China is on the luxury industry’s mind these days. The latest comes from the InterContinental Hotels Group. The luxury hotel chain will be opening a new hotel brand in China in 2012-13. This new brand has been developed with the Chinese market in mind. Keith Barr, chief executive for Greater China, InterContinental Hotels, revealed that the first such hotel would arrive online in 2012, 2013. This new hotel chain has been developed taking into account Chinese culture, preferences and beliefs. The target audience is business travelers, government enterprises and state officials. The aim is to offer an experience that differs considerably from that offered by the more Western hotels.
The question is, how the InterContinental Hotels Group plans to create that distinction. One of the methods is building a smaller hotel bar but a larger teahouse. The plans also include a Chinese restaurant that will stay open all day. So diners could walk in at any time and grab a meal and some conversation. Also in the offing for the upcoming luxury hotel brand is a large, grand lobby.
The new hotel chain from InterContinental will be a high-end one, on the lines of a Crowne Plaza. What is interesting is that InterContinental is also planning to eventually move the upcoming China-specific luxury hotel brand to international locations. Barr explains that this is aimed at drawing the 100 million Chinese travelers who will be touring the world in the coming years. And the brand will not be limited to China’s biggest cities either. InterContinental is eying the rise of two- and three-tier cities as well.
Via: Reuters
