Bidders aim at Bird's Nest hotel plan

The Beijing's Olympic showpiece, the Bird's Nest, said it has several choices to partner with for luxury hotel and high-end commercial facilities to be built inside the stadium this year.

Discussions are now underway with a pool of anxious sponsors to invest in a six-storey hotel affiliated with convention boxes for VIP guests and corporate meetings, Yang Cheng, deputy general manager of the National Stadium Co Ltd, now running the Beijing Olympic legacy, told METRO yesterday.

"We welcome both full-term investment and joint ventures," said Yang, who declined to name bidders because of "commercial secrets".

The company hosted about 200 potential business partners for an annual reception at the stadium last Friday. Yang said the event was successful and future partners may be chosen from among these companies, whose businesses range from fashion and sports to the hotel industry.

Executives of the stadium, most of whom are former officials with the Beijing Olympics organizers, said they have decided to create 80 spacious suites in a hotel by removing seats and facilities at the north end of the stadium.

The suites will be expanded to 14,000 sq m in total area, located both underground and on other levels of the 80,000-seat giant stadium.

The stadium will also ink commercial packs in the coming months to create high-end restaurants, brand shops of international sports clubs and corporate boxes for VIPs.

The executive said yesterday the company has not decided which sports club or sports brand will take up the privileged space.

But it announced its ambitious event calendar this year, which featured a back-to-back appearance of the world's most expensive soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal this summer.

The first game will be played on the second anniversary of the Beijing Olympics between Real Madrid, the Spanish soccer club where Ronaldo now plays, and a local club, while the second is scheduled to be an international friendly game between Portuguese and Argentine national squads on Sep 4.

Yang yesterday declined to confirm whether the giant Real Madrid would open its first brand shop in China at the venue as the world's wealthiest club plays in Beijing.

Apart from the big matches and concerts, the venue will also host the second Race of Champions with the world's best car racers this year, the company said.

The government-owned company, which took over the stadium from a private ownership last August, profited from 370 million yuan last year.

Analysts said the takeover has made it easier to get permits from governments to host diverse events.

The giant stadium is now in the middle of a snow festival that sees nearly 10,000 skiers arrive daily, due to last until late February.