Marriott International Inc said yesterday that it plans to add about 24 hotels in China over the coming three years amid rapidly growing tourist numbers.
In Beijing alone, the United States hotel giant is scheduled to open three new hotels this year covering the brands of Marriott, Renaissance and Courtyard by Marriott.
"The upcoming Olympic Games is with no doubt one of our top priorities for the year, during which we are supposed to add more than 1,000 rooms in the capital city," said Lawrence Ng, China director of sales and marketing, Marriott International. "Besides, we are also focusing our attention in the fast-expanding MICE market (meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition) to further boost our business across the country."
Marriott, which entered China in 1989 and currently runs six lodging brands in the country, said earlier it will extend its China portfolio to 100 from the current size of more than 30 within the next five to six years.
China Telecommunications Corp Mobile deal worth US$14.4b
China Telecommunications Corp won't pay more than 100 billion yuan (US$14.4 billion) to buy mobile phone assets from China Unicom Ltd and its parent, Sing Tao Daily reported yesterday, citing unidentified sources.
The offer is less than the initial asking price of 120 billion yuan for the wireless phone assets based on code-division multiple access, or CDMA, technology, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said. The companies are seeking to reach agreement on the transaction as early as June 7, the report said.
China United Telecommunications Corp, parent of Hong Kong-listed China Unicom, will sell its CDMA assets to China Telecommunications as part of the country's reorganization of its phone industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information said on May 24. After the sale, China United will merge with the company that controls fixed-line carrier China Netcom Group Corp, according to the statement. The Hong Kong-traded shares of China Telecom Corp, China Unicom and China Netcom have been suspended since May 23.