[photopress:FivePagodaTemple.JPG,full,alignright]Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Inner Mongolian Datang International Tuo Ke Tuo Power Generation have announced an agreement where Starwood will manage the Sheraton Hohhot Hotel in Inner Mongolia. It should open in July 2009 and will be in in a prime location in downtown Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia.
There will be 350 rooms, 21,000 square feet of meeting space, three restaurants, a close to 10,000 square feet health club, with 8,000 square feet spa and indoor heated pool. The hotel will also be the first internationally branded upper upscale hotel to open in Inner Mongolia.
Miguel Ko, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Asia-Pacific, said, ‘We are very proud to be working in partnership with Inner Mongolian Datang International Tuo Ke Tuo Power Generation to introduce Sheraton and its signature services and products to travelers visiting Inner Mongolia, the third largest province as well as one of the largest production bases in China.’
Hohhot has a population of over two and a half million and is the capital city of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. The name Hohhot is Mongolian for ‘blue city’ and the city dates back to the Ming Dynasty. It was chosen as Inner Mongolia’s capital in 1947 over Baotou and replacing Zhangjiakou.
The city was founded by Altan Khan around 1580 and was in two sections which later became Guihua District of the Qing Empire and was upgraded to a city in 1950.
Hohhot is surrounded by the Daqing (Great Blue) Mountains to the north and the Hetao Plateau to the south. During the summer months it is often used as a tourist destination and a place to escape the heat.
By railway, Hohhot lies on the Jingbao Railway from Beijing to Baotou. It also has a connection for freight into Europe and there is a train service — sadly freight only but we can hope — to Dusseldorf.
Hohhot Baita International Airport is less than half an hour from the hotel. It has direct flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hong Kong, with its international destination being Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
Among the points of interest in Hohhot is the Temple of the Five Pagodas, shown here, which has architecture very similar to that of Indian temples. The temple was built in 1732 and its walls there are more than 1,500 figures of Buddha.
Sources: EtravelBlackboard and research