Hilton Hotels Corp said it is planning more aggressive business expansion in China's mainland as demand from both business and leisure travelers is growing and the local hotel market is starting to mature.

 

The United States hospitality giant, which now operates six hotels in the mainland, will soon introduce its first luxury Conrad hotel to the Chinese mainland. The Shanghai facility, located in the city's prime Xintiandi area, is scheduled to open next year.

 

Across the mainland, the Hilton group has plans for 30 more hotels. "Globally, outside the US, the company is hoping to add 1,000 new hotels to its current portfolio with China, India, Australia and Japan being primary markets," Andrew Flack, vice president for sales and marketing of Hilton Hotels' Asia Pacific operation, told Shanghai Daily yesterday while attending the Hilton global sales roadshow in the city.

 

Flack, during the first such roadshow in the Chinese mainland, said that with more brands, a bigger development team and a wider range of business models, Hilton Hotels is now able to expand its business at a quicker pace in the mainland.

 

Last February, Hilton Hotels' acquisition of Hilton International, the lodging assets of Hilton Group, gave the company more brands. In addition to its Hilton brand, the company now manages or franchises brands such as Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Hilton Garden Inn.

 

The company has signed three management contracts for its Doubletree hotels in Kunshan, Tianjin and Beijing which will likely open between 2008 and 2010. It has also signed several franchise contracts for its Garden Inn hotels in Beijing, Shanghai and other places in the Yangtze River Delta region. The firm will soon open two hotels in Macau, one Hilton and one Conrad.

 

(Shanghai Daily April 2, 2007)