Minneapolis-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide, which runs nine hotels under Regent and Radisson banners in the mainland, has joined forces with a US$1 billion private equity fund to expand in that market. The company plans to add 10 hotels in the nation annually in the next five years, according to the firm's newly appointed Asia-Pacific president, Martin Rinck. Mr Rinck, who took charge of the hotelier's development in Asia-Pacific on October 1, said yesterday that London-based Lotus Hotel Investment Fund was raising US$1 billion in seed capital to acquire hotels largely in the mainland and India. Carlson would operate the properties thus developed. The alliance would allow the hotelier to focus on dealing with a single developer on management contracts instead of different mainland developers, he said. 'Since we've doubled the number of hotels to 300 in Europe in the past four years, there is no reason we can't have the same explosive growth in Asia,' Mr Rinck said, referring to a plan to add as many as 80 hotels throughout the mainland within eight years. The Carlson-Lotus alliance breaks new ground for foreign hoteliers in the mainland, where InterContinental Hotels Group, Dubai-based Jumierah and United States-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide - the world's biggest by room numbers - are expanding by managing hotels for mainland developers. With only four hotel projects in the pipeline in key mainland cities, Carlson has to catch up for a bigger slice of the fast-growing pie of inbound and domestic travellers. Patrick Ford, president of Portsmouth-based hotel and real estate research specialist Lodging Econometrics, said the mainland had the biggest number of hotel projects under development in the region, with a total of 782 projects or 222,591 rooms, coming on stream. Most projects were racing against the completion deadline for next year's Olympics Games in Beijing. 'What the figures tell you is China is the hottest market in the world,' he said. 'Next year, if the strong growth continues, it will be the world's third biggest inbound travel country, up from the fourth largest.' The biggest challenge foreign hoteliers face in the mainland is the tight supply of hospitality personnel able to meet international service standards, Mr Ford said. Racing against time Most hotel projects target launch before the Games The number of hotels US-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide aims to add across the mainland within eight years: 80