If you aren’t catering to Chinese travelers these days, you are behind the curve in the travel industry

Hilton Worldwide has been ahead of the curve for years in this respect with its Hilton Huanying program, specifically designed for Chinese travelers.

And on Tuesday, Hilton announced that it had expanded Hilton Huanying to more than 110 Hilton properties in more than 30 countries and 65 cities across the globe. That includes hotels under four different Hilton brands: Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts and DoubleTree by Hilton. Chinese travelers will also be happy to know they’ll receive a customized stay at some of their favorite destinations, including Tokyo, Seoul, London, Paris, New York and San Francisco.

“Huanying is an essential part of the Hilton hospitality promise, welcoming Chinese travelers with a level of service and personalization we know they expect and enjoy,” said Rob Palleschi, global head of full service brands for Hilton Worldwide, via a release. “Since being introduced in 2011 at 51 properties in 13 countries, Huanying has empowered more than a million Chinese travelers to explore new destinations with the comforts of home. We are very proud of this program, and the benefits are clear. Chinese travelers who stay at Huanying properties express a greater overall satisfaction in their hospitality experience.”

The Huanying program has now expanded its breakfast options for Chinese travelers, and also offers a 24-hour interpretation service Mandarin-speaking guests may access during their stay.

That’s in addition to the pre-existing three pillars of the Huanying experience: Arrival Experience, Guest Room Amenities and Breakfast Experience.

For the Arrival Experience, the program offers a welcome note in Simplified Chinese and the Mandarin interpretation service (many properties now offer Mandarin-speaking hotel staff members, as well).

Guest room amenities include teakettles, jasmine tea, slippers and a dedicated Mandarin-speaking TV channel.

The Breakfast Experience includes two varieties of congee with condiments, fried rice or fried noodles, a dim sum selection, fried dough fritters (crullers), hard boiled eggs, Chinese tea, fresh fruit and soy milk. Chinese utensils such as chopsticks, Chinese spoons and a soy sauce dish are also offered.

A recent report called “The Future of Chinese Travel”—commissioned by InterContinental Hotels Group and published by Oxford Economics—revealed startling numbers when it came to Chinese tourism. Not only is it estimated that China overtook the United States in international travel spending in 2014, but Chinese travelers are also showing up in droves, taking 67.5 million trips last year, according to the report. Chinese arrivals are expected to total nearly 97 million by 2023 at an average annual growth rate of 5.1 percent. According to the CSLA U.S. Lodging Sector Outlook, the total number of Chinese outbound travelers is expected to double from 100 million to 200 million by 2020.

Major cities across the globe—including the cities where Hilton offers the Huanying program—will also be happy to know that over 85 percent of Chinese outbound travel was to major metropolises in 2014, according to “The Future of Chinese Travel” report.

“Driven by our in-depth knowledge of China, where we have been operating hotels for over 25 years, and our position as a global hospitality company with over 4,300 hotels operating in 94 countries, we have a unique advantage in addressing the needs of the Chinese travelers,” said Martin Rinck, president, Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide. “With this in mind, we applied our comprehensive understanding of where Chinese travelers like to visit and what they look for when they stay at a hotel, in order to develop a tailor-made service that better meets the needs of our Chinese guests, in the form of Hilton Huanying.”

Source: http://www.travelpulse.com/news/hotels-and-resorts/hilton-expands-program-for-chinese-travelers.html