A Hotel Boom Is Checking In To Beijing
Monday, March 24, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: There are 137 days before the summer Olympics get under way. The Olympic torch was lit in Greece this morning for the start of its 85,000-mile journey to Beijing. Half a million visitors are expected to travel there for the Olympic games. With revenue from Beijing's tourism industry already growing an annual 7 percent, new hotels are entering the market and preparing for a boom in visitors. Shannon van Sant has details.
SHANNON VAN SANT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Li Zixiang is a wedding planner. On this special day, he's planning his own and telling his soon-to-be wife to hurry up. He had to teach his friends how to perform in a western ceremony. But he says the preparation was worth it.
LI ZIXIANG, GROOM: The western style is simple, stylish, elegant. That's what we wanted.
VAN SANT: Inspired by weddings they had attended in Europe, Li and his wife Wang Xiao Fang decided to forgo Chinese tradition and get married here, in the chapel of Beijing's new Ritz Carlton -- the second Ritz Carlton hotel in the city. The Ritz is one of many hotels to open its doors in the months leading up to this summer's Olympics. During its bid for the games, Beijing promised 800 hotels would meet government standards. A hundred are still under construction or renovation. The Olympics begin August 8 and during the games, some hotels have hiked room prices up to six times their normal rates. Many are asking for minimum two week stays. While the high prices and Olympic hoopla could deter some visitors, hotel managers like the Ritz Carlton Beijing's Manifred Webber are looking beyond this summer.
MANFRED WEBER, GM, THE RITZ CARLTON-BEIJING: We strongly believe that China has not reached its peak yet. It still has many, many years to come where they will grow.
VAN SANT: If the games are successful, the Olympics could spur a rise in foreign visitors and expansion of Beijing's convention sector. And China's growing domestic market means more brand conscious consumers for franchise hotels like the Ritz Carlton. But hotel owner Shauna Liu offers guests something different. After college and a career in the United States, she returned to Beijing to convert this 500-year-old courtyard home into hotel Cote Cour.
SHAUNA LIU, OWNER, HOTEL COTE COUR: You are living in a Hutong (ph). You see how local people are living every day.
VAN SANT: Her guests live in opulent luxury: Tibetan rugs, Chinese antiques and Venetian tiles fill each room. As the historic Hutongs or alleyways, disappear to make room for new development, Shauna says Chinese travelers will want to stay here.
LIU: I think in the long run, it will give lots of people an opportunity and then a chance to think about their old life, remind them of their childhood memory.
VAN SANT: For now, Shauna's guests are mostly foreign, while Li and Wang chose modern grandeur. And keeping customers happy will be the task for Beijing's hotels long after the Olympics are over. Shannon van Sant, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Beijing.
