BEIJING - Luxury hotel groups are expanding in China after predictions of a boom in the sector.
Ritz-Carlton will open a new hotel in the Pudong district of Shanghai in April and also one in Hong Kong in November, bringing to eight the number of hotels and resorts the company operates across the nation.
The 285-room Ritz-Carlton Shanghai will be inaugurated in time for the World Expo in the city.
This year, Hilton Worldwide will also accelerate its business expansion in China, with nine new hotels opening in China including the first airport hotel in the country, the Waldorf Astoria Shanghai-luxury brand of Hilton Worldwide, which is entering the Chinese market for the first time.
Timothy Soper, vice-president of Hilton operations Greater China told China Business Weekly: "Hilton is going to open 200 new hotels across China within the next 10 years since China is the market with the biggest potential for Hilton's business."
Shangri-la, Asia's largest luxury hotel, is opening five new premises worldwide this year, three of which will be in China. These will be located in Beijing, Shanghai and Guilin.
Secondary markets in China are also attractive to luxury hotel companies.
Kempinski, a German luxury hotel brand, is opening three hotels in second-tier cities, Yinchuan, Huizhou and Guiyang this year.
Rainer J. Burkle, vice-president of Ritz-Carlton China and general manager of Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, said:"Last year, 70 percent of Ritz-Carlton China customers were Chinese people. In Ritz-Carlton Sanya the number was much higher - 90 percent were local."
China is now central to the Ritz-Carlton's hotel chain's plans. The country is now its largest market after the US, where it has 31 hotels.
"China is the fastest growing market for Ritz-Carlton. We plan to open five hotels within three years," Burkle said.
Sigi Bierbaumer, general manager of Guilin Shangri-la hotel, said: "There are now 29 Shangri-la hotels in China and 20 of them are in second-tier cities."
There are currently 66 Shangri-la hotels around the world.
According to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, a global hotel investment services firm, average occupancy of luxury hotels in Beijing and Shanghai in 2009 was 53 percent, 13 percent lower than in the Olympic year of 2008.
There is evidence luxury hotels have seen stronger room occupancy since December last year.
Kempinski reported an increase of 25 percent in occupancy in December 2009, compared with the same month the previous year.
