Shangri-La has been ranked tops in China in the luxury hotel brands category for the sixth year running by Hurun Report magazine, a monthly publication that reaches the households of 90,000 high net worth individuals and their advisers in mainland China.
Because the Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt are considered to be two separate brands in the mainland, they were treated separately in the survey. If they were combined, Hyatt would beaten Shangri-La as the best luxury hotel brand. Hilton, meanwhile, is also moving up in the rankings
Banyan Tree maintained its first place ranking in the Best Spa brand category. Air China came in tops for first and business class air travel. Chang’An was ranked as the Best Private Club. Mission Hills Golf Club was the best golf club, and Shanghai Sheshan Golf Club took top honours for Best Shanghai Golf Club for the first time, displacing Tomson Golf.
Auction houses, automobiles, cosmetics, drinks and cigarettes, education, fashion, financial services, jewelry, media, technology, and yachts and private jet were among the other products and services covered in the survey.
The Hurun Best of the Best 2010 Awards for preferred brands of China’s richest consumers were announced in Shanghai today by Hurun Report. Established as a research unit in 1999 by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, the magazine is targeted at China’s entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals. More than 380 Chinese millionaires – defined as individuals with a least RMB 100 million, or US$1.5 million in assets – were interviewed between April and November last year on a one-on-one basis.
Pictured: Summer Palace Chinese restaurant at the Shangri-La Guangzhou, China. The chain was ranked most popular among high net worth individuals by the Huran Report.
Although I’ve never actually stayed at either one, I love the Shangri-La Hotel in Hangzhou, China, and the former Hyatt (now torn down) in Macau. The Shangri-La Hotel offered me quiet beauty near the famous West Lake with western style food, coffee, and friendly service that wasn’t available in most of China in the late 1980s and 1990s. The former Hyatt Hotel on Taipa in Macau had a superb fitness club and spa membership that anyone who lived in Macau could join. It cost me more per month than my apartment, but was well worth it. I’ll always be grateful for those handsome Australian fitness teachers, the cozy robes I wore between the jacuzzi and sauna, and my skillful masseuse.
The Hyatt wasn’t torn down. It is now managed by STDM, and it’s lovely as ever – same beautiful pool, same great gym.
Pattaya, originally called Pad Tha Ya, was a tiny fishing hamlet until the late 1950’s. It became a municipality in 1964. It was only in 1959 when Pattaya became expanding as a tourist resort.