Hilton Shanghai to be rebranded in 2018

HILTON Shanghai, the first Hilton hotel on the Chinese mainland and one of the city's earliest international five-star hotels, will be rebranded from next year after operating for nearly three decades under the Hilton brand as the property's management contract with Hilton Worldwide will terminate in under four months.

From January 1st, 2018, the hotel on Huashan Road in downtown Jing'an District "will no longer be operated by Hilton Hotels & Resorts," according to a statement posted on its official website.

It remains unknown yet which hospitality group, from home or abroad, will manage the hotel next year.

A stone's throw from Jing'an Temple, the 714-room property was a synonym for luxury when it first opened its doors in June 1988 when the city's hospitality industry was just starting to develop.

For the past 30 years, numerous celebrities from around the world had stayed at the hotel, which was extremely popular among Western superstars who performed in the city particularly during the 1990s. The late pop diva Whitney Houston, one of the world's best-selling music artistes of all-time, booked 180 rooms and suites at the hotel.

Tennis stars including Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer also chose to stay at Hilton Shanghai when they made their debut in the Tennis Masters Cup in 2002. The hotel later served for more than 10 years as the official hotel sponsor of the Tennis Masters Tournament.

Besides Hilton Shanghai, the city is home to four other Hilton properties under the Hilton, Waldorf Astoria, Double Tree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn brands.