White Swan Hotel Guangzhou

Address: No. 1 Shamian South Street, Guangzhou, China, 510133

Tel: (86 20) 8188 6968

Fax: (86 20) 8186 1188

E-mail: swan@whiteswanhotel.com

Banquet Sales Department:

Telephone: (8620) Extension 8188 6968 18

Fax: (86 20) 8186 2076

Email: events@whiteswanhotel.com

Sales Department:

Tel: (86 20) 8188 6968

Fax: (86 20) 8186 2076

Mailbox: sales@whiteswanhotel.com

Reservation Telephone: (86 20) 8188 6968

http://www.whiteswanhotel.com/en

The White Swan Hotel is located in Baigetan, Shamian, Guangzhou. It was built by Mr. Huo Yingdong and the Guangdong Provincial Government. It opened in 1983 and is the first five-star hotel in China to cooperate with foreign countries.

In 1985, he became the first member of the world-class hotel organization in China; in 1990, he became one of the first three five-star hotels in China; in 1996, he ranked first among the top 50 top 100 hotels in China; and for many years, he has been ranked as the first choice hotel for international businessmen to Guangzhou by international well-known media such as International Travel Guide. In 2010, the third national cultural relics census in Guangdong Province, Guangzhou White Swan Hotel was recognized as a cultural relic.

On July 15, 2015, Guangzhou White Swan Hotel, which has been closed for three years, was officially opened for business.

Construction course

The first five-star hotel in Mainland China, the first joint venture five-star hotel in Mainland China, and the first five-star hotel designed, constructed and operated by the Chinese people, the history of Weishui, which the white swan is fond of talking about, began with the reform and opening up.

At the invitation of Liao Chengzhi, who was in charge of overseas Chinese affairs under the State Council, Huo Yingdong and others went to Beijing to discuss a plan for the construction of eight Sino-foreign joint venture hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing. As a frontier of reform and opening up, Guangzhou needs to build five-star hotels of international level. This task falls on Huo Yingdong, a patriotic businessman from Panyu. After many visits to Guangzhou, Huo Yingdong finally chose the "urban oasis" Shamian Island in Guangzhou.

Luo Zhaoxiang, who started working in Shamian Street in 1974, will retire in a few months. He still remembers the situation when the white swan was built.

"When Mr. Fok Yingdong built the White Swan, he promised not to destroy the environment of the Shamian Island and occupy the land of the Shamian Island." Fok Yingdong, who has experience in reclamation in Hong Kong, began to build a river cofferdam outside the Shamian Island and planned to build the hotel on the river. Luo Zhaoxiang said that this was a "pioneer" in China at that time. It is precisely because the building is "long" on the river surface and its foundation is eroded by the impact of the river year after year, which makes it more difficult for the White Swan to be shut down in 2012. The construction team took out the underground of the hotel and found that the old piles could not be used again. More than 2000 piles were filled before the white swan was rebuilt.

Similar to the pragmatic character of the Cantonese, the design of the white swan is economical and luxurious. One of the main tasks of building the white swan was to serve the growing foreign businessmen of the Canton Fair. "The demand for guest rooms was very large." (At that time), the white swan, the China Hotel and the Garden Hotel were all built according to the target of 1000 rooms. Zhang Tian, deputy general manager of White Swan Hotel Group, recalls. However, when the height was set, the white swan was located in the waterway. In order not to destroy the sand landscape, the hotel building height should be limited to less than 100 meters, and the tower height should be controlled to about 99 meters.

Installing 28 floors and 1000 rooms in a building less than 100 meters high is a challenge for the design team of that year. Finally, the White Swan designers chose the control level. Later, the height of the White Swan floor was set at 2.75 meters, with ceiling, the room height was only about 2.6 meters, and the room area was 26-28 square meters.

In the early days of the white swan, China was still in the era of planned economy. Many building materials were not available at home. Huo Yingdong invited people to buy them from abroad. "Equipment, building materials and furniture are almost all imported," Zhang Tian said. Even a piece of wood was transported from the Philippines. "The decoration materials are all'strong'and the cement reinforcement clatters," said Luo Zhaoxiang, who said that the staff of Shamian Street Office had participated in the safety inspection during the construction of the white swan.

According to Zhang Tian, the architectural design of the white swan was undertaken by the Chinese, but Huo Yingdong insisted on inviting foreign designers from the famous HBA Hotel Design Company to do the interior design, so the interior design of the white swan was the highest level in the mainland at that time. And this time the shutdown of the White Swan transformation, once again with HBA cooperation, invited American Japanese designers to complete.

Zhang Tian said that it is precisely because of the high specifications of the white swan, after the hotel operation, its advanced level and luxury level caused a sensation in China, the hotel industry all over the country to visit.

According to public data, when preparing to build the white swan, Huo Yingdong invested HK$50 million, Peng Guozhen invested HK$12.5 million and Guangdong Tourism Bureau invested RMB 4 million. In 1981, the White Swan Hotel also borrowed $36.31 million from the Bank of China Guangzhou Branch. According to the exchange rate at that time, the construction investment of White Swan Hotel was nearly 180 million yuan. Huo Yingdong once said that he was not afraid that hotels would not make money, but with the title of the first five-star hotel, leaders from the state to the local government had high expectations, and the white swan's operation was only allowed to succeed but not to fail. The White Swan became profitable in the year it was built. At the end of the year, it made a net profit of 12.82 million yuan.

The white swan is the seed sown by the state in the experimental field of reform and opening up. Later facts also prove that the success of the White Swan Hotel has led a large number of foreign capital into Guangzhou. Subsequently, five-star hotels such as China Grand Hotel and Garden Hotel opened, which made Guangzhou occupy three of the eight five-star hotels in the country at that time.

"At that time, the white swan was like a water diversion bridge, a symbol of the reform and opening up to attract investment," Yang Bo, an old white swan employee, told reporters. Yang Bo, who joined the White Swan Power Department in 1982 after 70 years of age, was the "old minister" who was preparing to build the hotel. What impressed him most was that "Huo Sheng pays profits on New Year's Day". Since the establishment of the hotel, every Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, Huo Sheng will personally come to the White Swan to express his Festival wishes to every employee, and the White Swan has always maintained the tradition of giving preferential treatment to employees.

Honors

Industry first

1. China's first self-designed, self-built and self-managed modern large-scale Sino-foreign cooperative Hotel (July 1979).

2. The first hotel in China to operate Japanese restaurants in cooperation with Japan and Hong Kong (November 1982).

3. China's first four-door high-end hotel opened to the masses, became a window to publicize reform and opening up, and enhanced the confidence of the masses in the future of the country (February 1983).

4. China's first fully computerized Hotel (February 1983).

5. The first hotel in China to use credit cards to settle accounts and implement eight foreign exchange payment methods (1985).

6. The first hotel in China to be admitted as a member of the World Class Hotel Organization (July 1985).

2010

2010/5/21 White Swan Hotel won the first "Venus Award of China Hotel"

2010/7/17 White Swan Wins Group Gold Medal in National Hotel Service Skills Competition

2010/08/05 White Swan Hotel won the award of "Asian Games Media Recommended Hotel" in the 2010 Asian Games Recommended Consumption Place Selection Activity jointly organized by Nanfang Daily, Guangdong Tourism Association and Guangdong Hotel Industry Association.

2008

2008/5/27-12/31 White Swan Wins Top Ten Excellent Independent Brands in Guangdong Province

2007

In 2007/1/31, it was selected as "Excellent Honesty Enterprise of China in 2006" by China Enterprise Federation and China Entrepreneur Association, and it is the only hotel in China that has won this honor.

2007/4 was selected as "National Excellent Enterprise of Catering Industry" by China Culinary Association.

In 2007/5, Wang Yong, the store manager, was awarded the "National Tourism System Labor Model".

In 2007/5, Liquor League Branch was awarded "May 4th Red Banner League Branch of Guangdong Province".

Luo Gang won the championship in the final of the 2007 Dikaibao Cup Bartender Competition in Guangzhou Station on May 28, 2007.

2007/7/26 was selected as the best hotel in Asia by "Hotel Club".

2006

In 2006/2, the White Swan Hotel was selected as the Best Business Hotel in Guangzhou for three consecutive years in the 2006 Tourism Award of Asian Financial Magazine Asiamoney.

In 2006/3, the China Hotel Association and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) selected Peng Shuting as Vice General Manager of the "National Hotel Industry Excellent Entrepreneur".

In 2006/4, Chen Sheng, manager of housekeeping department, was awarded "Guangdong Province Labor Model in 2006".

In May 2006, the Youth League Committee of White Swan Hotel was awarded the title of "May 4th National Red Flag League Committee" by the Central Committee of the Youth League.

In August 2006, the White Swan Hotel was selected as the "Golden Award of Guangdong Enterprise Innovation Records" by the Guangdong Enterprise Federation and the Guangdong Entrepreneur Association, and was included in the "Guangdong Enterprise Innovation Records Yearbook".

In 2006/9, Forbes (Chinese edition) publisher M Media Group selected White Swan Hotel as the "Best Business Hotel in China" in 2006.

In 2006/9, Guangdong Provincial Tourism Star Hotel Evaluation Committee awarded the "Green Hotel" medal to White Swan Hotel.

2005

In 2005/4, Guangdong Tourism Bureau awarded White Swan Hotel "2004 Guangdong Tourism Enterprise Contribution Award".

2005/4 The Organizing Committee of "Protecting Intellectual Property Rights - We Are Acting" awarded the White Swan Hotel Honorary Certificate. Certificate Content: "'White Swan'trademark, as the first registered trademark of Chinese service enterprises, will be included in the history of intellectual property development in China. I hereby issue this certificate in honour of you."

In 2005/6, Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Industry and Commerce awarded the White Swan Hotel the honorable title of "Enterprise of Compliance and Credit in 2004".

In 2005/6, the Guangdong Federation of Trade Unions selected the White Swan Hotel as the ninth advanced unit for the construction of professional ethics of Guangdong workers. The Assistant Manager Group of Front Office Lobby is "National Model Workers'Home".

In 2005/6, Lei Xun, Assistant Manager of Security Department, was awarded "Excellent Communist Party Member of Guangdong Province" by Guangdong Provincial Committee.

In 2005/7, the representative team of White Swan Hotel Management Company won the gold medal in "2005 Cooking Furnace Grand View and World Golden Kitchen Competition" held in Malaysia, while Lu Jinquan and Jiang Zhizhong won the "Special Gold Prize" respectively.

In 2005/7, Yutang Spring Warm Restaurant and Liufuge Cafe of White Swan Hotel were awarded "Top 100 Catering Enterprises in Guangzhou" and ranked first.

In 2005/8, the Organizing Committee of the First National Hotel System Service Skills Competition (Zhongnan Competition District) awarded the White Swan Hotel the "Gold Prize for the Service Quality of the Top Ten Hotels in China".

In August 2005, White Swan Hotel was selected as "Excellent Enterprise Database" of China Entrepreneurs Federation, and General Manager Yang Xiaopeng was selected as "Excellent Entrepreneurs Database".

The White Swan Hotel was selected as "National Model Enterprise for Building Harmonious Labor Relations" on November 2005.

2004

In 2004/1, the Guangdong Provincial Government selected the White Swan Hotel as "the civilized unit of Guangdong Province in the year".

In 2004/4, the Chinese chef of White Swan Hotel won the group gold medal in the 5th National Culinary Competition, the Western Chef Chen Jiawu won the honorary title of "National Technical Expert" with the first total score of Western food, and the management company Kaiping Tanjiang Peninsula Hotel team won the silver medal.

In 2004/5, the White Swan Hotel League Committee was awarded the "May 4th Red Banner League Committee of Guangdong Province".

In 2004/6, Guangdong Tax Bureau selected White Swan Hotel, Guangdong White Swan Group Corporation, Guangzhou White Swan Conghua Training Center, Guangdong Deda BMW Automobile Maintenance Service Co., Ltd. and White Swan Hotel Food House as the first A-class taxpayers in Guangdong Province.

In 2004/6, the Business Floor Team of the Ministry of Housekeeping was named "Youth Civilization" by the League Provincial Committee.

In 2004/8, General Manager Yang Xiaopeng was awarded the title of Excellent Manager of User Satisfaction in Guangdong Province in 2004.

In the 5th China Cuisine World Competition held in Guangzhou in November 2004, Dung Boqiu, Lishujun and Tan Guangpho of the catering Department of the White Swan Hotel won the gold medal of the group competition and the gold medal of the food exhibition stand; Dung Boqiu was awarded the gold medal of individual cold dish platter; Lishujun was awarded the silver medal of hot dish; and Tan Guangquan was awarded the silver medal of noodles.

Fan Haoran, deputy manager of Housekeeping Department in 2004/11, was awarded "National Staff Innovation Expert" in the national staff innovation activities.

In 2004/11, the Guangdong Federation of Trade Unions awarded the honorary title of "Innovation Demonstration Gang for Workers and Workers of Guangdong Province" to the commissioned agency group of the Front Desk Department.

In December 2004, the White Swan Hotel was selected as Guangdong Province's "100 Advanced Enterprises of Harmonious Labor Relations".

In December 2004, White Swan Hotel was selected as the star enterprise of enterprise culture construction in Guangdong Province.

2003

In 2003/1, the Chinese Enterprise Credit Association selected White Swan Hotel as the "Top Ten Credit Units with Satisfactory Service in China".

In 2003/5, Wang Yong, the store manager, was awarded the honorable title of "Guangdong Province Labor Model".

2003/6 The Guangdong Bureau of Industry and Commerce awarded White Swan Hotel the title of "Enterprise of Respecting Contracts and Keeping Credit for Ten consecutive Years"

In 2003/9, the White Swan Hotel was commended by the Guangdong Provincial Government at the conference of "Implementing Brand-name-driven Strategic Work in the whole province". General Manager Yang Xiaopeng took the stage on behalf of the hotel and received a bonus of 1 million RMB. At the meeting, Vice Governor You Ningfeng said: "The White Swan Hotel has maintained a good image of"White Swan"trademark with high quality service for 20 years. It has become the only well-known Chinese trademark in the service industry of our province, thus making the brand of"White Swan"famous in the world."

In 2003/9, the famous business travel magazine "Business Travel - Asia Pacific Edition" selected the White Swan Hotel as the "Best Business Hotel in Guangzhou" for the third consecutive year.

2002

In 2002/4, the business floor of White Swan Hotel was awarded the National May Day Labor Award.

In 2002/4, Guangzhou Local Taxation Bureau selected White Swan Hotel as "Tax Credit A Enterprise".

In 2002/6, Asian Hotels Network ranked White Swan Hotel as the fourth best hotel in China, and the top three hotels are Shanghai member hotels of International Hotel chains.

In 2002/8, the famous business travel magazine "Business Travel - Asia-Pacific Edition" won the "Best Business Hotel in Guangzhou" again in the reader selection activities in 2002.

In October 2002, the team of Yutang Spring Warm Restaurant Conference Center of White Swan Hotel was awarded the honorary title of "Guangdong Youth Civilization" issued by the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League.

2002/12 Zhong Weijia, executive chef of Chinese food in White Swan Hotel, was awarded the title of the 6th National Technical Expert.

2001

In 2001/8, the White Swan Hotel was awarded "Best Business Hotel in Guangzhou" in the reader selection of the famous business travel magazine "Business Travel - Asia Pacific Edition" in 2001.

In 2001/8, the representative team of White Swan Hotel won the group gold medal and individual gold medal in the first Cantonese Cuisine Competition.

In 2001/11, the world famous financial magazine Institutional Investor Magazine selected the White Swan Hotel as the "Best Hotel in Guangzhou" for the fifth time.

2000

In 2000/9, a team consisting of Mobao Tong, Huang Weixian, Cheng Liran and Fan Liping from the western kitchen won the championship in the International Black Box Cooking Operations Competition organized by the South China International Food Exhibition.

In 2000/9, Guangzhou Western Food Association selected our restaurant as "the advanced unit in 1999".

1999

1999/1 The Guangdong Enterprise Culture Association awarded the White Swan Hotel the title of "Advanced Unit of Guangdong Enterprise Culture Construction 1998-1999".

In 1999/9, the fifteenth issue of Fortune, the world's most authoritative magazine, in 1999, the White Swan Hotel ranked 31st among 55 enterprises of "the most admired foreign-funded enterprises in China as a whole" (as the first hotel).

The annual "Top 100 Hotels in the World" ranked by Senior Investors magazine in 1999/11 is the best guide for business travelers to choose hotels. In the column "Best Hotel in 91 Big Cities in the World" & in 1999, the White Swan Hotel was named the Best Hotel in Guangzhou.

1998

In March 30, 1998, the Asian Travel Column of the Asian Wall Street Journal published the results of the annual "Travel Facilities Rating" selected by readers. The White Swan Hotel was rated as "the preferred hotel in Guangzhou" and the Garden Hotel ranked second.

In 1998/5, Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Industry and Commerce awarded the White Swan Hotel the title of "Enterprise of Respecting Contract and Keeping Credit".

In 1998/9, the White Swan Hotel took the lead in the business evaluation. In 1998, readers of Business Traveller (Asia-Pacific Business Traveller) chose White Swan Hotel as the best hotel in Guangzhou.

1997

Chen Minru, the foreman of pickpocketing, won the "May 1" Labor Medal in 1997/5.

In June 1997, the White Swan Hotel was listed as the preferred hotel for business people in Guangzhou by the Asian Wall Street Journal, one of the three major newspapers in the world.

In 1997/7, the mobile class of the Ministry of Housekeeping continued to win the honorable title of "Youth Civilization" in the National Tourism industry.

1996

In 1996/3, the National Tourism Administration sponsored the National Top 100 and Top 50 Star-rated Hotels Selection Activities, which won the "Top 95 National Top 50 Star-rated Hotels" honor.

1995

In 1995/4, the mobile class of the Ministry of Housekeeping was jointly awarded the first batch of "Youth Civilization" titles by the Central Committee of the League and the National Tourism Administration.

In 1995/10, the User Committee of China Quality Management Association was elected as "National User Satisfaction Service Unit in 1994".

In 1995/11, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the National Leading Group of Employees'Professional Ethics Construction, selected our library as "95 Top Ten Units of National Professional Ethics Construction".

1994

In 1994/3, the Women Workers'Committee of the Trade Union of White Swan Hotel was awarded the national advanced professional collective.

In 1994/12, the National Tourism Administration selected our museum as the "Best Star Hotel".

1993

In 1993/1, one of the world's three major guidebooks, The Guide to Authoritative Hotels was named "Luxury Hotel", which means "an outstanding hotel".

In 1993/1, General Manager Yang Xiaopeng was recommended by the Organizational Department of the Provincial Party Committee and was named "National Youth Entrepreneur" and went to Wuhan to attend the commendation conference.

In 1993/3, the National Tourism Administration, China Finance and Trade Union selected our business floor service class as an advanced group.

1992

In 1992/12, five service experts were sent to represent Guangdong Province in the national service skill competition of tourism industry, and they won the first place in the group total score and the first place in two individual events.

1991

In 1991/4, it was appraised as "the civilized unit of Guangdong Province".

In 1991/5, the Guangdong Provincial Committee awarded the Party Committee the golden banner of "Enthusiasm for the Party's Cause".

In 1991/8, it was awarded "Model Unit of Guangdong Province".

1990

In 1990/2, it was named one of the first five-star hotels in China.

In 1990/12, it was selected as an advanced enterprise by Guangdong Enterprise Management Association from 1988 to 1990.

1990/12 was admitted as a member of the Golden Key International Organization.

1988

In 1988/12, it was awarded the advanced collective of Guangdong Province and the advanced unit of high-quality tourism service in China.

1986

In 1986/3, it was rated as one of the top ten advanced enterprises in China and the advanced enterprise management unit in Guangdong Province.

1985

In 1985/7, he was admitted as a member of the World First-class Hotel Organization.

1984

In 1984/8, he won the National Gold Prize for Architectural Design and Quality and the Prize for Technical Progress.

Identified as a cultural relic

In 2010, the third national survey of cultural relics in Guangdong Province, in addition to some valuable sites and buildings were identified as cultural relics; some old-fashioned "non-heritage" items of shops and factories also ranked on the list. Guangzhou White Swan Hotel, the first five-star hotel in China, will be recognized as a cultural relic.

In September 2016, it was selected as the first batch of Chinese architectural heritage in the 20th century.