Luxury brand Langham Hotels has announced its first property in China, with further expansion to be revealed later this year.
The Langham Place Beijing, which is due to open in 2008, is located in the business district of Chaoyang, and forms part of the Chao Yang Plaza, a 400,000sqm building project. The plaza will consist mainly of office space, with five office towers, the hotel tower, central gardens, and direct access to the Beijing subway and retail space.
The hotel will feature 440 bedrooms and a further 40 serviced apartments, along with 5,000sqm of meeting space, five food and beverage outlets, and the Chuan Spa and Residences, where guests will be able to sample traditional Chinese medicine.
The Beijing property will be the second Langham Place hotel (after the Langham Place Hong Kong, pictured), and represents a modern take on the more traditional 'The Langham' brand already present in Melbourne, Auckland, Boston, Hong Kong and of course its flagship property in London, which dates back to 1865. Explains Brett Butcher, senior VP sales and marketing:
"The original Langham brand is all about the high end of luxury, layer upon layer of detail and design. It's about enchanting hospitality, service with poise, the ways things should always have been. It's very much about timelessness and the legend of hospitality. The new model [Langham Place] is really a modern, stimulating take on hospitality. The interior design will feature more clean lines, but done in an elegant way. It will also be more high tech, and more open, with spaces merging into other spaces."
Butcher added that while The Langham is all about being a haven from the hustle and bustle of the streets, Langham Place looks to bring the outside inside, with large glass walls letting the light and streets into the hotel space.
Commenting on future Langham Place properties, Butcher said that an announcement would be made in June on a second hotel in China, with the country likely to be a growth area for the brand in years to come.
"The Langham is about 'A' locations in'A' cities, whereas Langham Place could actually be in a 'B' location or a 'B' city," says Butcher, "It could actually be at an airport or in a convention centre. So there is much more opportunity for Langham Place properties, particularly in new builds. Given that, you'll probably find as we move forward that [Langham Place] will be our growth engine in building, developing and buying new hotels. That doesn't discount The Langham, just that it's harder to find suitable places – Langham Place can sit comfortably at an airport, whereas The Langham would not."
For more information visit langhamhotels.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
