bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is negotiating to open a luxury hotel on the upper floors of the 432-metre high West Tower being built in Guangzhou, according to property industry sources.

They said Four Seasons and the city government developers were discussing a hotel management contract for the 102-storey mixed-use project, which is scheduled to open in 2009 before the city  hosts the East Asian Games the following year.

'The tower is a landmark project for Guangzhou, so they want to have a top-end hotel brand,' one source said.

Executives at Four Seasons' Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore were unavailable for comment yesterday.

The company has been on an aggressive expansion campaign in the region. The 1,000-room Four Seasons Hong Kong opened in September last year and the company is scheduled to open a 325-room hotel in Beijing this year.

It is also planning a resort in Macau's rapidly growing market for luxury accommodation.

The move will make Four Seasons the latest international chain to enter Guangzhou's high-end hotel market.

While it has been a decade since the last five-star hotel opened in the city, the past year has seen a series of ground-breakings for hotels including Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-La Resorts, Sofitel,  Sheraton and Westin.

Swire Properties' Taikoo Hui commercial plaza will also include a yet-to-be-named hotel when it opens in 2008.

The six billion yuan West Tower is being developed by a consortium of municipal government firms including Hong Kong-listed Guangzhou Investment, which recently spun off and listed the GZI Reit.

Bidding was competitive between mainland and Hong Kong developers including Guangzhou R&F Properties and Sun Hung Kai Properties. The winning tender was announced in September and construction  began last month.

The project, billed as the first of what will eventually be Guangzhou's 'twin towers', encompasses 370,000 square metres of floor space and features a hotel, flats and retail and office space.



Four Seasons eyes hotel deal in Guangzhou's West Tower project