To the south, companies such as Accor and Hilton are developing other luxury properties.
Accor, a hotel company, pores over comments on websites and sorts them into 30 different categories.
France's Accor launched its first budget hotel, a 154-room, three-star Ibis in Tianjin in northern China in 2003.
ECONOMIST: There is a huge opportunity for budget hotels in China
To meet demand, Accor is already adding another 80 rooms, and wants to open another 50 Ibis hotels by 2010.
ECONOMIST: There is a huge opportunity for budget hotels in China
Rosita Yiu, who oversees the effort, says Accor will open another 50 this year and perhaps 50 more next year.
Accor's finance director, Benjamin Cohen, says this balance of risks gave the company an advantage over its competitors in the downturn.
Accor's Ms Yiu says that Chinese tourists making return trips to Europe want to stay in nicer, four- and five-star hotels.
The St Petersburg city government is negotiating with Accor, a French group, over the management of three municipally owned mid-range tourist hotels.
The French hotel group Accor began adding Chinese television and Mandarin-speaking staff.
Colony has had greater success with Accor, a hotel group in which it holds a 17.5% stake jointly with Eurazeo, a private-equity fund.
If Starwood will not play, there are other choices: Hyatt in America, Accor in France, or Granada's Posthouse and Le Meridien chains in Britain.
Mr Cohen of Accor thinks that some hotel chains will actually grow during the recession, if only because there is bound to be further consolidation.
Patrick Basset of Accor says his firm's 15 hotels in Vietnam already employ 3, 000 people and he expects the staff to double in the next three years.
ECONOMIST: Tourism could do a lot of good if Vietnam handles it properly
Accor has already sold a significant amount of hotel property.
Accor found that its luxury hotel brand, Sofitel, was hit hard by the recession, but its more down-to-earth chains (such as Ibis and Red Roof Inns, which rely heavily on domestic car-bound travellers) counterbalanced that effect.
Accor has tried to gain a foothold in the Chinese market with its Grand Mercure brand, known locally as Mei Jue, and Marriott plans to more than double the number of its hotels in China in the next three years.
应用推荐