New hotel properties planned before the downturn are still coming online amid the bookings slump. In China, affected perhaps slightly less (but not much less) than other major economies, international and domestic hotel chains have recently opened, or are due to open, new outlets in the country’s many booming cities. Some of the latest upscale and business-oriented properties to open in China include:
Radisson Plaza Hotel Tianjin, seen here, will open in April next year. It will have 270 rooms and will be located on Xinkai Road, to the west of Tianjin Railway Station and east of Tianjin Airport in the new financial hub of Hedong District, close to the central business district, the Tianjin Economic Development Area and the Binhai New Area. The city of Tianjin is 29 minutes from Beijing by high-speed train.
In late 2008, Park Hotel Group acquired the former Grand Castle Hotel in Xian and renamed it the Grand Park Xian. Xian is the home to all those terracotta warriors statues. The hotel has been newly refurbished and is close to the city’s many historical attractions, including the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
From the hotel, it is a 21-mile drive to Lintong, home to the Terracotta Warriors and the mausoleum of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
PuLi Hotel and Spa, Shanghai, is said to be the city’s first urban resort possibly because of the addition of the word spa. It is in Nanjing West Road in the Jingan District and is part of the Park Place mixed-use development project.
Developed and operated by Shanghai Cross Ocean Property Development Ltd., Park Place comprises an office tower, a high-end retail and dining complex and the PuLi.
Then there is the Fairmont Beijing, which is the first outlet of the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts group to open in China. The hotel is located in Yong An Li, generally regarded as a prime gate to Beijing’s central business district.
Sheraton Jinan Hotel is scheduled to open next month and is located in the capital of Shandong Province, on China’s east coast. It is 12 miles from Jinan Yaoqiang Airport and will be part of a mixed-used complex consisting of the hotel, office buildings and retail shops.
What all this hotels have in common is that they need guests and lots of them. Yes, the tourist sector is recovering but swine flu dealt it a crippling blow. A lot of hotel investors must, at the moment, be feeling slightly apprehensive.
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