Seven cities made it onto Bloomberg's top 100 priciest hotels list, including several Tier 2 cities such as Tianjin, which will see a new Shangri-La opening in August. (Shangri-La)
Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai may have the most expensive average hotel room prices in China, but a recent global Bloomberg hotel price index of the top 100 most costly cities found that four lesser-known Tier 2 from mainland China also made it into the ranks. With rapid economic growth and a host of new luxury hotels moving in, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Hangzhou are also attracting enough wealthy visitors to be counted among the priciest places to stay in the world.
Coming in at sixth on the list, Hong Kong is the most expensive Chinese city with an average double-occupancy room price at US$242 a night for all star ratings. Shanghai and Beijing are the highest mainland cities on the list, but are a long way down from Hong Kong’s lofty position. Shanghai sits at 62nd ($145/night), while Beijing ranks as the 70th most expensive city for hotel prices ($137/night). Meanwhile, Shenzhen isn't far behind at 72nd on the list ($132/night), Hangzhou comes in 80th ($124/night), Guangzhou is 92nd ($104/night), and Tianjin is 97th ($93/night). This makes Hong Kong, at the top of the ranks with the most expensive city Geneva, Switzerland, nearly three times as expensive as Tianjin, which shares the bottom of the list with cities such as Bangalore, India.
Tier 2 cities in China have been making major strides in luxury tourism and hospitality. Tianjin recently added three additional international routes to their airport, and luxury hotels have been sprouting all over China’s second-tier cities, many of which have been seeing a retail, investment, and tourism boom.
The Tier 2 cities on the Bloomberg list have several luxury hotel openings planned for the coming years. A new Shangri-La hotel will open in Tianjin this August, Fairmont and Jumeirah have projects planned for Hangzhou, Guangzhou will also see a new Jumeirah location, and the Intercontinental Hotel Group announced last year that new locations for its upscale line of HUALUXE Hotels specifically targeting Chinese travelers will open across 22 Tier 1 to 3 cities, including Tianjin. At the rate that these second-tier cities are progressing, it won’t be surprising to see smaller Chinese cities make their way onto and up the global list in the coming years.