Grand Central Holdings has announced it plans to build or manage 10 to 15 high-end resort hotels on the Chinese mainland over the coming three years.

Mainly they are intended for the fast-growing MICE — Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events — market.

The company, said total investment might reach one to two billion yuan ($133 million to $266 million).

Annie Du, a business development official with the company said, ‘We have seen a growing demand for this niche market and we wish to bring our resort properties to more scenic places which might include the northern and southern parts of China as well as the Yangtze River delta region.’

She was speaking at the opening ceremony of its first resort and spa property on the Chinese mainland in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, seen in our illustration.

The 45-suites Regalia Resort & Spa, on the waterside of the famous Jin Ji Lake, is a joint project with Sipud, a major commercial real estate developer in Suzhou. The Thai Privilege Spa, a healthcare company which runs spas in Bangkok, Phuket, New York, Dubai, Shanghai, among others, will manage the spa operations at Regalia, company officials said.

By 2009, the company plans to open its second resort property near Suzhou’s Yangcheng Lake.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Jinling Hotels & Resorts has opened another hotel, this time near the seaside city of Yancheng in Jiangsu province. Yidu Jinling Grand Hotel Yancheng is the first five-star hotel in the city and has 346 guest rooms and suites.

In April this year, the hotel group was named as China’s most popular domestic hotel brand of 2007 at the 4th Golden Pillow Awards, held by 21st Century Business Herald in Shanghai.   
Source: PR Jinling Hotels

On April 6, Jinling Hotels entered Shanghai’s stock exchange to become the first listed hotel in Jiangsu’s hospitality industry and the 100th listed company in Jiangsu province.

The opening price was RMB8.50 which quickly rose to RMB12.00 within ten minutes. The closing price for the first day was RMB13.37.

Zheng Weiguo, Vice Governor of Jiangsu province, said, ‘Jinling Hotel is a leading corporation in Jiangsu, as well as the Chinese hospitality industry. It has maintained a superior performance and image for more than 20 years’. 

‘Jinling has been a witness to the development of the Chinese hospitality industry growth,’ commented Li Jianwei, Chairman of Jinling Hotels. She said it has built up a famous brand name blending Chinese Eastern style with international standards’.
Source: PR Jinling Hotels

The China Post Group has chosen 30 of its star-rated hotels (there are 400 altogether) to place on the Shanghai United Assets & Equity Exchange (SUAEE) for asset trading purposes.

This is practically a directive from Premier Wen Jiabao. At the recent CPPCC annual session, he said state-owned companies should begin a complete overhaul aiming to cast adrift their non-core business. This will improve services in the core businesses. Plain running a hotel is not a Post Office core business.

Our illustration shows the Mengcheng Post, located in Jiangsu province, which was inaugurated by the Gaoyou county magistrate Huang Kiming in the 8th Jongwu year in Ming Dynasty.

After Emperor Chengzu moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing for a while the two capitals existed at the same time and there was heavy traffic and busy contacts between the North and South.

Mingcheng Post, therefore, became more and more important. It had 200 rooms, 130 postal horses, 18 postal boats and more than 200 people as servers and couriers. Mengcheng Post performed the function of post office, hotel and transportation port as well. And all this many centuries before the Pony Express was even dreamed of.

Ren Yongxin, deputy general manager of the Finance Department under China Post Group, said, ‘We will focus only on postal services in the future, and sell or transfer first our hotel assets and then the ones in other sectors.’

Fixing the details of the chain of the first 30 is Phoenix Asset Management. There are many rumors that most of the group’s hotels are operating at a loss but there is no official comment. He said, ‘There’s no problem with profitability, the initiative is aimed at sharpening our core competence’.

As the 2008 Beijing Olympics — a time of plenty for the city’s hospitality industry — draw close, he said ‘a professional hotel operator will perform a better job in getting these hotels to provide strong servies and improve their brand equity.’

The 30 hotels newly listed on the SUAEE are spread across 17 Chinese cities, covering 4 four-star and 13 three-star hotels.

Ren Yonxin said, ‘We aim to finalize the deals on these 30 hotels by the end of 2007, before bringing in the next batch. By the end of 2008, all our 400-odd hotels will be available for trading on the SUAEE.’
Source: China Daily