The hotel building boom in China continues undiminished. Luxury hotel operator Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to add 70 new properties in China in the next three years.

Oliver Bonke, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Starwood Asia-Pacific and seen in our illustration, said the Chinese hotels will make up the bulk of the 100 to be added across the Asia-Pacific region.

He said, ‘China will get more Starwood hotels than any other countries in the world.’

Oliver Bonke was in China recently signing hotel deals. The group now operates 40 hotels in the country.

Starwood has signed contracts for two Shanghai hotels and for a Westin and a St Regis hotel in Jiangsu provincial capital Nanjing.
That brings to 13 the number of hotel deals Starwood has signed in the first 11 weeks of the year. Last year, it added 50 new hotels in the country.

The hotel operator plans to open 15 new hotels in China this year. Its Aloft hotel, a limited service version of the W brand, is also expected to open in Beijing this year ahead of the Olympic Games in August. Five W hotels are planned for China.

Starwood owns eight brands including Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Westin, St Regis, Le Meridien, Aloft and W.
Source: China Daily

More and more five-star hotels are being constructed in Beijing in a bid to open up before the Summer Olympics. The latest to announce its launch (scheduled for May 1st this year) is
The Westin Beijing, Chaoyang.

Part of a mixed-use complex along the Liangma River in the capital’s eastern embassy district of Chaoyang (the same district as where the Olympic Green will be), the hotel will have 565 rooms and suites, Heavenly Spa (The Westin’s own brand spa) and 1,100 square meters of function space including two ballrooms and 10 meeting rooms.

Pictured on the right is new General Manager, Daniel Aylmer, who has over 15 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, including three previous positions at Starwood hotels in China.
Source: PR The Westin Beijing, Chaoyang

The Westin Beijing, Financial Street has been officially certified a five-star hotel by the China Tourist Hotel Star-Rating Committee. It has only been open a year and is the second Westin in mainland China (the other one is The Westin Bund Center, Shanghai).

GM Charlie Dang said, ‘ We are very happy to be certified as a five-star hotel just after one year of operation. We will continue our focus on guest experience, and present the unique Westin lifestyle in this enchanting capital.’

According to the hotel, this ‘lifestyle’ is provided through services such as its Heavenly Spa by Westin, Westin Heavenly Bed, Service Express, Westin Workout and Westin Kids Club.
Source: PR The Westin Beijing, Financial Street

It’s award time again. Starwood Hotels & Resorts was voted ‘Best International Hotel Group’ at the TravelWeeklyChina Industry Awards 2007 held in December. Two of its China properties were particularly recognized:

Sheraton Sanya Resort — ‘Best MICE facility and Service Hotel’
The Westin Beijing Financial Street — ‘Best Business Hotel’ and ‘Hotel Chief of the Year’ (awarded to GM Charlie Dang)

Qian Jin, Senior VP of Operations for China & Taiwan at Starwood, said, ‘It has been a fruitful year in which Starwood has successfully opened nine hotels and signed over 20 new hotel deals’.

In China alone, the group has 40 hotels and another 40 currently in construction. New properties include the first hotel under the aloft brand in China, slated to open in mid-2008, and a W Hotel to open in Hong Kong later this year.
Source: PR Starwood Hotels & Resorts and TravelWeeklyChina

For the fourth consecutive year, The Westin Bund Center Shanghai has been voted in Conde Nast Traveler’s ‘Top 100, The Best of The Best Hotels in the World’. So, it is now one of the top 100 globally and one of the top 10 hotels in Asia.

In September this year, it unveiled a new Grand Tower with 269 plush rooms and suites which cost RMB100 million to refurbish from the former serviced apartment building. The hotel now has a total of 570 rooms.

It opened in 2002 and was Westin’s first property in China. There is also The Westin Beijing, Financial Street.

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

China’s rapid expansion as an economic powerhouse, coupled with a growing and affluent workforce, is driving a new wave of investment into the Chinese hotels and leisure sector.

The figures are remarkable:

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHT) is well on track to open 125 outlets in China by the end of 2008.
Hilton Hotels has teamed with Rreef, the property arm of Deutsche Bank and private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific, to develop 25 hotels at a cost of £272 million.
French hotels group Accor plans to open 80 hotels in the country over the next two years.
Starwood, the operator of the Sheraton and Westin chains is looking to open at least 12 new hotels in Shanghai alone this year.

IHG’s chief executive Andrew Cosslett said, ‘China has unmatched market potential. IHG has the largest pipeline of hotels in the industry and we are on track to meet our objective of between 50,000 and 60,000 new net room additions by the end of 2008. This is equivalent to opening one new hotel a day.’

Apart from the flagship InterContinental Hotel brand, the group also operates the Holiday Inn, Express by Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains.

China is currently IHG’s third largest market with 22,665 rooms and 67 hotels. Its current pipeline envisages an additional 84 hotels and an extra 29,771 rooms.

So all those rooms have to be filled. IHG, like other hotel groups, is banking on a sharp increase in overseas visitors to China and more internal travel as the country opens up.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the number of inbound tourists is expected to climb from 50 million in 2006 to between 150-180 million by 2020. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China the number of domestic trips is expected to reach three billion by 2020.

China’s internet penetration is now second only to the US, with 137 million users — 10% of all hotel rooms are booked through the internet — while China will spend $17.2 billion on improving its airport infrastructure network between 2006 and 2010.

Road spending is also soaring with the number of highway kilometers set to double to 85,000 by 2020.
Source: Birmingham Post

The Westin Beijing, Financial Street has launched a fundraising event to raise money for Unicef immunisation projects helping children in the Asia Pacific region.

The event named ‘The Wheel of Hope’, which runs till the end of August, is part of Unicef’s ‘Check out for Children Challenge’. Hotel guests who donate RMB100 can spin a big wheel in the hotel’s lobby and win prizes of spa treatments, complimentary stays at the hotel and various other rewards. 

Starwood Hotels and Resorts (which owns The Westin) runs the ‘Check out for Children Challenge’ annually, and this year, the target for the Asia Pacific region is US$90,000. Since the program started in 1996 it has raised more than US$3 million, and in 2006, funds went towards immunisation programs in Myanmar, Mongolia and Bangladesh.
Source: PR Westin Beijing, Financial Street

Starwood Hotels & Resorts was voted Best International Hotel Chain for Hospitality Excellence at the recent China Hotel Investment Summit (CHIS) organized by HVS International. CHIS 2007 is one of the most established and largest hotel summits of its kind on China’s hospitality investment, and is attended by close to 500 leaders of the international and Chinese hotel community.

Miguel Ko, President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific, said, ‘We are thrilled that we are recognized amongst industry leaders as the best in service excellence. This is the largest annual gathering in the China hotel industry and we are very honored to win this.’

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, one of the largest international upscale hotel groups in China, has been expanding aggressively. (The Westin Hotel in Beijing is seen in our illustration.) Recent signings added thousands of rooms to the Starwood portfolio in China. Starwood expects to open 37 new hotels within the next three years.
Source: PATA

The Westin Guangzhou is now accepting reservations for arrival on or after May 8, 2007 which means that the opening is for sure.

It is in the heart of Tian He the business district and adjacent to the CITIC Plaza, which is home to the majority of the Fortune 500 companies in Guangzhou. And it is only a short walk to high-end retail shopping and the Guangzhou East Train Station — a major access point into Guangzhou from Hong Kong.

There are 448 rooms for guests and a variety of function and meeting rooms for MICE events. There is also a health club and spa facilities.

Plus five restaurants and bars including a Latin American restaurant with live entertainment and, for Americans, a totally incorrect Cuban Cigar Lounge. Sounds great.
Source: Starwood Hotels