Business is booming in Beijing as the region gears up to host
the 2008 Olympic Games and hoteliers, including Marriott and
Intercontinental, announce plans to boost offerings for
travelers.
Marriott International plans to open its second
Renaissance-branded hotel in Beijing in 2008, with the 540-room
Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel. The 26-story hotel on the
southern edge of Beijing’s central business district will be the
eighth hotel in Marriott International’s portfolio in Beijing.
“We are impressed by the rapid transformation of Beijing into a
vibrant, international metropolis offering tourist and business
travelers alike a vast array of cultural and historical
attractions,” said Ed Fuller, president and managing director of
Marriott’s international lodging.
The Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel will include three
restaurants, a bakery cafe, a lobby lounge, a gift shop, a business
center and an entertainment bar. Restaurants will include an
all-day facility with a permanent grand buffet, a Chinese
restaurant offering six private dining rooms and a specialty
restaurant with one private dining room.
Guestrooms will be oversized and an executive lounge will also
have a boardroom. Recreational facilities include a health club and
a spa with eight treatment rooms as well as an indoor swimming
pool. The hotel will have flexible meeting space, a grand ballroom
and five meeting rooms.
Meanwhile, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels also has entered a
joint venture to develop a new $144 million, five-star hotel in
Beijing in the heart of the central business district.
The 28-story Millennium Beijing will include 520 guestrooms that
will open during the first half of 2008, before the Games, and will
be the London-based group’s second hotel in China after the
Millennium Hongqiao Shanghai.
InterContinental Hotels Group also has announced plans to
operate The InterContinental Qingdao, a 438-room newly built
waterfront hotel that will be part of the Olympic Water Sports
Centre at Fushan Bay, which will host the Games’ sailing
events.
The complex will feature an international conference center and
cruise terminal, marina and yachting club and shopping,
entertainment and recreation facilities. InterContinental Qingdao
will be the only hotel in the center and will open in 2008 before
the Games begin.
