Poland Hotels Booking

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

The Ritz-Carlton plans to open a 24 storey, 273-room luxury hotel in the southern China city of Shenzhen in the Futian Central Business District. This should be in early autumn and this will be The Ritz-Carlton’s sixth hotel in China.

Confession of interest. The writer has stayed at many hotels and thinks the Ritz-Carlton chain is consistently the best or one of the best in any city. The difference lies in the staff who are empowered to do almost anything to make sure the guest feels as if they were staying with well-heeled friends.

This new hotel will be in a mixed-use complex which will include the hotel, office space, and high-end retail space and will be within walking distance of the metro. The majority of the guest rooms will include a free-standing bathtub offering a view of the city.

All guest rooms have wireless internet access and, a new twist, alarm clocks with iPod docking stations.

The usual restaurants and lounges plus a fifth floor of the hotel with a landscaped roof garden including an outdoor swimming pool with sun deck, a terrace, and a roof top bar and grill.

Meeting space will range from a 700 square meters’ (7,535 square feet) Grand Ballroom, which will be divisible by three and nine smaller meeting rooms and an Executive Boardroom. So this is definitely a MICE hotel.

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com

Hainan today styles itself on Hawaii and aims to become a luxury destination with several high-end resorts opening up for business.

April alone saw the Ritz-Carlton and Singapore-listed Banyan Tree opening resorts. The Mandarin Oriental follows in late 2008.

All of this hotel activity marks a huge change for Hainan, which until recently was known in China as a place for cheap-and-cheerful package tours, and little known abroad except in Russia, South Korea and Japan.

The Banyan Tree Sanya’s general manager, Peter Pedersen said, ‘Sanya is one of the real new tropical destinations in Asia, and in China in particular it is the only tropical island. It’s becoming more and more in demand for both the local market and the international tourist market. It makes a perfect spot. The resort’s pool villas are RMB5,000 ($716) a night.

Hoteliers say the market is ripe for the move upscale.

Michel Goget, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Sanya said, ‘It’s going to enhance the image of Sanya as not only being a good touristic destination but also now to capture elite travelers. Not only from the mainland, but from the world.’

While most tourists to Hainan are mainland Chinese — 18 million last year against just 750,000 overseas visitors — the government is working hard to attract affluent foreigners.

Provincial tourism bureau head Zhang Qi said last month that the goal is to ‘within five years, attract 20 famous international hotel management groups, and make the number of five star, international-standard resorts rise to 60 or more.’

This may be a hope too far especially if the price of air travel zooms. Then there is the problem of visas. In Thailand and most other places in Asia you do not need them. You do for China. Sanya has a large airport but flights are limited mainly to domestic destinations.

Tourists say they love the scenery, the sea, the weather and the beaches. But, at the moment, that is all there is.

Still, the potentially huge Chinese market is a major draw for the resorts, which hope to leverage on the millions of people who have benefited from the country’s economic boom and are increasingly adopting Western lifestyles and aspirations.

Banyan Tree’s Pedersen said, ‘Some of the estimates I’ve seen suggest 450 million middle class Chinese in 10 years from now. I think Sanya has a huge potential.’ Which needs some work on the infrastructure if that potential is to be realized.
Source: Reuters

author Gareth Powell, source www.chinaeconomicreview.com