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China hotels
Hotels in China have come a long way since the days when musty "friendship hotels" were, for foreigners, the only places to stay. Today, no place on earth is building hotels at the same speed as China. This frenetic expansion is increasing the range and quality of accommodations both for international business and leisure travelers and for China's fast-growing domestic travel market. Shanghai and Beijing have the most advanced hotel scenes in mainland China, with most of the international luxury chains represented (or on their way). There is also an emerging focus in those cities on design-led independent properties, such as Hotel Côté Cour S.L. and Commune. Shanghai is home to one of the highest hotels in the world (the Grand Hyatt Shanghai) and also plans to build the lowest, a luxury underground property in a former quarry, slated to open in 2010. Some of the best hotels in China are beyond the mainland, in Hong Kong and, increasingly, in its fellow Special Administrative Region, Macau. The latter is making waves with its enormous casino resorts, which aim to attract meetings and conventions, as well as the growing number of gambling-crazed Chinese. China is also developing some fine resort hotels, particularly on the island of Hainan. Cities adjacent to natural and historical attractions, such as Hangzhou, Suzhou, Lijiang, and Nanjing, are also welcoming international resort operators, and luxury hotels are springing up in previously neglected areas, such as the northern ski fields near Yabuli, and at the foot of the Great Wall.
Chinese officials have been planning a hotel in this former Imperial retreat on the outskirts of Beijing for nearly 20 years. The Aman signed up only three...more
see the Beijing guide
Banyan Tree's new outpost in southwestern Yunnan Province is a Himalayan retreat 6,500 feet above sea level, with 55 villas facing the glacial peaks of Jade...more
Seen from the rocky road, the Banyan Tree Ringha appears architecturally indistinguishable from the villages of packed earth and timber structures in this...more
If there was any doubt that Hainan has shed its unsavory reputation—originally as a place of exile and more recently as a magnet for Chinese mass...more
Beijing's highest hotel is a metaphor for China's upward economic push. Managed by Shangri-La, it occupies the top 16 floors of Beijing's tallest tower (called...more
see the Beijing guide
In 2001, 12 Asian architects were asked to design their dream homes right at the base of the Badaling section of the Great Wall, an hour's drive from Beijing....more
see the Beijing guide
This high-rise above "the shopping mecca of Pacific Place" is "the perfect respite" after a day of sightseeing, with views of Victoria Peak and the harbor....more
see the Hong Kong guide
Perhaps the best yet in a string of beachfront luxury reports in Hainan Province, this Conrad occupies a curling 13-mile-long bay and draws a well-heeled crowd....more
Years in the making and set amid the tropical forests and bamboo groves of the Nankun Nature Reserve in Guangdong Province, Crosswaters Ecolodge is a study in...more
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