Four years on, Xi'an is still waiting for Four Seasons, Rosewood and Waldorf Astoria.
Image source: Xi'an Release
The Four Seasons Hotel, Rosewood Hotel, and Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Xi'an, which were signed in 2022 and scheduled to open in 2026, still have no information about their opening.
According to the information obtained by "Hotel Management Finance", the fates of the three hotels are different. Some have been confirmed to be postponed, some are not found on the brand's official website, and some are not on the opening list for the second half of the year.
The owners of the above three luxury hotels are all the well - known local real estate enterprise - Vientiane Group. In the downward trend of the real estate industry, such high - frequency investment and construction of multiple luxury hotels really tests the financial strength of the operators.
Back to the Xi'an market, this first - tier city in Northwest China with a GDP lower than that of neighboring Zhengzhou has opened far more luxury hotels than the latter. In the future, the topic of "whether there is an oversupply of luxury hotels in Xi'an" may soon become the focus of discussion.
More than half of 2026 has passed, and several top - luxury hotels in Xi'an have failed to open as promised
Let's first look at the signing information at that time: On June 17, 2022, Vientiane Group held the 2022 brand communication meeting and hotel signing ceremony. At the meeting, the brand parties and owners of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel, Rosewood Hotel, Chang'an Songjian Hotel, and Banshan Songjian Hotel successfully held the "Vientiane Group Hotel Brand Cooperation Signing Ceremony" under the attention of the whole audience.
According to subsequent relevant reports: The Four Seasons Hotel in Xi'an is equipped with 250 guest rooms and is expected to open in 2026; the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Xi'an plans to open 210 guest rooms and is scheduled to open from the end of 2025 to the beginning of 2026; the Rosewood Hotel in Xi'an has 180 guest rooms and suites and is expected to open in 2026.
Currently, more than half of 2026 has passed, and none of the above three hotels has opened. "Hotel Management Finance" checked the official websites of the hotel groups behind the three hotel brands and learned that the opening time of the Four Seasons Hotel in Xi'an has been postponed to 2028; according to the official website of the Rosewood Hotel, the name of the Rosewood Hotel in Xi'an is no longer seen in the list of hotels to be opened in the Greater China region;
In addition, in the article "Preview of Newly Opened Hotels in the Second Half of 2026" recently released by Hilton Group, there is also no sign of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Xi'an.
This means that all three projects are confirmed to be postponed. In 2026, Xi'an won't wait for the Four Seasons, Rosewood, and Waldorf Astoria Hotels.
On various social platforms, there have been sporadic revelations about the relevant progress of the projects, such as: the Four Seasons Hotel project has been transferred to a new owner, but the authenticity of the news is difficult to distinguish.
Although all will be postponed, "Hotel Management Finance" believes that the Four Seasons Hotel project in Xi'an has a higher degree of certainty because it has listed a clear opening time. After all, there are numerous cases of luxury hotels being postponed after signing.
However, the Rosewood Hotel in Xi'an is full of uncertainties. Since its name is not seen on the official website, the project may encounter many twists and turns.
Among the top - luxury hotel brands, the Four Seasons Hotel, Rosewood Hotel, and Waldorf Astoria Hotel all have unique styles and brand influence.
In the Greater China region, there are only four opened Rosewood Hotels: Rosewood Beijing, Rosewood Guangzhou, Rosewood Hong Kong, and Rosewood Sanya Baoli;
There are only 35 Four Seasons Hotels in the entire Asia - Pacific region, and the Chinese market has only entered cities such as Beijing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Suzhou, and Tianjin.
Obviously, if Xi'an can introduce and implement the above brands, tourists in the entire Northwest market are expected to more conveniently experience the quality and service of luxury hotels.
Many luxury hotels are all related to one owner
As the first - tier city in Northwest China, Xi'an has gathered many luxury hotels. Among the many newly opened and to - be - opened luxury hotels in the Northwest, Shaanxi Vientiane Group is an inevitable keyword.
At the end of last year, Marriott signed the project of The Ritz - Carlton Reserve Dunhuang with Shaanxi Vientiane Holdings Group. This is the first project of the Reserve brand in the Greater China region with a private enterprise as the owner, the second hotel of the brand in the Greater China region, and also the first luxury hotel project of Vientiane Group outside Shaanxi.
In August last year, Vientiane Group signed a contract with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group to layout the first Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Xi'an, which is also the first urban resort created by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in the Northwest.
Even earlier in 2018, the owner of the first W Hotel in Xi'an was also Vientiane Group. There are also rumors in the market about this project that Vientiane Group first signed a contract with the Kempinski Hotel brand, but after visiting the W Hotel, it chose to terminate the contract with Kempinski and joined the group of owners of the Marriott W Hotel.
Similarly, there are also rumors in the market that the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Xi'an was originally planned to sign a contract with the Conrad Hotel, but for some unknown reasons, it was later upgraded to the current brand.
The Ritz - Carlton Reserve, Mandarin Oriental, Rosewood Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel, Waldorf Astoria - when this series of luxury hotel brands are bundled with the same owner, we seem to see stacks of money turned into steel and concrete. Naturally, the boss behind it has attracted much attention.
The main business of Shaanxi Vientiane Group is real estate projects, and most of them are luxury mansions. The signing of the above - mentioned hotels is surrounded by real estate projects under Vientiane Group.
"Hotel Management Finance" noticed that in the hotel signing ceremony in 2022, the longer - lasting content was actually the brand communication meeting of the group. The group specifically introduced the "Songjian Series" products, and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Xi'an is located inside the super - high building "Qujiang Yun Songjian".
The chairman of Vientiane Group is Li Wuliang, from Tongguan, Weinan, Shaanxi. He is known for his low - key style and his focus on high - end real estate and top - luxury hotel development. He was also the "Top Philanthropist in Shaanxi" in 2014.
His personal resume can only be traced back to around 2008. That year, he founded Vientiane Group.
Most likely, he had completed the accumulation of his first pot of gold by then. As early as 2006, Li Wuliang established the Gao Shushen Charity Fund in the name of his mother. And in 2014, he became the "Top Philanthropist in Shaanxi" with a donation of 36.5 million yuan.
The real estate projects of Vientiane Group are more distinctive in terms of quality and design, and many products are landmark projects. This positioning is very consistent with many luxury hotels. Combining the frequent signing of luxury hotels by Vientiane Group, we believe that it has initially created a development model of "high - end real estate + luxury hotels".
Moreover, a significant feature of Vientiane Group in polishing real estate projects is "slowness".
The local media in Xi'an once reported that it took 5 years from the official land acquisition in 2010 to the launch of Qujiang Rose Garden, and then until the completion of the W Hotel in 2018, Li Wuliang stretched the entire development cycle very long. His slowness may be due to financial reasons, but the outside world also interprets it as "striving to make the product perfect".
There are reports that Li Wuliang once said that he personally controls every detail from project site selection to material selection and construction, which is why the "century - long landmark building" was born.
Perhaps, this may also be one of the reasons for the postponement of the above - mentioned projects.
However, "Hotel Management Finance" still needs to express necessary concerns. During the downward period of the entire real estate industry, is the capital reserve sufficient for such a dense construction of multiple top - luxury hotels?
Is Xi'an a "lucky area" for luxury hotels?
Xi'an, as the first - tier city in Northwest China, is the economic center, cultural center, and tourist destination of the entire Northwest region. Moreover, different from other tourist cities, Xi'an is almost in the peak season throughout the year. All these have promoted the rapid development of local hotels, especially luxury hotels.
Currently, the high - end hotels that have opened in Xi'an include The Ritz - Carlton, Sofitel Legend, InterContinental Hotel, Grand Hyatt Hotel, JW Marriott, and W Hotel. Among the hotels to be opened, in addition to the above - mentioned luxury brands, there are also Park Hyatt Xi'an, Kimpton Hotel Xi'an, LXR Hotel Xi'an, etc. In addition, in past signings and rumors, there are also St. Regis Hotel, Andaz Hotel, Banyan Tree, Conrad, etc.
From an economic perspective, Xi'an's GDP in 2025 was 1390.267 billion yuan, and in 2024 it was 1336.914 billion yuan. This figure is lower than that of Zhengzhou in the same period (1524.46 billion yuan in 2025 and 1456.96 billion yuan in 2024).
However, from the perspective of tourism data, in 2025, Xi'an received 327 million tourists, with a total tourism expenditure of 402.62 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 6.7% and 7.06% respectively. This level of tourist reception is in the first echelon in the country. In terms of per - capita consumption, it was 1231 yuan in Xi'an in 2025.
In contrast, in 2025, Zhengzhou received 180 million domestic tourists, with a total tourism revenue of 220.67 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 8.2%. The per - capita consumption was 1226 yuan.
However, we still need to be vigilant about the problem of oversupply brought about by the concentrated layout of luxury hotels.
Just looking at the operating data of five - star hotels in the Xi'an area, the average room rates from 2022 to 2024 were 490 yuan, 630 yuan, and 612 yuan respectively, and none of them has recovered to the 640 yuan in 2019.
In terms of RevPAR, the average RevPAR from 2013 to 2024 was 321 yuan, with the highest being 426 yuan in 2019 and the lowest being 181 yuan in 2022. From the perspective of changes, it increased from 317 yuan in 2013 to 415 yuan in 2024, but still did not reach the level of 2019.
You should know that the return on investment is lower than before, and these hotels are four or five years older, so their market competitiveness will further decline.
Many luxury hotels are not included in the statistical scope of five - star hotels, but "Hotel Management Finance" believes that the Xi'an market is a high - quality hotel investment market, but the number of luxury and high - end hotels may have entered a stage of excessive supply and is gradually sliding towards oversupply.
"Hotel Management Finance" believes that there is still structural differentiation among luxury hotels in Xi'an. Luxury hotels in core locations have become winners, while luxury and high - end hotels in non - core locations are struggling, and some old hotels are facing the pressure of being eliminated and rebranded.
In the future, Xi'an is still a "promising stock" for luxury hotels, but by no means a "lucky area". The key to success lies in accurate positioning and refined operation, rather than simple scale expansion.