Poland Hotels Booking

Beijing’s summer tourism season has been slow, and hotels and travel agencies say many potential visitors are being put off by tightened visa rules and scarce tickets to Olympic events.

Anthony Ha, general manager of the newly opened Marriott Courtyard Beijing Northeast (seen in the illustration) said, ‘We are not full at the moment, and we have rooms to fill. There’s not much time left, and we have a way to go.’

The city’s hotel industry, which has more than doubled its five- and four-star hotels offerings to 160 since Beijing was awarded the Olympics seven years ago.

A report last month from the Beijing Tourism Bureau that showed five-star hotels were 77% booked, and four stars were at 44%.

The average price of a five-star hotel in Beijing ranged from $560 to $1,150 per nightalthough some rates were reported as high as $2,000 per night during the Olympics. The four-star average was $325.

According to the bureau the number of foreign visitors to Beijing in May dropped by 12.5% from a year ago.

The shortfall in visitors coincides with new visa regulations that make it tougher for tourists and business executives to enter China.

Si Cunxia, sales manager of Travel China travel agency said, ‘A lot of the hotels overestimated their occupancy rate for July and August.’
Source: Associated Press

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

The Beijing Olympic Games are sparking fierce competition among hotel groups.

The US-based Hilton Hotels, which has five properties in China, hopes to have two more open by the end of July.
Marriott International has opened three hotels in the capital under the JW Marriott, Courtyard and Ritz-Carlton brands and increased its Beijing portfolio to seven. It is preparing to open two more, a Renaissance and a Marriott, in July.
InterContinental Hotels Group says eight more of its hotels will open this year in Beijing. The group already has nine hotels in Beijing.

Besides the new openings, many existing upscale hotels in Beijing, including New World Jing Guang Hotel, China World Hotel Beijing and Shangri-La Hotel Beijing, have redecorating and or expansion work scheduled for completion before the Games begin on August 8.

Lin Yuan, director of sales and marketing with Novotel Beijing Sanyuan said, ‘The Olympics is absolutely a golden opportunity, nobody would like to miss promoting themselves.’

There will be about 50,200 athletes, international workers, journalists, sponsors and their business clients who will be accommodated by 112 local hotels.

However, no hotel group is banking on just the Olympics. Sustainable economic growth is their goal.

The Beijing Tourism Bureau believes the number of overseas guests will grow at around 30 to 60% annually, rising to a peak in 2010, and the average occupancy rate will increase to more than 72% in 2009. A lot of hoteliers are praying that the Bureau’s projections come to fruition.
Source: China Daily

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Marriott International plans to add 18 hotels in China, Hong Kong and Macau through 2012 with nine new ones to open in the mainland China starting as early as next year.

The new hotels will open between 2009 and 2012 in Nanjing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Huizhou, Suzhou and Beijing. It also said hotels under construction include properties in Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Macau and Hong Kong.

Ed Fuller, president and managing director of international lodging, added that deals to open hotels in addition to these have already been signed.

The 18 hotels will increase Marriott’s presence in China, Hong Kong and Macau to 59 hotels and extended-stay apartment buildings and 22,489 rooms.

He said it is possible Marriott will have as many as 100 hotels in the area in the next five or six years.

Henry Lee, area vice president for China said the company’s five hotels in Beijing are 90%-booked for August. Three additional hotels set to open before the Olympics are 40% booked.

The company’s brands include the Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance and Courtyard hotels. The illustrations both come from the Marriott in Guangzhou.
Source: CNN Money

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

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

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

The latest foreign firm to expand in China amid the country’s economic boom is luxury hotel group, Marriott International. It hopes to open 24 more hotels in China over the next three years.

Marriott Hotels which launched its first hotel in China in 1989, says with the pending Olympic Games, it will add over 1,000 rooms in Beijing. The U.S hotel group also has its eye on the MICE (meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition) market, which is rapidly growing across China.

Three new hotels trading under the names of Marriott, Renaissance and Courtyard by Marriott will be opened in the capital this year.

The big plans for the 24 new hotels will, of course, depend totally on what happens to the price of oil. If it goes up to $200 a barrel — which is possible but perhaps not totally likely — there will be a very quick revision of plans. If it were to stabilize at, say, $120 a barrel — again possible but not likely — then the hotels will boom. Our illustration is the impressive Marriott Guangzhou.
Source: BizChina

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

In aid of this year’s ‘World Earth Day’ on April 22, Mandara Spa at JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai will donate US$1 from each spa treatment to the Arbor Day Foundation. This is a non-profit US-based organization of nearly one million members that plants and promotes the conservation of trees. Mandara Spas worldwide are making similar efforts to support this cause.

Marriott International has recently signed an agreement with the State of Amazonas in Brazil to fund US$2 million to an environmental management plan to be carried out by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. Guests at Marriott hotels will be able to contribute to this fund by the end of the year.
Source: JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai

author Anna Bartram, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com