[photopress:Kempinski_Hotel_Shanghai.jpg,full,alignright]New players are about to enter the luxury hotel market in China. You could argue that it is already very fully supplied in the major cities but this seems not to be a deterrant. And that is not the case in some of the second-tier markets of China.
The Jumeirah Group from the United Arab Emirates, which runs the world’s most luxurious hotel Burj Al Arab in Dubai (nothing exceeds like excess) is very keen on China.
The Dubai-based company, which aims to expand its global portfolio to 57 hotels by 2011, will open its first China hotel, memorably called the HanTang Jumeirah Shanghai in Xintiandi in July 2008. It will have 338-rooms. It is also considering opening in more Chinese cities as well as Hainan island.
Conrad Hotels & Resorts, a luxury brand under Hilton Hotels Corporation, which runs 18 hotels globally, has announced it will open its first mainland facility in Shanghai next year. It also said that it will open in Beijing although no specific timetable was given.
The 362-room Conrad Shanghai, again located in the city’s prime Xintiandi area, is under construction and due to receive guests between the middle and the end of next year.
Kempinski, Europe’s oldest luxury hotel firm which now runs 11 properties in the country — eight hotels and three resorts — said it plans to boost its portfolio to 21 by 2010 as it hopes to further boost its role as a major player in the Chinese market.
Rene S. Schmitt, Kempinski’s senior vice president for China said the German hospitality company, which entered the China market in 1992 by opening the Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center (seen above), will open hotels in Shanghai, Hohhot, Huizhou, Qingdao, Tianjin, Wuxi, Xi’an, Suzhou, Guiyang and Yinchuan within three to four years.
Kempinski also announced that it will launch the luxury Tangula Express trains in the second quarter of next year. The trains, to be managed by Kempinski and featuring spacious suites, gourmet cuisine, 24-hour butler service, spa and wellness treatment as well as an in-room entertainment system, will run from Beijing to Lhasa via Xi’an during the warm season and from Beijing to Dali, Guilin and Lijiang via Xi’an during the cold season.
Source: Shanghai Daily
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