Asia: Kempinski opening hotels in China and India

Another longtime European hotel group is making fresh inroads into Asia.

Kempinski Hotels, one of Europe’s oldest luxury hotel groups, is adding to its portfolio of 75 properties by opening three hotels in China and another in India.

“We are opening in growing market destinations in China and southeast Asia,” said Reto Wittwer, president and chief executive. “Both China and India are countries with excellent growth potential for the group.”

Kempinski, founded in Europe in 1897, now has hotels in 31 countries, and continues to add new properties in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, including historic landmark properties, urban hotels, resorts, and high-end residences.

The new Chinese hotels are in Chongqing, Yixing and Taiyuan. In February, Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi opened in India.

The Yixing and Chongqing properties opened earlier this year, but neither has yet had official opening ceremonies; the Taiyuan hotel is slated to open this summer.

Yixing, known as the city of porcelain, is an eastern Chinese city near Shanghai known for being a modern industrial center and a source of purple clay, mined since the 10th century and used to make teapots and other objects known as zisha ware. Kempinski Hotel Yixing has 446 rooms and suites and a spa with 11 treatment rooms, fitness facilities and an indoor swimming pool overlooking Lake Taihu.

Chongqing, Kempinski’s 15th property in mainland China, has 32 floors and offers Yangtze River or city skyline views. It has 416 rooms and suites, four executive floors and six international and Chinese restaurants and bars. The city is in central China.

Kempinski Hotel Taiyuan will feature 416 rooms and suites, a variety of international restaurants, extensive business facilities and a spa with a pool. Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of North China’s Shanxi province.

Kempinski Ambience Hotel Delhi, has 480 rooms and suites, two swimming pools, four restaurants and India’s largest pillar-less ballroom, which can accommodate up to 6,000 guests. It is in East Delhi, a 45-minute drive from Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The Dalai Lama, Buddhist spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient blessed and inaugurated the hotel when it opened.

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