China's First Two Hard Rock Hotels Coming to Mission Hills Shenzhen, Haikou

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to visit and play golf at Mission Hills Resort in Shenzhen, China.  It's one of the world's great golf resort experiences with twelve (yes, twelve) golf courses, a slew of excellent restaurants and a fitness center.

It's about to get even better with a new Hard Rock Hotel.

Here's the latest news from the Mission Hills Group:

(SHENZHEN, China) - Mission Hills Group - the world’s leading golf brand and driving force behind China’s sports and leisure industry - announces the country’s first two Hard Rock Hotels will be built at Shenzhen and Haikou locations.

The Hard Rock brand is recognized around the globe with a worldwide network of 179 venues across 54 countries, including 140 Hard Rock Cafes and 18 Hotels / Casinos. As a leading entertainment and leisure company, Hard Rock International offers guests an immersive musical experience relevant to all generations, from Hard Rock Live concerts and music events, to the world’s greatest collection of music memorabilia, which now includes 74,000-plus legendary items. Hard Rock is also known for its Rock Shops®, featuring collectible fashion and music-related merchandise.

The hotel, at Shenzhen’s Mission Hills Centreville is expected to soar 22 stories and contain 280 rooms. It will feature a Body Rock® fitness center, signature restaurants, entertainment lounge, recording studio, night club and more. The top floor will be comprised entirely of suites and the entire property will cover more than 40,000 square meters. The project‘s estimated investment will be around RMB 500 million and is targeted to open in 2015.

Mission Hills Haikou’s Hard Rock Hotel will encompass more than 35,000 square meters with 250 rooms. Located within the carbon-friendly Town Center development on tropical Hainan Island, it will complement the resort’s world-class golf, lifestyle, shopping, entertainment, dining and cultural elements. The projects estimated investment will be around RMB 400 million and is targeted to open in 2015.

“The addition of the iconic Hard Rock brand is further evidence of Mission Hills’ powerful international reach,” says Dr. Ken Chu, Chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group. “As China’s only hotel embracing and implementing music throughout the guest experience, they will be a welcome addition to our unmatched selection of recreation options in Shenzhen and Haikou.”

“The expansion of Hard Rock Hotels into China is a momentous event,” says Hamish Dodds, CEO of Hard Rock International. “We couldn’t ask for a better partner than Mission Hills and are excited to share Hard Rock Hotel’s unique style and attitude with a Chinese population thirsting for new entertainment experiences.”

The design of both hotels will reflect the Hard Rock brand’s rock ‘n’ roll music roots while seamlessly fusing with the familiar stylistic elements of Mission Hills and the surrounding landscape.

Other attractions at Shenzhen’s 500,000 square-meter Mission Hills Centreville will include internationally renowned hotels, a luxury spa, an auto exhibition center, a 1,000-seat Orange Sky Golden Harvest cinema, a Brunswick bowling center, an ice skating rink, an eXcape simulation racing centre, and more.

Conveniently located on the Pearl River Delta and within a one-hour drive of Shenzhen, Mission Hills Centreville guests also enjoy convenient access to major expressways, drastically reducing travel time between Mission Hills and downtown Shenzhen, Dongguan and Hong Kong. With the ‘World’s Largest Golf Club’ at its core, Mission Hills is the landmark of Shenzhen. The commercial potentialities of both Shenzhen and Dongguan will be immensely enhanced with the addition of Mission Hills Centreville.

In addition to the new venture with Hard Rock Hotels, Mission Hills recently announced a number of other projects for its Haikou resort. They include a low-carbon footprint town center in partnership with Lan Kwai Fong, featuring lifestyle, shopping, entertainment, dining and cultural elements; a partnership with Marriott International to build new Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance hotels; and a major entertainment and commercial district, Mission Hills•Huayi Brothers•Feng XiaoGang Movie-Themed Town. The combination of these developments will reaffirm Mission Hills Haikou’s position as one of the most sought-after leisure and tourist destinations in the world.

5 Reasons I Love to Play Golf at Mission Hills Resort in China

1. It has the largest golf course menu on earth with 12 layouts designed by a wide range of architects from Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye to Nick Faldo and Annika Sorenstam.

2. It has more than 3,000 caddies-- an army of cheerful, polite young ladies, who make a round of golf joyful and fun.

3. The open-front concrete structures on the courses serve Chinese noodle soup and ice cold Tsingtao, my favorite Chinese beer.

4. The American-style, high quality maintenance standards at all of the courses provide a fantastic golf experience.

5. The 163-yard, par-3 signature hole on the Faldo course, which is reminiscent of the 17^th at TPC Sawgrass is spectacular. Faldo’s version offers a tee shot from an elevated tee more than 100 feet above a tiny green.

(MissionHills Resort in southern China is situated less than a 30-minute drive from downtown Shenzhen and a 70-minute drive from Hong Kong.)

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Hainan Island: China's Answer to Hawaii

I visited Mission Hills Resort in Shenzhen, China a couple of years ago and was very impressed with the massive, 12-course complex. Now, the Mission Hills developers are expanding their golf offerings on Hainan Island. An island the size of Belgium in the South China Sea, Hainan Island is often called “the Oriental Hawaii.”

Here’s some information I received recently detailing some star-studded happenings on Hainan Island:

The world's biggest celebrities and their golfing counterparts have teed off in the inaugural Mission Hills Star Trophy, at Mission Hills Haikou on Hainan Island , China .

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hugh Grant and Matthew McConaughey were among the Hollywood stars to meet the press today (Thursday) at Asia's leading lifestyle entertainment event, joined by golfers Tseng Yani, the women's world number five, Candy Kung, Zhang Lian-wei, Feng Shanshan, Danny Lee, Rosie Jones and Belen Mozo.

The ground-breaking Star Trophy brings together superstar celebrities and the world's biggest golfing names for the first event of its kind ever played in Asia . In addition to the pro-celebrity team event, the professionals will compete for Asia' s richest individual golfing prize of US$1.28 million.

For Zeta-Jones, the event is a great initiative for golf in China . "As everyone knows, I love golf and have been lucky enough to play in a number of pro-celebrity events around the world. I am sure everyone would agree the time is right to start an event that brings Hollywood and golf together in Asia and to be honest I cannot wait for the action to start."

Grant added: "I am very excited to be in Hainan for the first time. The chance to play golf at such a great new resort and be around some of my golfing heroes is wonderful, as it would be for any who loves the game. This is the closest someone like me can come to playing a professional event, so I have been practising as hard as possible, and hope my team is in contention on Sunday."

Tseng, who is taking a short break from the LPGA Tour to play this week, added: "I did not play very well today (in the Pro-Am), but I will have a new strategy for tomorrow. I am determined to win the inaugural Mission Hills Star Trophy and will use that new approach on the weekend and hope for the best."

Amongst the other announcements today at Mission Hills·Haikou, leading international golf coach Hank Haney announced the launch of the Hank Haney Academy at the new resort, the first of its kind in Asia.

The new academy is a 2,000-square metre state-of-the-art indoor training centre including 10 indoor hitting bays equipped with sophisticated state-of-the-art JC Video swing and SAMS putting analysis equipment, along with 3D motion analysis equipment. It also has designated natural turf practice areas with a comprehensive short game area to help improve every facet of golfers' games.

The Star Trophy field includes celebrities, professionals and selected amateurs, with the amateurs playing with the celebrities and professional golfers today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) in a Pro-Am format.

The weekend play will then be in four-ball stroke play format between 18 teams consisting of a celebrity and a professional, with a 36-hole individual professional event running concurrently on the Blackstone Course. The pro event offers a US$1.28 million first place cheque, the richest individual prize in Asian golf.

The Mission Hills Star Trophy will be beamed to over 150 counties across the world. The TV output will be managed by esteemed broadcaster Terry Jastrow, the veteran sports producer of 68 golf majors and six Olympic Games over his glittering career. Jastrow has won seven Emmy awards and been nominated for 17 times.

The Mission Hills Star Trophy is one of the first major events supporting a government-led initiative to make Hainan a leading international tourism destination in the coming years and reaffirms Mission Hills· Haikou as the world's most memorable golf resort.