This is a little complicated because of the geography. Hengqin is an island in Zhuhai, a prefecture-level city in the Guangdong province of China. That is an unassailable fact. However, it is very close to Macao and, in a sense, could be thought of as an extension to Macao because there is a connecting bridge.

Hengqin is the largest island among the 146 islands of Zhuhai. It is roughly three times the size of Macao. It has all the attributes needed for a resort — broad bays, sandy beaches and beautiful scenery.

Hengqin was formerly made up of two islands, Da Hengqin and Xiao Hengqin but these were recently connected as a result of land reclamation. The reclaimed island is 96 square km which already has one residential development.

Since the land reclamation and development, there has been a growing opinion in Macao that the island should be leased to Macao, where land is very limited and there is little room for further development.

By September 1, 2005, plans were announced that the government of Guangdong province will allow tax exemptions and adopt flexible immigration control in Hengqin to promote investment from Hong Kong and Macao. This would make all the people connected with gambling in Macao very pleased.

Since late 2005, Las Vegas Sands has openly discussed its multi-billion-dollar plans to develop parts of Hengqin Island into a convention and resort destination. The project would include four million sq ft of hotel space. Plus the supporting convention facilities, retail shops, vacation homes, and golf, tennis and yachting amenities.

Think of it as US$12 billion project and you are about right.

An analyst’s report stated that the US$9 billion-US$12 billion project has secured approval. This according to Jefferies & Co analyst Lawrence Klatzkin who cited Sands’ management.

He may have been a bit premature in making this announcement.

All that has happened is that the government of the city of Zhuhai, which oversees Hengqin, has set up a group to help ‘advance’ the plan. Which is a bit different from full approval.

The company did not say if the central government — which typically gets involved in multi-billion-dollar deals involving multinationals — had even got involved.

So the company issued a statement which said: ‘While the formation of a Project Coordination Committee is a positive step forward, the project remains subject to governmental approvals customary for projects of this scale.’

So it has not happened yet. But it does seem imminent.
Source: Business Times Asia

It gives an idea of the importance of the China as a destination that The Guardian in England has run a major story by Sally Howard on just one hotel. That is the Commune which started as a showcase for modern architecture on the Great Wall and, as the article puts it:

. . . has evolved into one of Asia’s most exciting, and affordable, design hotels.
Chinese culture was always writ large in its architecture. The Great Wall and the traditional courtyard home both speak of a world view in which everything within the wall is ‘family’ and everything without ‘not-family’.
Set in 2,000 walnut-tree acres 40 miles north of Beijing, with its northern perimeter traced by a breathtaking stretch of unreconstructed Great Wall, The Commune is the vanity project of rags-to-riches Beijinger Zhang Xin.
Her intention was to create a global showcase for Asian architecture by hand-picking 12 prominent architects from across the continent and offering them $1 million each to design a dream home. The results are startling.
Enter hoteliers Kempinski, which took over management of the site in August 2005, tarted up the main properties, then kicked back into the sloping green valley with a rash of new builds based on favourites among the original designs. The Commune by The Great Wall Kempinski (try that with a mouthful of Beijing duck) launched properly this month.
The Commune now comprises 42 villas, which for the most part are cleverly executed, their acreages of glass window framing views of the sinuous north Chinese landscape.
For the best of these, try the original Cantilever house, with its wraparound views of The Great Wall, or lather up like a pet Ming concubine with a breath-catching view of one of the world’s wonders from the bathtub of Shared house. Kempinski has thrown the net a little wider with decor, with international design pieces (Newson, Starck, Mouille) sharing space with modern twists on traditional Asian design, such as beds based on the traditional Chinese risen platform.

She likes it.
Source: The Guardian

Gloria International Hotels has spread itself throughout China with four different brands. Heading the group’s transformation is Willie K.H. Ooi, who has worked for Gloria for almost five years and is originally from Malaysia. In an interview he said:

‘We basically manage four different brands, namely Gloria Grand, Gloria Plaza, Gloria Inn and Gloria Resort.

‘Our Gloria Plaza Hotels have been positioned to cater more for the domestic mid-range business travelers and meeting groups due to our good location. However, at certain Gloria Plaza Hotels, we have seen an increase in international arrivals overtaking our traditional domestic markets.

‘On the other hand, our Gloria Inns are well-positioned to meet the lesser demands from cost-conscious domestic travelers by providing clean and comfortable accommodation.

‘Our more diversified Gloria Resort products range from the 5-star Gloria Resort and the 4-star Cactus Resort, both in Sanya, to a smaller 3-star Gloria Holiday Villas in Qinhuangdao.’

‘Having four different brands carrying the Gloria name comes with a lot of challenges as guests who have experienced our 5-star product expect a similar experience and welcome at our smaller 3-star products as well.

‘Our strategy over the next few years would be to focus on the high-end product carrying Gloria’s brand and the low-end products carrying a different brand name.’

Asked what are some challenges to operating in China he said, ‘Human resources would be the single biggest challenge facing operating hotels in China today. This is due partly to the booming development and opening of new hotels all over China today. The lack of qualified staff coupled with the high staff turnover has forced our hotel group to embark on more innovative and creative ways to secure and retain our workforce.’
Source: China Hospitality News

The number of stars that a hotel should have is very arbitary — except in China. In theory, there is always an official body which uses standard criteria for classifying hotels, but in many there is none. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and reliable standard but large differences still exist in the quality of the accommodation and the food within one category of hotel, sometimes even in the same country.

At least in theory, the term five star hotel means the ultimate luxury and, probably, expense. But many hotels now claim six stars and the Burj al-Arab in Dubai refers to itself as ‘the world’s first seven-star hotel.’ (The prices reflect that. The cost of staying in a suite begins at $1,000 per night and increases to over $15,000 a night. The Royal Suite costs $28,000 a night.)

China is different as it has a national standard which comes under the National Tourism Star-Grade Hotel Assessment Commission and hotels are regularly reassessed. (Perhaps not regularly enough but that will change as tourism increases.) At the moment 79 star-grade Hainan hotels that have had their qualification for five years are being examined. Those that do not conform to the standard will be downgraded or have their stars revoked.

It is important that Hainan sort out its accommodation standards for this island is one of China’s ideal tourist destinations. Its neighboring countries are Philippines towards the east, Malaysia and Brunei towards the south, Indonesia (Natuna Islands) towards the southwest, and Vietnam towards the west.

It has a mild climate and a favorable environment and is said to be conducive to long life. Sanya is famous for its tropical beach landscapes. Tianya Haijiao and Dadonghai are two well known beaches. As a tourist destination it is, as yet, practically undeveloped compared to similar Asian destinations. This will change.
Source: Travel China Guide

Banyan Tree Holdings, an operator of luxury hotels stretching from the Seychelles to Phuket, said that China would become its fastest-growing market in a global expansion plan.

The company chairman, Ho Kwon Ping, said in a recent interview that Banyan Tree, based in Singapore, has more employees assessing opportunities in China than anywhere else. At Banyan Tree’s new resort in Yunnan province, almost half the clients paying more than $400 for a night’s accommodation are Chinese nationals.
Banyan Tree is focusing its expansion on China as economic growth there swells salaries and lifts consumer spending.

Banyan Tree’s Ringha resort and the Lijiang site, which opened this year, are both in the southern Yunnan province, northeast of Myanmar. At the company’s Shanghai venue, a 90-minute spa session is advertised at $100.
Source: Bloomberg

The House of Shambhala is a ten-room boutique cultural heritage site located in the heart of the Barkhor section of Lhasa. Shambhala Foundation and over 40 Tibetan craftsmen and women carried out the restoration project. A portion of the proceeds from the House of Shambhala hotel and restaurant goes directly into supporting the Shambhala Foundation which operates world-wide.

The woodcarving masters chosen for this project had previously undertaken restoration of the Norbulingka Summer Palace in Lhasa. The stone carving master at the Nechung Oracle was invited to carve sutras and sets of deities. A senior Buddhist image clay master in Lhasa was invited to make a White Tara for the central courtyard garden of House of Shambhala.

Many of the slate workers were employed from the Nyechung Monastery and a stone sutra carving master has been engaged by the hotel to do stone carving on mani-stones, creatively incorporating Tibetan designs into his work. All the materials used in the building are local, apart from wires.

A second building, next door, includes a Tibetan Spa using all organic and locally produced products and oils and two retail shops space dedicated to local crafts, jewelery and fashion.
Source: China Hospitality News

Chinese budget hotel chain, Home Inn, opened three new hotels in Qingdao during this year’s Qingdao Beer Festival. The three hotels are Home Inn Taipingjiao, Home Inn Guizhou Road and Home Inn Shangdong Road. Including these three signed franchise hotels, Home Inn has about 150 hotels covering more than 40 cities in China, and is becoming one of the largest budget hotel brands in China.

• In eastern China, it has made Shanghai its base and spread over the entire Yangtze Delta area.
• In northern China, it has expanded from Beijing and Tianjin to northeast China where it has already opened outlets in Dalian, Shenyang and Harbin.
• In southern China, it is focused on the Pearl River Delta, and has launched hotels in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Xiamen and Zhuhai.
• In southwest China, its hotels are in Chengdu, Chongqing and Xi’an.

In the future, Home Inns will focus on opening new hotels in provincial capitals and cities whose GDP are over RMB100 billion. It wants to open 180 hotels by the end of this year and is planning to list its shares on NASDAQ in the next two months.
Source: China Hospitality News

MICE is an acronym which is, unfortunately, with us. Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions. (One should be grateful that there is no similar category for Receptions, Arts, Trade-shows, Seminars. The initials would not appeal.) And MICE business is being attracted to Chengdu.

The meetings and conferencing sector in Chengdu is becoming important, and nobody knows this better than Andrew Guo, Area Director of Sales and Marketing of InterContinental Hotels Group Century City Chengdu and Jiuzhai Paradise Hotels.

How big is the potential for MICE in Chengdu?

In MICE business circles Chengdu is ranked fourth in mainland China, right behind Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Andrew Guo said, ‘In Chengdu, there is the new RMB5 billion (US$620 million) New Century City International Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is incorporating shopping, entertainment, offices, and residences. The project is much more than just a world class exhibition and convention area, it is actually a complete destination offering great number of leisure options, over 300 shops with some of the world’s leading brands, a wonderful range of restaurants, a traditional Sichuan water village, an art gallery and an opera house. It truly makes for a great venue for business or pleasure.’

That MICE word again — Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions. The Jinzhou Municipal Construction Commission says that the bidding for a comprehensive meeting and conferencing project has been completed and the first five-star MICE hotel in the city will be built in the Lingnan area.

The project will be constructed by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation and Beijing Yuanda International Engineering Management Company. The hotel will be located in the southern side of the Municipal Government Square.

Price will be about RMB700 million and it will be 126,650 square meters dividing into two areas. Section A will consist of a 180-meter high office building and a hotel annex, and Section B will be an exhibition center.

Jinzhou has one of China’s most northern seaports on the northern shore of Bohai Sea and is situated in the southwest of Liaoning Province, with a population of almost three million.
Source: China Hospitality News

The Wynn Macau hotel-casino opened last night, becoming the “Macau’s first full-scale Las Vegas-style casino resort”, according to this article in the South China Morning Post.
A confident Steve Wynn had the following to say:

“The Sands was an interim step … It’s performed well financially, but in no way does it represent the future of the city … I think hotels on this scale or taken to a larger scale will be the future of the city.”

No doubt. He also got in a few jabs at his competitor on both sides of the Pacific, Sheldon Adelson, who opened a smaller casino, the Sands, last year:

“We are different from the other guys. We don’t build down-and-dirty quickies.”

Plus a little boasting:

“We get more yield per table than anybody else, including the Venetian [another Adelson-run casino, which is also building a Macau resort], whether it’s slot machines or tables … We make more money than the Venetian all the time. So it’s not so much the dog in the fight as the fight in the dog.”

After which he had the following to say:

“It doesn’t do much good to categorise or put down the other guy,” he said. “That won’t make any money for anybody and it doesn’t accomplish much.”

Mr Ho last month complained about the “vicious competition” in Macau’s casino market, saying one-third of his VIP gaming halls faced bankruptcy, putting thousands of jobs at risk.

But Mr Adelson retorted that Mr Ho should “get out of the kitchen if he can’t stand the heat”.

Mr Ho said he hoped Wynn Resorts would help check the competition from Sands. “This new opponent is very strong. Hopefully this new opponent can compete with [Sands]. I am very happy.”

Source: South China Morning Post