More American hotel chains are expanding their presence in China, and their restaurants are proving to be a prime venue for high-end seafood sales.
China’s building boom of the last decade included many new hotels, but overcapacity has dented profitability, especially in lower-tier cities. As a way to distinguish their properties in the crowded hotel marketplace, Chinese developers have partnered with international hotel chains for the name recognition and status they carry. International chains are welcoming the opportunity, keen as they are to open properties in China to cash in on domestic spending and to sign up the country’s growing legions of outbound tourists for their loyalty programs.
The new Days Inn (Xiao Tian Dai Se) hotel in downtown Changsha, a city with eight million residents and capital of the central province of Hunan, is a prime example of this type of partnership. The Day’s Inn chain, founded in 1970 in the United States, has targeted China as a major growth market and has been keen to expand in mid-tier, regional cities such as Changsha.
Last month, the hotel celebrated the opening of the high-end Jing Sha Seafood Restaurant. Its menu includes sushi as well as seafood hot-pot, Boston lobster, Alaska king crab and giant grouper.
