GLF 2017: China wakes up… two experts decipher the impact on the hotel industry worldwide

19 min reading time

Published on 16/02/17 - Updated on 29/06/23

David Baverez et Shangzhi Zhang

Shangzhi Zhang and David Baverez offer two complementary points of view, one towards the interior of the country by a Chinese player who is familiar with the mysterious workings of power and how the national economy functions; and that of a Western investor living in Hong Kong in close contact with major companies and institutional investors that have decided to reach beyond the borders of the Middle Empire to to show their global influence. Has the long awaited opening of the Chinese market to international brands gone into effect? Can the wave of Chinese investors in Western groups be held back?

Shangzhi Zhang was executive officer of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the People's Republic of China in the 1980s. He then served as deputy general manager of the China Export Commodity Corporation for several years. A graduate of the Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade, he also studied at the General Department of Interpretation of European Communities in Brussels and, in an exchange of officials, he spent two years from 1990 to the beginning of 1992, as a student at the French National School of Administration, with an internship at the Ardennes prefecture. 

Perfectly bilingual, he was invited to become Accor's representative China until 2008. He then founded his own hotel business Tianjin Amis Hotel Management. More recently, he joined the board of the China Lodging Group. He cumulated this double "state" approach for several years in places under Chinese power, and "entrepreneurial" in his contact with major hotel groups.

David Baverez, a graduate of HEC and Insead worked for ten years at Fidelity Investments, initially as a financial analyst and then as a funds manager. In 2005, He created his own management firm, KDA Capital, which concentrates on European companies under transformation. But at the end of 2010, he closed the fund to open in Hong Kong as a business angel and participate in the take off of Asian start-ups. Player and fine observer of the development of the Chinese economy, he contributed his perception and experiences with the Chinese model to a first book "Génération Tonique", published in 2015, with the subtitle: "L’Occident est complètement à l’Ouest !" David Baverez observesyhe aftermath of three concomitant revolutions: globalization, which has multiplied the number of economic players, energy IT. Editorial writer for the papers L'Opinion and Les Echos, he is currently working on a new publication about China and its investment strength.

Who are the real masters of economic strategy in a country that is as fascinating as it is disconcerting? How can a planned vision of economic development in a country that remains faithful to communist ideology and the freedom of enterprise within a competitive international context be reconciled without major conflict? What kind of autonomy do Chinese entrepreneurs that have decided to set off to conquer the world truly enjoy? While several international groups have already fallen into China's fold - Louvre Hotels Group, Carlson Rezidor, Club Med… - and others are already under its influence, NH Hotel Group, Hilton Worldwide, AccorHotels… how are Jin Jiang, HNA, Fosun, Anbang and others defining their battle? What means do they have? Are hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese reserves accessible? Under what conditions? These are just a few questions among all those that people will want to ask our two experts.

An unmissable rendez-vous, Tuesday, April 11 at 11:00 am at the beginning of the Strategic Forum that will bring together the directors of hotel groups that are partly concerned by these same questions.

Find more information online, and especially the preliminary program 2017 for these two days on the site of Global Lodging Forum 

And if you wish to book an exhibition space or, to know more about sponsoring, contact us: telephone +33 1 56 56 87 71, or by email at events[@]hospitality-on.com





















































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Also read:



  • Global Lodging Forum – Round Table on the Franchise model
  • GLF 2017: Paul Dubrule will close the Forum on April 11
  • Global Lodging Forum 2017: an edition rich in innovation!
  • SAVE THE DATE: Presidents' Strategy Forum at the Global Lodging Forum 2017
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