Following the desperate move to forfeit their star ratings, China’s star-rated hotels are going through a new wave of sellouts in the wake of a multitude of setbacks – from economic crisis, to the Eight-Clause Rule aimed at stemming official waste, and competition from a host of luxury hotels entering the market.
There are 180 hotels across the country listing their business for sale on online hotel real estate portals. Going by region, 37 of those are in Beijing, of them 31 are three-star or above. Shanghai has 31 hotels listed, 22 of them have three-stars. Sichuan-Chongqing area has 21 hotels listed, among them 15 are three-star properties. Zhejiang has a total of, 19 hotels listed, 16 are three-star hotels. Guangdong has 12 hotels listed and seven hotels have three stars. Yi Qiao, CEO of hotel industry information website MeaDin.com, believes the sale is an inevitable result of excess capacity in the industry and he anticipates that still more hotels will change hands next year.(Translation by David)
