Budget Travel Online reports on the boom and boom of high end, name hotels. Initially, say twenty years ago, there were two styles of tourist lodging: At one end high-end hotels aimed at pleasing business travelers and dignitaries and, at the other, mainly for the locals, hostels and cheap guest-houses with unpredictable amenities (which is a very polite way fo putting it).

Foreign visitors went upscale. David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western International, said, "The reverse was true for Chinese travelers." Few of whom could come close to affording a five-star hotel.

Now it is changing fast. Perhaps faster than anywhere wlse in the world. First the population of 1.3 billion includes a growing middle class that has money to spend on vacations ¡ª at the moment mostly within China. And the number of foreign tourists visiting China reached 20 million in 2005 with a strong possibility it will be the world¡¯s largest tourist destination by 2020.

Tom Keltner, executive vice president for Hilton Hotels Corporation, said, "Anybody in the hotel business has to be very interested in China."

There are currently 188 new hotels under construction, which will add some 70,000 rooms. Many are familiar American brands, including Best Western, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Ramada, Super 8 and Westin.

Best Western will nearly double its presence in China, to 28 hotels, by the end of 2007. The InterContinental Hotel Group has 56 hotels in the country, and plans to have about 125 by 2008; most will be Holiday Inns. By 2007, Wyndham Hotel Group expects to operate 26 Super 8 hotels in China, as well as 24 Ramadas, eight Howard Johnsons, and six Days Inns.

The Vantage Hospitality Group, which owns Americas Best Value Inn, is introducing a Chinas Best Value Inn brand ¡ª and wants to open 200 to 400 hotels within three years. Local economy chains such as Jinjiang and Home Inns are also expanding rapidly.

American hotel chains are adjusting their product to please the Chinese market. Minibars, for instance, sell microwavable noodles alongside the usual snacks and beverages. And because it¡¯s become trendy for Chinese companies to entertain clients at hotels, some of the new chain properties are sadly outfitted with private karaoke rooms.

Source:China Hotel & Tourism News