China’s Hotel Inventory Reaches a Fine Maturity

PHOTO: Giant Pandas still live in the Qing Cheng Mountains, where the Six Senses Qing Meng recently opened. (All photos courtesy those pictured)

Last week the economic eyes of the world were on China and its capital, Beijing. The recently concluded APEC meeting was a memorable edition especially when it comes to agreements between the U.S. and China, including visa liberalization and an important carbon emissions agreement.

One of the settings for the drama took place at scenic Lake Yanqi, about 35 miles from Tiananmen Square and the new Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, which opened today, Nov. 17, to the rest of the world. The Kempinski, opening in a new destination in suburban Beijing, is one of a new generation of Chinese hotels opening in new areas that bring a nuanced set of choices to travelers visiting what's become a fully matured destination.

The 306-room Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing & Yanqi Island is one of 14 hotels on Yanqi Lake including the 111-room Yanqi Hotel as well as 12 Boutique Hotels with 178 guestrooms and suites (on Yanqi Island). Facilities include 14 restaurants and bars, meeting space, gardens, a private marina, an electronic boat, the Yanqi Pagoda, Kempinski The Spa, recreational and fitness facilities, and a Kid's Club.

PHOTO: The Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing hosted last week's APEC meeting.

The location provides easy access to the Mutianyu area of the Great Wall. Other nearby attractions include a water sport center, horseback riding, Hongluo Temple, Qinglong Gorge and Baiquan Mountain. There are plenty of activities and attractions to offer families and their children in this area.

The new brand from Australia's Argyle Hotel Group (AHG), "Ausotel Smart," seems to be something of a milepost in the evolution of Chinese travel. The brand was specifically designed to appeal to travelers in China's emerging middle class. The smartness in the brand was framed by Kevin Zhang, CEO of AHG China, "Smart can be understood as Simplistic & Modern ART and is representative of Smart Hotel, Smart Customer and Smart Investor. It will provide clientele with simplistic design in a functional space."

AHG is Australia's largest hotel management group. The group hopes to continue an expansion in China and reach 60 hotels. AHG recently signed four new hotel management contracts in Guangzhou, Guangdong province; Ningde, Fujian province and two in Yunnan province in Shangri-la and Lijiang.

AHG comprises six distinct brands: Argyle Grand Hotel, Argyle Resort, Argyle Hotel, Ausotel, Argyle Boutique Hotel and Metro Hotels. They cover a range of styles and price points in the market from business hotels to five-star luxury properties.

Even as the offerings to a new middle class traveler grow, China is also growing its high end luxury inventory. Coming late next spring or early summer is the 113-suite Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain. Though Sichuan province and its busy capital of Chengdu are swift becoming economic powers in Western China, it's still a province of vast forests and mountains. Giant Pandas still live in the Qing Cheng Mountains, about 30 minutes from downtown Chengdu and near Panda Valley and historic Mount Emei.

Through Western eyes we tend to see the most recent hotel developments in China taking place mostly in the secondary cities, but in China a secondary city like Zhengzhou, for instance, is actually a major city. Zhengzhou, where Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is developing the 350-room Fairmont Zhengzhou, is the capital of Henan province and is a city of some 8.6 million people. Berlin, the capital of Germany, by comparison, has 3.5 million people. Western eyes can be misleading.

Mixed use developments are extremely popular in Chinese cities. They usually combine a hotel with a mall, entertainment venues and office space. This particular development is an important component in Zhengzhou's Zhengdong New Town, an upcoming financial and business hub. When complete, the zone will feature a modest allotment of 800,000 residences. Milwaukee by comparison is home to 600,000 people. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2018. "Our expansion into Zhengzhou is significant in that it debuts our presence in a major hub of central China," said Jennifer Fox, president, FRHI International and Fairmont Brand.

As Henan's biggest city Zhenzhou's industrial engine features such pistons as automotive, machine manufacturing, energy, aluminum and food processing. It is also one of the largest transportation hubs in China, at the intersection of several high-speed railways including Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Hong Kong. The city also has a new metro in the pipeline, scheduled to begin operations by 2015.

Other Fairmont Hotels in China include the Fairmont Beijing, the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, Kunshan's Fairmont Yangcheng Lake and Fairmont Nanjing. New FRHI

developments coming down the line include Chengdu (2015), Changsha (2017), Hangzhou (2018), Suzhou (2018), Taiyuan (2019) and Nanning (2019).

As part of yet another mixed-use development, the 319-room Esplanade, Pan Pacific Tianjin is located just10 minutes away from Tianjin Railway Station and that's no coincidence. Thanks to a high speed rail connection, Tianjin is now just 30 minutes from downtown Beijing. The city is a major seaport and maritime gateway to the Chinese capital. Some 300 Fortune 500 companies are located there.

Given the mercantile nature of Tianjin, it only follows that this hotel offers an extensive range of meeting facilities, a serious business center, Pacific Club with a private meeting room, 10 flexible meeting rooms as well as complimentary Wi-Fi access in all guestrooms. Pan Pacific Hotels Group also operates in the Chinese cities of Xiamen, Suzhou and Ningbo.

It's not the only example of China's world-record high speed train system being the catalyst for new hotels. Earlier this month, Hilton Worldwide opened the 112-room DoubleTree by Hilton Qinghai-Golmud. Golmud, at about 200,000 people, is miniscule by Chinese standards and yet it finds itself entering a new position as an important station on the world's highest railway. The Shigatse to Lhasa railway opened in August bringing passengers from Beijing to the gateway to Mount Everest. The new $2.1 billion 150-mile long connection took four years to build and has already been called the world's most breathtaking train ride.

Set in the foothills of the Kunlun Mountain Pass on the Tibetan Plateau, the DoubleTree by Hilton Qinghai-Golmud is Golmud's first internationally-branded hotel. It's located about three miles from the Golmud Railway Station near such attractions as Chaerhan Salt Lake, Huyang Forest and the snow-covered Geladandong Peak.

On Oct. 1, the 389-room Gran Meliá Xian opened in the city's new district of Qu Jiang, near the ancient city wall and home to all the biggest shopping malls and the convention center. The hotel is located near such attractions as the historic Bell Tower and the famous Terra Cotta Army. "The opening of the Gran Meliá Xian represents a milestone in our growing presence in China, which will also see hotels launching in the coming months in first-tier cities such as Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Jinan and Tianjin" said Gabriel Escarrer, vice chairman, Meliá Hotels International.

Meliá is just one of many companies placing new flags on the competitive chessboard that is Chinese hospitality. Hong Kong-based Langham is much further down the road in China with three properties in Shanghai, one in Shenzhen, one in Beijing, one in Guangzhou, one in Haining, in Ningbo and Xiamen. This year it opened two properties in Qingdao and one in Datong with future openings coming in Hainan (2015) and Dalian (2016).

Best Western has announced 13 planned hotels in China. It already operates 39 Chinese hotels. The new hotels will be targeted to the midlevel to economy sector, but will focus on important amenities such as Wi-Fi, ample room space, cleanliness, and multi-functionality.

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