The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing, the first internationally branded hotel in the People's Republic of China, charged a daily room rate of $125 for a double when it opened in 1985. This was more than half China's average per capita income at the time. "Nearly all of this nation's 1.1 billion people are priced out of the market," wrote The New York Times.
Yet today, China is the No. 1 source of overseas travelers, and global hotel chains are designing strategies with the Chinese traveler in mind. U.S. hotel giant Marriott International's decision to acquire rival U.S. hotelier Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, to create the world's largest hotel chain, was no exception.
