After a decade of unrelenting business hotel development in China's major cities by the world's five-star chains, a clear new trend is developing: the rise of the resort hotel. As reported previously, Hainan Island is leading the charge with new luxury villa resorts, but mainland China is fast catching up.
The latest company to announce its entry into China is Alila Hotels
& Resorts, which will open four new resort properties in 2010. The
first to open will be an 80 suites/villas resort on Lake Tai, near
Suzhou – followed by a 55 suites resort in Shangri-La, Yunnan province,
a 60-suite property in Lijiang and a larger 230-suite hotel in
Guangzhou.
Self-defined as a "boutique luxury resort" company, Alila is a
relatively new name in the Asia Pacific hotel industry, having launched
its operations in Jakarta in 2001. It currently manages seven
properties in Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Philippines, and has also
signed contracts in China, Vietnam, Maldives and Oman.
Another company that is currently "prioritising China" is Atlanta-based
Capella Hotels. Created by Horst Schulze, the former president of
Ritz-Carlton and the man credited with turning that once solely
U.S.-focused hotel group into a leading global name in the luxury hotel
sector, Capella will open its first two properties in Asia – a resort
on Sentosa Island, Singapore, and a Tadao-Ando-designed ski-resort
hotel in Annupuri-Niseko Mountain in Hokkaido Japan – next year.
Though yet to sign any deals in China, Capella has – in the last two
weeks – been assessing potential sites and talking with developers in
Beijing, Shanghai Guangzhou and Hainan Island.
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