Shenzhen offers rich pickings for planners

by Shannon Sweeney    16-Jul-09, 14:51

The city's best five-star properties for business events

Shenzhen is the rapidly expanding Chinese border city just north of Hong Kong. The city’s business areas can be divided into two sections: the established commercial area of Luohu and the new CBD of Futian. Both have different offerings for business events groups, but all hotels are within easy reach of both Hong Kong and the border crossings.

The main exhibition facility here is the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre (SCEC), which is located in Futian District and has 105,00 sqm of exhibition space across its nine halls. Its largest convention space can hold 2,200 people with an additional 24 breakout rooms that can hold 1,200 delegates.

“Shenzhen’s high-quality infrastructure is one of the key assets in making it a successful conferences and exhibitions location for South China,” says Paul Woodward, principal of Business Strategies Group Asia. “It is also a popular destination for corporate meetings because of its easy access from around South China and the number of major companies, particularly in the technology sector, which have their headquarters in Shenzhen.”

FUTIAN PROPERTIES
The main advantage of Futian is its proximity to the convention and exhibition centre. Four Points by Sheraton is the longest established property here with 446 guestrooms and a meeting space that can hold 480 theatre style. Room sizes begin at 30 sqm.

Marco Polo is another well-established Futian property. It has 391 rooms and can seat 1,000 in its largest meeting space. Sheraton Shenzhen Futian has 328 guestrooms, while the newest property in this area is the Ritz-Carlton, which opened in March with 282 luxurious guestrooms next to SCEC.


Futian has two other new properties. The 411-room JW Marriott opened in January and is better suited to smaller-scale conferences. The 480-room Futian Shangri-La opened last October and is planning to open a further 148 guestrooms and an exclusive meeting facility on its 40th floor later this year.


NANSHAN HOTELS
In Nanshan district, both the 368-room Crowne Plaza Shenzhen and the 540-room InterContinental offer Venetian and Spanish themes respectively, as well as large amounts of meeting space.

 A highlight of InterContinental is its large rooftop Spanish galleon, which can also be hired for private events. Nearby is the 390-room Kempinski Hotel, which is near the new Shenzhen Bay border crossing.


OTHER OPTIONS
Near the Luohu border crossing is the 304-room Crowne Plaza Hotel and Suites Landmark Shenzhen with the biggest standard rooms in town. The nearby 552-room Shangri-La Shenzhen was the city’s first five-star property.

Outside Shenzhen, Interlaken OCT Hotel is a 308-room Swiss-style resort 30 minutes from the border. It features its own golf course and theme park. Mission Hills Golf Club is 45 minutes from the border and is the world’s largest golf complex with 12 18-hole courses.

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