Two leading Shenzhen hotels, The Pavilion hotel and the Crowne Plaza, have joined the ranks of top business hotels in China after winning the Golden Pillow Award in Beijing earlier this week.

The Golden Pillow Award competition was hosted by the 21st Century Economic Herald, one of the country's major business newspapers.

The selection process involved preliminary elimination, online voting, random interviews of hotel guests and a final decision by industry experts. Twenty best business and holiday hotels were nominated for the final round of competition held in Beijing.

The Golden Pillow Award consists of two parts: top 10 business hotels and top 10 holiday hotels.

The Pavilion hotel and the Crowne Plaza were among top business hotels. The other prize winners include the Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Shanghai The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou Garden Hotel, Grand Hyatt Shanghai, Grand Hyatt Beijing, Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai and Beijing China World Hotel.

The Pavilion hotel, situated in the central business area of Huaqiangbei, opened in 2001. It has 544 rooms after acquisition of the nearby Century Plaza hotel last year.

(Shenzhen Daily April 21, 2005)