Marriott International has opened a 333-room Marriott hotel in Ningbo under an agreement reached with Haicheng Investment.

This is a MICE hotel in that it has 1,188 square meters of flexible space. Included are a 720-square-meter ballroom that is divisible into eight sections and six additional meeting rooms.

The property is the heart of the central business district of Ningbo, a beautiful seaport city, within a mixed-used project containing a 38-story building that houses the hotel and office space.

The hotel faces the southern tip of Jiangbei across the Yuyao River, which is now home to a newly-redeveloped historic neighborhood housing restaurants and entertainment spots.

With the recent Hangzhou Bay Bridge opening, it is now only 2.5 hour drive from Ningbo to Shanghai.

Recreational amenities include a fitness center and an indoor swimming pool. And soon it will have a spa.
Source: FinChannel

Shangri-La Hotel, Ningbo is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2008 (exact date not yet confirmed) and it has announced who’ll be running the place.

Lim Boon Kwee (pictured) — General Manager. Previously GM of Shangri-La Golden Flower, Xian. He is a Singapore national and has worked in the hospitality industry for over 23 years. Held senior management positions at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Sedona Hotels International and InterContinental Hotels.

Darren Wong — in charge of the money as Financial Controller. Has 20 years’ experience at Marco Polo Hotels Group (Hong Kong). Founded the Hotel Controller and Accountants Association of Hong Kong.

Rachel Zhou — Director of Marketing. Joined Shangri-La group in 1992 and has since worked at its hotels in Xian, Changchun and Changzhou.

The hotel lies in Ningbo’s commercial district and will have 564 guestrooms, four restaurants and bars, and over 6,000 square meters of MICE facilities. Ningbo is a port city in the south Yangtze Delta Region in Zhejiang province. Shangri-La already has one other property in Zhejiang — Shangri-La Hotel, Hangzhou.
Source: Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts

The first Sofitel Wanda hotel in the northern Chinese city of Ningbo will be opened at the end of this year. The construction of the hotel’s main body had been finished.

The hotel will be operated by Accor with its luxury hotel brand of Sofitel, in cooperation with Wanda Group, a private real estate company.

It is the fourth round of cooperation between the two companies in the hotel field in China. They have set up three Sofitel Wanda hotels in Beijing, the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, and the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin. Our illustration is of the Sofitel Wanda in Chengdu.

Sofitel was established in 1964, opening its first hotel in Strasbourg, France. In 1974, it expanded to the United States of America, opening a hotel in Minneapolis. In 1997 it became part of the French hotel group Accor. Now it is well established in China.
Source: Trading Markets

Carlyle Group plans to invest RMB100 million ($13.2 million) in a private hotel company, Kaiyuan Century International Hotel Management. According to a report a senior executive said Kaiyuan has been in discussions with several international investors including Carlyle. Carlyle Group is a private equity investment company and it is noteworthy that one of the managing directors is named Ned Kelly (more formally known as Edward J. Kelly III).

In Asia Carlyle has offices in offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

Kaiyuan manages five-star hotel brand New Century Grand and four-star brand New Century hotel. The company has 20 hotels in operation. All are located in key commercial and tourist cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou (shown in our illustration), Ningbo, Taizhou, Shaoxing, Lishui, Qiandao Lake, Xuzhou and Kaifeng, with nearly 6,000 guest rooms.

Carlyle is clearly in a serious investing phase. It recently paid RMB492 million ($65 million) to acquire a 26% stake in a Chongqing Polycomp International Corporation, and RMB605 million ($80 million) for a 49% stake in Yangzhou Chengde Steel Tube.
Source: Pacific Epoch

The 380-room, newly rebranded Sheraton Ningbo Hotel, has opened in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. In it former incarnation it was known as the Portman Plaza Ningbo Hotel. It has seven food and beverage outlets and 11 convention halls and meeting rooms — the largest of which has the capacity for 400 people. So this is, among other things, a MICE hotel which means it can handle meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

Furthermore, it can look forward to a boom time for Ningbo, soon to be connected to Shanghai by the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which will have the longest sea-crossing span in the world. The bridge is a six-lane highway bridge with an overall length of 36 km, which makes it the longest ‘ocean-crossing bridge’ in the world. But it is not the bridge with the longest span in the world. Half-way across there is a service station. Amazing. The bridge will be a major tourist attraction in its own right.

Should be ready about the time of the Olympic Games and will cut drive time between Ningbo and Shanghai from four to two hours. Mark you, you will probably waste some time hanging around the service station and enjoying the view.
Source: TTG TravelHub

Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific is working away on new hotels in China. There are five brands involved: at the luxury end Regent and Radisson Hotels & Resorts and then down a step, Country Inn, Park Inn and Park Plaza although not all of these will opening in China.

President and managing director, Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific, Paul Kirwin said China is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and it is here he sees great growth potential.

He said, ‘We believe the company has underperformed in Asia Pacific, particularly with its Regent brand. We had started in the region by franchising hotels. That worked well until Asia’s 1997-99 financial crisis, but when we looked again, we decided to come back as a manager rather than a franchiser.

‘We have been busy. We are in advanced discussions for two more Radissons in Shanghai. We have a Park Plaza signed for Beijing, and are close to signing for one in Shanghai. We think over the next 5-10 years, China will be a good market for Park Inn, but not in the next five years.

‘We see the Regent brand coming back. We have Beijing, Ningbo, and Shanghai under construction and due to open 2005 and 2006. The owners are different, each local; we find that more effective.’
Source: PATA

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) which operates under the Taj group brand, plans to set up a hotel in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. The hotel will mainly cater to domestic and international businessmen who travel to Ningbo to visit the city’s International Trade Mart.
Source: The Times of India