China-based real estate investment firm Shenzhen Hazens Real Estate Investment Group opened the Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel with an eye on the local Asian-American community and the increasing number of Chinese visitors attracted to the area’s home-away-from-home cuisine and culture.
The area has almost 525,000 Asian Americans, more than a third of L.A. County’s 1.5 million Asian-Americans, according to a new study from the advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, with numbers also from the Census Bureau.
Boston-based hotel management firm Pyramid Hotel Group designed the 288-room luxury hotel with Asian touches and amenities to also appeal to business travelers visiting San Gabriel Valley’s pharmaceutical, medical and banking companies.
“We are introducing a world-class hotel to San Gabriel,” said Wanda Chan, the hotel’s general manager. “This is going to be here to support the community, which has been lacking a full-service hotel, besides the Hilton (Los Angeles/San Gabriel).”
The hotel will likely benefit from China Airlines’ daily nonstop flights between Ontario International Airport and Taipei, Taiwan that started this month.
“The number of travelers and direct flights from China in the last few years has been increasing year over year,” said Chan. “It’s an important market.”
The hotel hit a peak occupancy rate of 80 percent since its soft opening Jan. 15.
The Sheraton includes eight autonomous mobile robots to transport luggage, deliver room service and guide guests to a specific location within the building.
The robots, decorated to look like a butler or maid, display text in English and Chinese, Chan said.
Pyramid didn’t choose the robots with Chinese visitors specifically in mind, she added.
“In a full-service hotel, you definitely need the human touch at every touch point, and we try to provide the best service,” Chan said.
There are several touches particularly geared to Asian-American and Chinese guests, including room amenities, cuisine, marketing and payment methods.
Guest rooms are outfitted with tea kettles alongside coffee makers, and televisions that receive eight Chinese channels.
Ba Shu Feng, a Sichuan restaurant with 16 locations in China, will open its first U.S. location in the hotel later this spring; EST. Prime Steakhouse, a restaurant led by Joseph Mills, the former executive chef of the Westin Bonaventure downtown, has already opened.
The hotel accepts payment through two Chinese social media sites, WeChat’s WeChat Pay and Alibaba Group’s Alipay. It also accepts Chinese credit card UnionPay, and has an account on WeChat, China’s largest social media site with more than 1 billion monthly active users.
