For Wang Xin, fulfilling a life-long dream of creating a Chinese luxury brand means starting in the basement, quite literally¹. He begins a tour of his pilot hotel with a trip to the boiler² room, where he proudly shows off the clean floor and shiny imported equipment.

创造一支中国奢侈品牌是王新的毕生梦想。对于他来说，实现这一梦想意味着从地下室开始（不是比喻，而是字面意思的地下室）。对于自己参与打造的第一家高端酒店，他把参观行程的第一站安排到锅炉房，自豪地展示干净的地板和闪亮的进口设备。

“This is our core!” he effuses. “When I show this hotel, I don’t show the outside. I want to show our quality from the inside.”

他满怀激情地说：“这是我们的核心！当我展示这家酒店时，我不会去展示外部。我想从内部展示我们的品质。”

Mr Wang has been given free rein³ by Capital Tourism Group, the listed arm of Beijing Tourism, China’s largest state-owned tourism conglomerate⁴, to set up a luxury chain of hotels. He is taking an engineer’s approach to a business that is known for its difficult mix of art and science.

王新是中国最大的国有旅游集团北京首旅(Beijing Tourism Group)旗下上市公司首旅酒店集团(Capital Tourism Group)打造的高端酒店诺金(Nuo)的总经理，他受命打造一支豪华连锁酒店，并在这个项目上获得自由决定权。他正以一个工程师的方式来管理以艺术与科学的困难组合闻名的酒店业务。

Guests may see serenity⁵, but the international luxury hotel business is fiercely competitive. Executives obsess⁶ over the minutiae⁷ of ad placement and traveller spending as much as the cut of the bellman’s cape⁸. Chinese chains are the latest to wade⁹ into the fray¹⁰, as the nation’s travellers become wealthier and more demanding.

客人们眼里看到的可能是从容宁静，但国际豪华酒店业的竞争其实很激烈。高管们纠结于各种细节，从广告投放、旅行者开销，乃至服务生斗篷的剪裁。随着中国旅客越来越富有，要求越来越高，中国连锁酒店是加入这场竞争的最新经营者。

The country is expected to become the world’s second-largest source of outbound tourism by 2020. Chinese tourists, particularly those born in the 1980s, are now growing into their spending power. They collect Gucci bags, drink French wines and frequent hotel chains such as the Four Seasons or the Ritz-Carlton.

预计到2020年中国将成为全球第二大出境旅游客源国。中国游客，特别是20世纪80年代出生的游客，现在正进入具有较大购买力的年龄段。他们收集古驰(Gucci)手袋，喝法国葡萄酒，还经常下榻四季酒店(Four Seasons)和丽思卡尔顿酒店(Ritz-Carlton)等连锁酒店。

But Chinese hotel conglomerates¹¹ have so far proven unable to capture the top end of the market, at home or abroad. Mr Wang hopes that will change with Nuo, a brand developed in partnership¹² with the Kempinski chain. It self-consciously draws on China’s Ming Dynasty heritage to appeal to Chinese and foreign travellers.

但无论是在国内还是国外，中国酒店集团迄今被证明无法抢占高端市场。王新希望诺金可以带来改变；诺金是首旅与凯宾斯基(Kempinski)连锁酒店合作开发的品牌，它刻意借鉴了中国明代文化遗产，以吸引中外游客。

Nuo’s pilot property in Beijing is Mr Wang’s pride and joy. The cavernous lobby features Chinese contemporary artists (“No fakes! It’s all real!”); the restaurants serve tea grown on the company’s own plantations¹³. Even the air filtration has been designed to soothe¹⁴ Beijingers’ obsession¹⁵ with air pollution: “You need to have the details and systems right,” he says. “That’s hard.”

首家北京诺金酒店是王新的骄傲和喜悦。空旷的大厅里摆置着中国当代艺术家的作品（“没有赝品！全都是真的！”）；餐厅供应的茶的茶叶来自该公司自己的种植园。就连空气都经过净化，以缓解北京人对空气污染的担心。王新说：“你得在细节和系统上都做对。这很难。”

Capital Tourism has opened a second Nuo in a portion of its venerable Beijing Hotel. A third is planned for the Universal Studios theme park, under construction east of Beijing.

首旅酒店集团将历史悠久的北京饭店(Beijing Hotel)的一部分改为第二家诺金。第三家诺金包含在北京东部在建的环球影城(Universal Studios)主题公园规划中。

The business of hotels is roughly split between property owners and brand managers (some brands also own the properties they manage). Beijing Tourism, a state-owned conglomerate, is for the most part an owner, letting other brands manage its properties. It controls about 3,000 properties around China, including Home Inn, the ubiquitous budget chain, and Quanjude, the Shanghai-listed Peking Duck restaurant. The group was spun¹⁶ off from the China Tourism Administration, the organisation¹⁷ that regulates the Chinese hotel business and grants stars to top hotels.

酒店业务大致分为业主和品牌管理者两大类（有些品牌拥有自己管理的物业）。作为国有综合企业，北京首旅的大部分业务是业主，其物业交由其他品牌管理。该集团在国内控制着约3000处物业，包括无处不在的经济连锁酒店如家(Home Inn)，以及在上海上市的北京烤鸭餐馆全聚德。该集团是从国家旅游局拆分出来的，该局负责监管中国酒店业，并向顶级酒店授予星级。

Beijing Tourism’s powerful connections have helped it expand as a property owner. But those benefits have worked against it in developing the market discipline needed to build a brand. This is why Mr Wang and his bosses worked with Kempinski, an early joint-venture partner, for advice on how to move up the value chain. “I am very conscious of German quality. You have to understand their attitude of construction that will last 100 years.”

北京首旅的强大关系帮助它扩大旗下物业，但这些“好处”不利于该集团培养市场纪律，而这是打造品牌所需要的。这就是为什么王新和他的上司们要与早期合资伙伴凯宾斯基合作，以获取如何向价值链上方移动的建议。“我非常清楚德国品质。你得理解他们那种房子要屹立百年的建筑态度。”

“Chinese want everything fast. We don’t pay attention to detail. That’s why China doesn’t have any brands,” he says. By contrast, Nuo “won’t expand at random¹⁸” and will defer¹⁹ any international launch for five years at least.

他说：“中国人一切都想要快。我们不注重细节。这就是为什么中国没有任何品牌。”相比之下，诺金“不会随便扩张”，至少五年内不会进军国际市场。

Creating Nuo may be Mr Wang’s dream but it dovetails nicely with Chinese state policy. Chinese technocrats²⁰ have pushed companies to develop “national champion” brands and capture premium²¹ margins²² in fields ranging from autos to cosmetics²³. Indeed, Mr Wang has some internal competition in his brand-building endeavour²⁴. Beijing Tourism is simultaneously²⁵ developing Ahn Luh, a line of boutique hotels that also draws inspiration from Chinese traditional architecture. Other state tourism companies are launching their own brands.

打造诺金可能是王新的梦想，但此举也符合中国的国家政策。中国的技术官僚们鼓励企业发展“国家冠军”品牌，并在汽车、化妆品等多个领域捕捉到高端利润。的确，王新的品牌建设努力还有一些内部竞争。北京首旅集团同时还在开发安麓(Ahn Luh)精品酒店项目，该品牌也从中国传统建筑汲取灵感。其他国有旅游公司也在推出自己的品牌。

But the bigger test is yet to come. It is one thing establishing a brand in your own property, quite another persuading other hotel owners to confide²⁶ their properties to your brand. For now, Mr Wang expects the Nuo chain to expand within hotels already owned by his parent group.

但更大的考验还在后面。用自己的物业创建一个品牌是一回事，说服其他酒店业主把物业委托给你的品牌则是另一回事。就目前而言，王新期望诺金能在母公司旗下的现有酒店内实现扩张。

The day that changes and an unrelated property group contracts a Nuo-branded hotel, Mr Wang will have finally achieved his vision.

在这种局面发生变化、一家不相关的房地产集团签约推出一家诺金品牌酒店的那一天，王新将真正实现自己的愿景。