The Jumeirah Hotel Group has announced that it will open its first hotel in Shanghai this August and plans to expand to about five hotels in China over the next years. This first hotel in China will be called the Jumeirah HanTang Xintiandi and is located in the Xintiandi area and has over 300 guestrooms.

Meanwhile, more than 350 employees who were recruited in China have finished their training in the group’s Dubai hotel.

David Loiseau, vice president sales & marketing — Asia Pacific said that Jumeirah’s hotel will be priced 15-20% higher than other luxury hotels’ rates around China. Known locations will be Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

The Jumeirah Hotel Group runs the Burj Al Arab in Dubai which is arguably one of the most luxurious or most ostentatious hotels in the world, depending on your point of view.

Jumeirah, which was founded in 1997, said it plans to boost its China portfolio to five by 2011.

At the same time Tricia Warwick, Jumeirah VP Sales, said in Gulf News, ‘We are looking all over Asia for new developments but China is a key market. Two-thirds of our 16 hotels in Asia will be in China.’ Divide 16 by 3 and multiply by 2 and you get more than 10. Possibly the extra ones will be after 2011.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Dubai-based Jumeirah hotel group looks to build ten hotels in China by the end of 2010. This will be the group’s largest expansion into Asia.

Tricia Warwick, Jumeirah VP Sales, said in Gulf News, ‘We are looking all over Asia for new developments but China is a key market. Two-thirds of our 16 hotels in Asia will be in China.’

So far Jumeirah, famous for the Burj Al Arab the world’s tallest all-suite hotel and seen in our illustration, has plans for three properties in China located in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

The HanTong Jumeirah Shanghai was recently voted the ‘Most Anticipated Hotel’ in Shanghai at the 2007 World Traveller Awards China chapter although it is very difficult to get excited about an award which seems to have been invented purely for the sake of making an award.

Scheduled to launch August this year, the 338-room hotel is curiously said in the press release as being ’set to take advantage of post-Olympic crowds.’

There is very little evidence that Olympic Games, once they are over, bring crowds of visitors. Or are these business people who have delayed until the games are over?

Currently in Dubai, Jumeirah has four properties under construction. Within three years, the hotel group intends to hold a global portfolio of 57 properties.
Source: eTravel Blackboard

Jumeirah, a Dubai-based luxury hospitality group, plans to operate five hotels in China by 2011. The hotel management firm, which runs the Burj Al Arab claimed to be the world’s most luxurious inn and self-awarded seven stars, will open its first flagship hotel in the Asia Pacific region — the 338-room Jumeirah HanTang Xintiandi — in Shanghai on August 1, 2008.

The 52-hectare development will encompass the hotel, offices, residential and retail space. It is a joint development between Shanghai Hotel Investments Ltd and Shui On Private Group.

The general manager will be Doris Greif, who will be one of Shanghai’s first ever female general managers. She previously worked at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai, where she held the position of general manager since 2004. Before that she was working at the Jumeirah Beach Club Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the Group’s Corporate Offices.
Source: China.org.cn and PR Jumeirah

Gerald Lawless, executive chairman of Dubai-based company’s luxury hotels group Jumeirah and shown in our illustration, said the group hopes to be operating at least five hotels in greater China by the end of 2010.

Jumeirah, which operates Burj Al Arab hotels, is set to open its first hotel in China in Shanghai in August of next year.

This will be the HanTang Jumeirah Shanghai in Xintiand and will be part of a 52 hectare development of offices, residential complexes and shops.

The hotel will have 338 guest rooms and will be a MICE hotel in that it will have state of the art conference and banqueting facilities. Interesting that some of the interior design was done by a Japanese interior design firm with the splendid name of Super Potato.

The group is also looking into arrangements to manage hotels in Guangzhou and in the resort town of Sanya, on the southern island province of Hainan.

Gerald Lawless declined to disclose the progress of long-standing talks to open a hotel in Beijing, but said the group hoped to be able to announce news on such a deal by the end of this year.

He said, ‘I see us being very busy, say two-and-a-half, three years from now in terms of openings in China.’

According to Lawless the firm is also considering introducing a second brand that would potentially have hotels in second-tier cities or alongside the flagship brand in gateway cities. He said, ‘At some stage in our existence it is likely that we will also introduce a second brand, but we’re still working out exactly the format of such a brand.’
Source: Gulf News