ABSTRACT
After two decades of rapid hotel development since the late 1970s, China has emerged as a country with an adequately established hotel industry. The growth of China’s hotel industry during this period has been analyzed by several previous studies (Yu 1992; Zhang 1995; Yu 1998; Xu 1999). The spontaneous growth in the late 1970s, the joint venture and cooperative development in the 1980s, and the private ownership and stock ownership development in the 1990s have all demonstrated the growth and change of China’s hotel industry during the past two decades. The hotel supply caught up with travel demand in the upscale and luxury market segments, and now hotel operators are facing the challenge of improving service quality and intense competition among both domestic and international hotel operators. To stay above the competition, hotel operators need to offer travelers a focused choice with superb service. Therefore, they have been seeking managers with a good management track record to run their lodging businesses. On the other hand, professional hotel companies have realized that a great potential exists for consolidation and brand development in the Chinese hotel industry, as most Chinese hotels are nonbranded. These factors have stimulated the development of professional hotel management companies in China. The emergence of the Chinese hotel groups that own and manage hotels both at home and abroad began to make an impact on the global hospitality industry.
