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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.
Seen from the rocky road, the Banyan Tree Ringha appears architecturally indistinguishable from the villages of packed earth and timber structures in this...more
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
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
Spread across two buildings—20 suites in the beautifully restored 1911 Shanghai Club, 252 rooms and suites in the newly built tower—this hotel is a...more
see the Shanghai guide
Surrounded by flagship designer stores, this 16-story property in the heart of Kowloon has a lobby with an impressive marble staircase, rock-crystal...more
see the Hong Kong guide
With 20-foot lobby ceilings, huge exposed beams, locally woven carpets, and paintings of Tibetan nomads, Lhasa's first luxury hotel combines au courant comforts...more
These two tower blocks in western Beijing are "elegant and comfortable," with "gorgeous interiors and beautiful, spacious rooms packed with amenities"—"all...more
see the Beijing guide
Its Shanghai sibling may be higher and flashier, but this hotel soars to notable heights of its own, quite literally, with a lobby on the sixty-third floor and...more
see the Beijing guide
Encased in tinted green glass and opened just in time for the 2008 Olympics, the interior of this artsy 99-room lodge, by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is...more
see the Beijing guide
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