A new five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel is expected to open in the southern China Shenzhen's Central Business District (CBD) in the new city center in Futian District by the beginning of 2008.

Details were contained in a joint announcement by property development giant the Xinghe Group and the U.S.-based Marriott International Inc., the parent company of Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.

With about 250 deluxe rooms, a 250-seat auditorium, three dining halls for Chinese and Western food, a spa club and a bar, the five-star hotel is expected to be one of the most luxurious and expensive hotels in the city, said Huang Chulong, chairman of the Xinghe Group.

Besides the hotel, the Xinghe Group is also planning to build a large shopping mall in the CBD within the next three years.

With the Shenzhen Citizens' Center and Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center opening last year, an increasing number of company headquarters, finance institutions and hotels from home and abroad are entering the CBD.

In October last year, construction of a new Shangri-La hotel began in the CBD, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007.

A Sheraton hotel is also expected to open in the CBD by the end of this year.

(Shenzhen Daily March 29, 2005)