City welcomes first Wyndham Grand hotel
2026-03-23 19:03:58
By Yan Wanqin
The first Wyndham Grand hotel in Hubei Province opened in Yichang on March 20, becoming the largest five-star hotel in the city and setting a new benchmark for high-end hospitality.
The hotel integrates local cultural elements into its design and services, drawing inspiration from the poetry of Qu Yuan (339–278 BC), one of China’s most renowned poets and patriots, as well as the natural grandeur of the Three Gorges. Cultural highlights include an art installation celebrating regional heritage, while private dining rooms are named after eight classical landscapes of Yichang.
The first Wyndham Grand hotel in Hubei Province opened in Yichang on March 20, becoming the largest five-star hotel in the city and setting a new benchmark for high-end hospitality.
The hotel integrates local cultural elements into its design and services, drawing inspiration from the poetry of Qu Yuan (339–278 BC), one of China’s most renowned poets and patriots, as well as the natural grandeur of the Three Gorges. Cultural highlights include an art installation celebrating regional heritage, while private dining rooms are named after eight classical landscapes of Yichang.
The Wyndham Grand Hotel, the tallest building in the image, stands along the northern bank of the Yangtze River.Located in the core area of the Yangtze River Three Gorges Cruise Center, the hotel is part of a larger complex that includes a cruise terminal, yacht club, hotel cluster, commercial facilities, and leisure spaces.
On its opening day, the hotel launched a joint offering with the local Three Gorges Tourism Group, introducing a seamless “hotel + cruise + scenic area” package. The premium experience combines luxury accommodation with access to the popular “Two Dams and One Gorge” cruise route, allowing guests to move easily from the hotel to the cruise terminal.
The initiative addresses Yichang’s long-standing challenge of low overnight visitor retention. By linking high-end accommodation with core tourist attractions, the integrated model aims to extend visitor stays and boost tourism spending.
The hotel is also positioned to serve cruise passengers traveling along the Yangtze River, offering a high-quality onshore accommodation option. Future plans include three- to seven-day luxury tour packages featuring cultural experiences such as Qu Yuan heritage tours and intangible cultural heritage activities.
Leveraging Wyndham’s global membership network of 120 million, the hotel is expected to help introduce Yichang’s cultural tourism offerings to international markets.
The opening also helps fill a gap in high-end lodging along the “Shennongjia-Wudang Mountains-Three Gorges” international tourism route, a key component of Hubei Province’s tourism development strategy.
Yichang, which aims for 18 percent growth in inbound tourism in 2026, has identified cultural tourism as one of its six pillar industries. The debut of the Wyndham Grand marks a significant step forward in upgrading the city’s hospitality capacity and expanding its global reach.
Yang Xue, Li Boyan also contributed to this story.
