Talise Wellness spa

Jumeirah, the Dubai-based luxury hotel company, has been appointed by GT Land Holdings to manage a luxury hotel in Guangzhou.

The Jumeirah Guangzhou Hotel, Jumeirah Group’s second hotel to be signed in China, will be in the center of New Pearl City Tian He District, Guangzhou’s premier and rapidly growing commercial city center.

The Jumeirah Guangzhou Hotel will feature a sky lobby, with elegantly appointed guest rooms, distinctive dining concepts and Jumeirah’s own luxury Talise Wellness spa all situated on the top floors of the 50-storey GT Land Plaza, with commanding views of city-centre Guangzhou.
Source: Gulf News

The Langham style

Langham Hotels International has signed a deal with Guangzhou Huihua Hotel to manage the Langham Place which is in the Guangzhou Economic Development Zone (EDZ) in Luogang District.

The new hotel is set to open in 2010.

This deal marks LHI’s first expansion into Southern China, following its earlier entry into Shanghai and Beijing where three new hotels are scheduled to open their doors in 2009 under The Langham and Langham Place brands.

The hotel location — Guangzhou Economic Development Zone (EDZ) in Luogang District, is a key economic area in eastern Guangzhou.

More HERE.
Source: Asia Travel Tips

Holiday Inn Vista Shanghai

With a possibly rightful claim that it is the world’s most recognized hotel brand, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, has been named the Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in the World and Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in Asia Pacific at the Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards. This is its eighth successive year for winning this title.

The Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards reflect the views of frequent business travelers who take part in its annual survey of travel-related services. The survey results are independently analyzed by global market research company Synovate.

In October 2007, IHG announced the $1billion relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand. The brand is being relaunched to create a more contemporary brand image, enhance quality and drive consistency across all hotels worldwide.

Holiday Inn was launched in 1952 — the name was taken from a woeful film starrig Bing Crosby — and there are currently over 3,200 Holiday Inns globally, including 108 in Asia Pacific. 

Holiday Inn is the largest hotel brand in China.
Source: FinChannel.com

Sheraton hotel in Xi'an

Starwood plans to open 57 hotels in China in the following two to three years.

The to-be-opened hotels will include 22 Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, 12 Four Points by Sheraton, eight Westin Hotels & Resorts, 5 W Hotels, 4 St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, 3 Elements, 2 alofts and one Luxury Collection.

Starwood, which is about to launch aloft and Element in China in 2008, plans to introduce all of its nine brands in the country before 2010. The hotel operator will continue focusing on expansion in the luxury hotel market in spite of the speedy growth of the economy hotel market in the nation.

At the moment, Starwood runs 45 hotels in China.
Source: Trading Markets

7 Days Inn

The 7 Days Inn Group has formed a trans-regional alliance of domestic branded budget hotels in China.

The alliance is to provide a unified marketing platform for the medium and small scale budget hotel chain brands in China. This seems a most excellent idea.

Zheng Nanyan, chief executive officer of 7 Days Inn, said the alliance focuses on attracting domestic budget hotel chain brands with a certain brand influence to join them.

There is no charge for membership and no initial start-up capital, just a contribution for bonus points to participate in the alliance’s members development plan.

The alliance will offer support for its member hotels in the four areas of network system platform, member’s system, marketing management guidance, and hotel management guidance.

To-date, more than 300 hotels from several brands, including 18 7 Days Inn outlets, have joined the alliance. The group says that the number of outlets in the alliance is expected to reach over 600 by the end of this year.
Source: China.org.cn

Shangri La hotel

Shangri-La Asia, the region’s biggest luxury-hotel operator, may book fewer rooms this year as rising airfares and a slumping world economy hurt tourism.

In an earnings report the hotel group said, ‘It is generally considered unlikely that hotels will experience the high levels of occupancies witnessed in 2007.’

Shangri-La’s net income fell 15% to $135.7 million in the first half, its first profit decline in four years. And the company says the Hong Kong-listed hotel operator will be ‘lucky’ to meet its 8% full-year growth target for revenue per available room, an industry gauge known as revpar.

UBS AG analysts CJ Lee and Eric Wong said , ‘While Beijing hotels saw uplift in occupancies during the Olympics in August, Shangri-La expects occupancies for the overall portfolio to remain lackluster till global economic sentiment turns more positive.’

Growth in the global travel and tourism industry is expected to slow to 3% this year from 4% in 2007, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
More on this HERE.
Source: Bloomberg.com

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