Marriott International will bring Ritz-Carlton Reserve to Shanghai’s North Bund in 2030, marking the ultra-luxury brand’s first move into a major urban destination.
Marriott International has signed an agreement to introduce Ritz-Carlton Reserve to Shanghai, creating the brand’s first urban property and extending a portfolio traditionally associated with secluded resort destinations into one of Asia’s largest cities.
Scheduled to open in 2030, the hotel will form part of a major mixed-use development on Shanghai’s North Bund waterfront, being developed with Shanghai SIIC North Bund New Landmark Construction and Development Co., Ltd.
The property is expected to feature 110 guestrooms and suites, including a Presidential Suite, with many rooms overlooking the Bund and Huangpu River.
The hotel will sit within a roughly 480-metre tower incorporating offices, residences, retail space and an observation deck. Shanghai authorities say the wider project is expected to become the tallest building in Puxi when completed.
Plans for the Reserve include a speciality restaurant, Chinese dining concepts, lobby lounge and bar, alongside an indoor swimming pool, fitness centre and dedicated spa and wellness facilities.
Taking Reserve into the city
The Shanghai signing represents a significant evolution for Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
The brand has built its identity around highly personalised hospitality, privacy and strong connections with local culture, with existing properties typically located in destination-led resort environments rather than dense urban centres.
Tina Edmundson, President, Luxury at Marriott International, said Shanghai presented an opportunity to translate that philosophy into a city environment while retaining the intimacy and personalisation associated with Reserve.
Marriott describes the new format as an urban Reserve concept, intended for selected global gateway cities. Shanghai will be the first location to test how the Reserve experience can operate within the scale and energy of a major international city.
The development also strengthens Marriott’s already significant luxury presence in Shanghai.
Once the property opens, Shanghai is expected to become the only city globally to feature all eight of Marriott International’s luxury brands: The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts, St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, EDITION, The Luxury Collection, JW Marriott and W Hotels.
China already hosts Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Jiuzhaigou, while another Reserve property is planned for Dunhuang. The Shanghai project, however, takes the brand into a fundamentally different setting.
For Marriott, the challenge will be preserving the exclusivity and sense of retreat that defines Reserve within a 103-floor mixed-use development at the centre of one of the world’s busiest cities.
If that positioning succeeds, Shanghai could provide the blueprint for Ritz-Carlton Reserve’s expansion into other global cities.
Source: Marriott News Center
