRG (Hogg Robinson which was founded in 1845), said in a survey of the world: ‘The hotel industry reported strong performance in 2007 - although not to the levels of 2006 with many key cities achieving single as opposed to double digit growth.’

Only five of the 50 cities surveyed for the global average room rate listing recorded a decline in rates in 2007, none of them in China.

Growth in average room rates in China is comparatively low, with the market lagging behind its BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) counterparts. The illustration shows the four countries with a neat pun on BRIC.

Significant hotel openings, particularly in the country’s financial capital Shanghai and in Beijing, have served simply to ‘mop up’ increased demand from Western hotel brands, with occupancy rates falling marginally as a result in many cities.

This effect is expected to balance out with the Olympics.

‘The Chinese market operates very differently from other markets; Chinese business travellers prefer to stay in branded hotel chains that they recognize.

As such, Western hotel chains are scrambling to establish a presence in China to encourage the growing number of Chinese business travelers to stay in their hotels whilst traveling overseas.

As the industry continues to grow there is a marked increase in the shortage of rooms with availability posing an ongoing challenge in certain cities.
Source: MICE BTN

Home Inns & Hotels Management’ trademark, ‘Home Inns,’ has been granted official status as a ‘well-known trademark’ in China by the Chinese State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).

Home Inns becomes one of the earliest Chinese hotel companies and the first Chinese economy hotel chain to obtain a ‘well-known trademark’ status, marking a significant achievement for Home Inns and further enhancing the brand’s reputation.

Since its inception, Home Inns has focused on branding and the protection of its intellectual property. After its launch, the Company legally registered the ‘Home Inns’ trademark. However, given the rapid expansion of the industry and its popular brand and product, Home Inns faced trademark infringements which threatened to negatively impact the brand’s image.

The ‘well-known trademark’ certification is an opportunity for Home Inns to further strengthen the protection of its business and branding reputation.

Currently, the Home Inns hotel chain consists of over 400 economy hotels, including hotels under development, in over 90 major business cities in China
Source: Earth Times

After nearly four years in China and 48 signed hotels, Days Inn China is now planning to double its growth rate in 2008.

To achieve this goal, Days Inn China is adding a new leasing business to its existing management and franchise model, where leasing and converting existing properties will become a significant part of its growth strategy.

Days Inn China is now exploring partnership opportunities with real estate owners nationwide.

In the near future, Days Inn China’s leasing business will undoubtedly parallel the growth seen with its existing franchise and management divisions.

Harry Tan, CEO of Days Inn China, said, ‘People tend to believe that luxury hotels and budget hotels enjoy a better positioning than mid-range hotels. We, however, have a different viewpoint. The pricing of high-end hotels is getting increasingly prohibitive, which as a result makes some guests turn to more affordable alternatives. At the same time, more and more business travelers are beginning to seek out more comfortable accommodations with higher standards. We recognize that the majority of leisure travelers today have increasing levels of discretionary income and would prefer mid-range hotels over budget hotels.’

Days Inn’s parent company Wyndham Hotel Group is the largest hotel group in the world, with more than 6,400 hotels worldwide representing more than 535,000 rooms. Days Inn has over 160,000 rooms in more than 1,800 hotels on five continents.

Days Inn China has almost 12,000 rooms in 16 provinces covering 29 cities, including provincial capital cities, second and third tier cities.
Source: Xinhua PR Newswire

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, recently opened a new outlet in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Two years ago, the hotel giant signed a deal with Chengdu Travel and Exhibition Group to manage six hotels in Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou in the southwestern province. It plans to have 125 hotels in China by the end of the year.

Andy Cosslett, chief executive of IHG and seen in our illustration, said: ‘There is an enormous opportunity for us to grow here.We’re well spread out, and we have enough talent. Our strategy is to develop on that basis and grow faster than in the past.

‘Obviously west China is going to expand very quickly.’

When asked what he thought were the problems of opening a hotel he said, ‘I think the beginning is difficult because people don’t know who you are and in China it is very important that you have a history and a record of success. You need to be seen as a company that has endurance and stamina and is also committed to investment.

‘The biggest challenge is probably the people. Finding people is easy. Finding the right people is harder.

‘Most of our senior managers are Chinese. All the way through it is really a Chinese business, which helps.’
Source: English People’s Daily Online

Starwood plans to set up at least 30 hotels a year in China over the next three years to sidestep a looming recession in its main U.S. market.

Starwood has 41 hotels in China, the world’s fastest growing major economy, and its Asian business has been bolstered by a regional travel boom. However, Asia Pacific President Miguel Ko said, ‘We will, in the medium and long term, be quite immune from a downturn in North America. In the short term, about 25% of our business is still from outside of Asia — 12% from North America — but that percentage is decreasing.

‘In the old days, the yield for Asian business was lower, but that has now changed. The Asian business is now yielding as attractively as the North American and Western European businesses in average room rate, consumption of food and beverage, and use of the facilities for the hotel.’

Starwood owns, operates, or has franchised 896 hotels across the world. It has 136 hotels in Asia.
The firm has sealed deals for two joint ventures to set up ‘Aloft’ hotels in China, each costing between $10 million and $15 million.

Starwood is reducing its investments in real estate and increasingly focusing on franchise agreements and management contracts.  According to its website in 2006 it sold 43 hotels for approximately $4.5 billion.

In China, the firm’s Sheraton brand is the most popular although the brand faces difficulties in the United States through uneven standards.

Rising wages, higher costs of living and a growing need for trained talent putting pressure on firm’s development plans.

Starwood plans to add 15,000 staff in Asia over the next three years — 98% to be hired locally — to add to the 36,000 staff already in the region.

Miguel Ko said, ‘I think the day when you needed a Caucasian man standing in the lobby as general manager to signal that it is an international style hotel is over.’
Source: The Guardian