China Leads Recovery as Luxury Hotels Proliferate

In a sign that the world's leading economy is also the most resilient, China seems to have shrugged off a global slowdown—and nowhere is it more apparent than in China's expanding luxury hotel segment.

In six months, the Ritz-Carlton will open on the top fifteen floors of Hong Kong's 118-story International Commerce Center, becoming the world's highest hotel. The luxury chain will have eight hotels in China by year's end, up from just one four years ago.

Mark DeCocinis, regional general manager for Ritz-Carlton, tells the New York Times, "The Asian hotel market has come back stronger and more quickly than other parts of the world—and China is leading the way."

We've reported on the resurgence of luxury hotels in the Middle East, but China is outpacing every other part of the world.

Shanghai, for example, host city of the 2010 World Expo, is slotted for some 20 luxury hotels by the end of the year. And as Brandchannel's Beijing correspondent Laura Fitch noted earlier this year, there's been a glut of high-end hotels in the city since a building boom for the 2008 Olympics.

The reason for the blistering growth is the country's emergence as a leading market for luxury goods and services. According to consulting firm McKinsey, China's wealthy households will number more than four million in the next two years.

These are consumers who "trust foreign brands, cherish service and like to display their wealth," so they are ideal target customers for luxury hotels and products. "China is our top priority globally now," says Benjamin Vuchot of French jewelry maker Van Cleef & Arpels.

While hoteliers always worry about an oversupply of rooms, China seems able to absorb the many hotel openings. Referring to occupancy rates, Robert Murry of Accor, a large French hotel chain, adds that "We're not quite back to where we we were two years ago -- but we're close."

Mark DeCocinis of Ritz-Carlton says "in terms of occupancy rates, we are already back where we were."

So if you know anyone scrambling to arrange a summer wedding, ask them if they've pondered China (and not just china).