Ready for the long run

"You are always having to make a judgment as to what an area will be like in two or three years' time and you need to do a lot of research. You have to ask a number of questions. Is it going to be the next central business district? Where is the next airport and railway station going to be? Somewhere might be a bad location now but a fantastic one down the line," he says.

Henssler says he is keen not to over expand in China, preferring to be a European company with hotels in China rather than a Chinese hotels company with a few hotels in Europe.

"We don't want to be on every street corner. We want to have a balanced portfolio. So we need to carefully choose strategic locations that allow us to produce a premium for the owner," he says.

He is confident the hotels market in China will remain strong and buoyant for the next few years.

"There will be some bumps and cleaning up in the market and some people are going to get hurt. I have no doubt, however, that for the next 10 years minimum there is going to be healthy good growth," he says.