A new study found that Sheraton and Hilton, followed by Shangri-La are the hotel brands most often searched for on the Internet in mainland China. Here’s the Top 10 from the list:
1. Sheraton
2. Hilton
3. Shangri-La
4. InterContinental
5. Westin
6. Four Seasons
7. The Peninsula
8. Kempinski
9. Nikko
10. Ritz-Carlton
You may notice that four of the top ten hotel brands searched in China are U.S.-operated: Starwood’s Sheraton and Westin, Hilton, and Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton. Two of the hotel operators on the list are Hong Kong-based: Shangri-La and Peninsula. No hotel brands from mainland China made the list.
“The World Luxury Index China: Hotels” report, from market research firm Digital Luxury Group (DLG), was based on more than 170 million Internet searches that took place between January and March 2012. More than 91% of the searches were conducted on the Chinese search engine, Baidu, and the remainder came from Google.
It’s interesting to note, according to the report: “Sheraton was the first western hotel brand to begin operations in China in 1985 [after the economic opening-up.”
What hotel brand tops your list of favorite places to stay?
