The Westin Beijing, Financial Street is offering these latest packages for the coming winter months; a new full day meeting package and a ‘Replenish your Body’ offer.

The meeting package is RMB650/person (25 people minimum, valid until December 31, 2007). Includes:

- Eight hours use of a function room (ten rooms have wireless Internet and audiovisual equipment)
- Buffet lunch and refreshments

Event organizers in the Starwood Preferred Planner program can claim triple ’starpoints’ on functions held before the end of this year.

‘Replenish Your Body’ is valid until December 31, 2007. Prices begin at RMB1,300/person/night (two night stay minimum). Includes:

- US$50 voucher for Heavenly Spa by Westin
- Buffet breakfast
- 4pm late check-out

Source: PR Westin Beijing, Financial Street

Hilton Hotels has signed an agreement to manage the Hilton Guiyang. The property will be developed in two phases — the first phase will be completed at the end of 2008, and will comprise 100 guest rooms and 70 serviced apartments. The second phase will include another 230 guest rooms by the end of 2009.

The hotel will be in the commercial district of Guiyang, one of the largest cities in the western region of China.

In addition to the hotel, the complex will include housing, shopping malls, office buildings and community infrastructure such as a hospital, kindergardens, schools and a culture and science exhibition centre.

Koos Klein of Hilton said ‘The Hilton Guiyang will offer a new and unrivalled destination in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) sector.’

Chunhong Xiao, Chairman of Guizhou Honizon Real Estate Development, said, or a flack wrote for him, ‘We are delighted to work with Hilton for this project, where the development will blend with the beauty of its surrounding environment, appealing to leisure and business travelers alike.’ Sounds flack-ese to me.

The picture of Guiyang is a little larger than normal. That is simply because it is a most beautiful area and pictures hardly do it justice.
Source: Travel Daily News

Sofitel Riverside Qingyuan is claimed to be the first internationally-branded 5-star hotel in Qingyuan, in the Pearl River Delta.

A hour’s drive north of Guangzhou, Qingyuan is the fastest-growing city in Guangdong Province. It has broken records for GDP growth (up 23.3% in 2006), foreign trade, foreign investment, fixed-asset investment, and productivity growth.

By the end of 2006, 221 projects with a total investment of RMB50 billion were underway in Qingyuan and there are more than 1,000 foreign enterprises, processing and assembling enterprises operating within the urban district. The region is also a popular tourist area.

The Sofitel Riverside Qingyuan has 368 guest rooms and suites, with half overlooking the Beijang River. This is definitely a MICE hotel with extensive meeting facilities and over 1,800 sq meters of function space, including a Grand Ballroom and three smaller meeting rooms.

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

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

Hilton Hotels has signed an agreement with Beijing Macau Development Company to manage the Hilton Wangfujing Beijing. It is scheduled to open before the Olympic Games in 2008 and it will be the one of the newest deluxe hotel offerings in the Wangfujing district, home to World Heritage Site, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

Koos Klein, president Asia Pacific Hilton Hotels Corporation, and seen in our illustration, said, ‘With its prime location, the Hilton Wangfujing Beijing will be a premier hotel for Hilton Hotels Corporation in China and a symbol of our goal to build a nationwide presence in China, across all market segments.’

There will be 266 guest rooms and a health club with spa and swimming pool. It will also be, in part, a MICE hotel with facilities for banquets and meetings. The Hilton Wangfujing Beijing will be housed in the new mixed use luxury development, Macau Center.

The hotel will be a 45-minute drive from the international airport.
Source: Asia Travel Tips

WorldHotels sees itself as China’s leading global group for independent hotels. Now it has been joined by the Xianglu Grand Hotel, Xiamen bring the number of WorldHotel member in China to 32.

Xianglu Grand Hotel is in the heart of Huli, Xiamen, which overlooks the main Huli district and scenic areas of Hubin. It is a short drive Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and close to the city’s business districts.

This is a big hotel. There are 1,525 guest rooms and extensive conference facilities to make it a MICE hotel. There are two ballrooms and 26 function rooms plus the 3,000 square meter Atrium Garden, part of which is shown in our illustration, which can be converted into an exhibition hall or banquet venue.
Source: eTravel Blackboard

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal has become the new owner of Traders Hotel Kunshan through his affiliate company Kingdom Hotel Investments, and he has renamed the hotel Swissôtel Kunshan.

(The prince is a most interesting person being a member of the Saudi Royal Family and being an investor in properties and stocks. Forbes magazine places his forthune at around $20.3 billion and lists him as the 13th richest person in the world. Note that in his investments he is not representing the Saudi royal family and is, indeed, outside of the political and ruling core of the kingdom. Instead he concentrates on making money at which he is very good. He is a large shareholder in Citigroup and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. He has investments in many hotels as well as Euro Disney. In January 2005 Prince Al-Waleed purchased the Savoy Hotel in London for an estimated £250 million, to be managed by Fairmont Hotels, in which Prince Al-Waleed owns an estimated 16% stake. In January 2006, in partnership with the U.S. real estate firm Colony Capital, Kingdom Holdings acquired the Toronto based Fairmont Hotels for an estimated $3.9 billion. There is a rumor he is trying to buy Everton Football club in England. Thus his purchase in Kunshan should be observed with interest.)

Swissôtel Kunshan is ideally located in the city centre of Kunshan and only 30 minutes from the ancient city of Suzhou and a 50-minute drive from Shanghai.

There are 387 rooms and suites which are fully equipped.

This is also already a MICE hotel to a degree. The pillarless (important) ballroom caters to a maximum of 500 guests or can be divided into two smaller rooms. There are also six function rooms equipped with the latest technology.
Source: World Technorati

Intercontinental Hotels will open the Crowne Plaza Sun Palace Beijing in early 2008. The hotel will be located in the city centre, close to the Beijing International Exhibition Centre.

This is the fourth Crowne Plaza hotel in Beijing. Sun Palace will have 540 rooms, seven restaurants and bars, and over 3,400 square meters of meeting space which takes it into the MICE category. (Note that our illustration shows the swimming pool in the other Crowne Plaza but rest assured the plans for this hotel call for the same level of luxury.)

IHG currently operates 65 hotels in China, with an additional 60 in the development pipeline.
Source: TTG

Marriott will have 15 hotels in the greater Shanghai region by the end of 2009 with the opening of the 330-room JW Marriott Hotel Hangzhou and the 330-room Courtyard by Marriott Hangzhou City Centre in 2008.

Both hotels are through Hangzhou Wulin Real Estate. They will be part of an 80,000-square-metre complex located in the heart of the city’s central business district. The hotels will be connected by a building — Marriott calls it a palladium which is a splendid term — that will house conference space, restaurants and lounges, and other public facilities.

(Palladium is a metal but is also defined as safeguard from a statue of Athena that was believed to safeguard the ancient city of Troy. My own guess is that its use here is derived from the famous Italian renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, who possibly provided the inspiration for the building. An intriguing thought.)

Hangzhou is an attractive business and leisure destination and a well-known weekend getaway and vacation-home destination for residents in the Greater Shanghai Region.

Marriott Hotel Hangzhou will have 1,650 square meters of function space, including a 950-square-metre ballroom that will be divisible into three sections and eight additional meeting rooms in varying configurations. Which makes it ideal as a MICE hotel.

Courtyard by Marriott will have an executive floor and lounge and a business centre and guests of the Courtyard will have access to the JW Marriott Hotel Hangzhou’s meeting space, restaurants and lounges, health club and spa.

In addition to these two Hangzhou hotels, four Marriott International properties are now under construction in the Greater Shanghai Region: the 276-room The Ritz-Carlton, Pudong Shanghai (opening mid-2010), the 680-room Renaissance Shanghai Zhongshan Park Hotel (opening mid-2007), the 327-room Renaissance Shanghai Yuyuan Hotel (opening mid-2007) and the 333-room Ningbo Marriott Hotel (opening mid-2008).

Currently there are 10 Marriott’s in the Greater Shanghai Region.
Source: eBlackboard Travel