China’s Hotel Market Opens Up

China represents “an exciting opportunity,” Cordell tells GlobeSt.com.

MEMPHIS—Hilton Worldwide has had a China presence since the 1960s, but in a way the market in the world’s most populous nation is just opening up now for the company. The hotelier established a beachhead in the midscale category earlier this year when it opened its first Hampton by Hilton China location, the 223-key Hampton by Hilton Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town.

“China is an exciting opportunity,” Phil Cordell, Memphis-based global head, focused service and Hampton brand management, tells GlobeSt.com. “For a number of years, travel within the country was more Western inbound to some of the major cities. The lodging industry in China was not very developed. It extended at two ends of the spectrum: the five-star-plus-plus category, primarily focusing on Western inbound; and then there were a number of hotels where to call them ‘hotels’ might be a bit of a stretch. They were more like family-owned and operated hostels, with nothing but the basics.”