Relax in Luxury...at the Days Inn?

Where: China

November 24, 2008 at 11:35 AM | by Jenna | 1 Comment

You know how other countries always seem to get the cooler McDonalds', with chandeliers in the dining rooms and exotic, non-McD's-ish food items on the menus? Well, according to yesterday's New York Times, we apparently not only get to be jealous of the fast food offerings of faraway lands, but now we can envy their economy hotels, too. Well, in China at least: they have super swanky Days Inns over there! Who knew?

Since the cost of labor isn't too bad in China (construction workers can be paid as little as $100 a month, according to the article), developers can afford to spiff up Days Inn-branded hotels with stuff like marble floors and fancy chandeliers in the lobbies while still charging the same $30 or $40 rates as the American Days Inns — and the rooms (shown here) are considerably sexier, too.

Even though Days Inn is an American brand, the Chinese properties would likely be virtually unrecognizable to brand loyalists from the good ol' US of A. In fact, of the 25 Days Inn, Days Hotel or Days Hotel and Suites properties in China, the guests are mostly not American, anyway: the ratio of Chinese guests to Westerners is around 20 to 1.

And that stat means the owners have to cater to Chinese tastes — so the differences between a Chinese Days Inn and the one you've been to in Scranton, PA don't end with appearances alone:

Among other things, Chinese travelers don�t look for plush beds. �We have to make them hard,� [a Chinese Days Inn franchisee] said, �and if I served just a continental breakfast, like they do in the U.S., I�d be in big trouble.�

Oh, no worries on the breakfasts. We think we'd be down for walking to the closest fancy McD's instead of going for the hotel breakfast anyway.

HotelChatter

Select a Destination:

Tags: Days Inn Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Amenities / New York Times / → All Tags