Regent will add a total of nine hotels over the next two years to its existing luxury global portfolio, and two of those will be in China.

The Regent Beijing will be a 500-room hotel and is scheduled to open in November 2006.

Developed by Fu Wah International Group, the Beijing complex incorporates the 216 room Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing, which opened in December 2005.

To reflect the luxury offered by Regent Hotels around the world, the Regent Beijing will feature 443 guest rooms, 57 suites, four restaurants, two ballrooms and a health club. For the business audience, the hotel will also contain a boardroom and eight meeting rooms.

The Regent Ningbo is scheduled to open in early 2007 and will be the first international luxury hotel in this fast growing area of east China, 100 miles south of Shanghai.

The 325-room Regent Ningbo will be the centrepiece of a major redevelopment currently underway to transform the downtown area of the Ningbo Economic and Technical Development Zone, also known as Beilun.

The 110,000 square meter project also includes offices and a retail and entertainment centre. The hotel will have a mix of 270 guestrooms and 55 suites and offer two Chinese signature restaurants, a Japanese restaurant, a bar and grill, and international cuisine restaurant and lobby and poolside bars. It will also feature an 1,000 square meter ballroom, function and meeting rooms, business centre and an executive lounge.