The Mayfair Hotel Shanghai,a four-star hotel with 862 rooms,will mark its debut this autumn,the Jiefang Daily reported.

It will be the first luxury hotel in west Shanghai's Zhongshan Park commercial area,where it is located,as well as the biggest hotel in Shanghai in terms of its room number,the report said.

With initial construction completed,the hotel,along with 261 serviced apartments,stores,gyms and other luxury facilities in the same complex,is now in service on a trial basis.

The official kick-off will be in September.

Investment to the hotel project has exceeded UK$ 1billion (US$128million), sources close with the hotel said.

It marks a switch its investor,New World Development Co Ltd,is making in its strategy in Shanghai's hotel market,analysts noted.

Along with the hotel,the Hong Kong-based conglomerate is preparing on a second hotel for the city on the downtown Huaihai Road,a prime commercial area,they said.

The group had run a four-star Yangtze River Hotel in west Shanghai's Hongqiao Development Zone and sold it last year to US hotel management group Marriott.

( eastday.com March 15, 2002)