* The Ritz-Carlton Seoul has installed fast Internet connections in all 400 guest rooms as well as its meeting rooms, which, it says, makes the Ritz the first hotel in Korea to offer such service. The property has nine international restaurants and a spa facility, including a gym, indoor swimming pool, golf driving range, and saunas.
* The 518-room J.W. Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) opened recently with a ballroom accommodating 1,200 guests for a reception, plus an Executive Conference Center with 13 meeting rooms. Also on property: a full-service business center and spa.
* In Yokohama, Japan, the Pan Pacific Hotel Yokohama fired up high-speed Internet service on February 1 in 112 of its 485 guest rooms as well as lounge areas. Guests will pay a flat fee for the service that will connect them at 7 Mbps, which the property claims is the fastest of any hotel in Japan.
* Just a month prior, in January, the Pan Pacific Singapore was celebrating new Internet access on an even grander scale. All 784 guest rooms, 26 meeting rooms, and the business center hooked into high-speed Internet access via a telecommunications provider called StarHub, which also delivers mobile private network service. Guests can be reached anywhere in Singapore with a single phone number that rings the hotel room or a mobile handset provided by the hotel.
* Also in Singapore, Millennium Hotels and Resorts opened the 539-room Grand Copthorne Waterfront at the beginning of year. The new $86.6 million hotel features two levels of dedicated function space, including a 1,100-person Grand Ballroom. Guest rooms include data ports.
* The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai, has completed a $30 million renovation of the eight-year-old property, which The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., L.L.C., has managed since January 1998. The project upgraded the Bar and Library Lounge and the first- and second-floor lobbies, following previous refurbishment of all 564 guest rooms and suites.
* The former Beijing International Club Hotel was reflagged as The St. Regis Beijing in early March. The luxury hotel has 273 guest rooms, half of which are suites, and features butlers on each floor.
* The Excelsior, Hong Kong, has completed four new meeting rooms, each seating up to 48 people theater-style, bringing the hotel's total meeting space to 10,000 square feet. The new rooms can be connected through a local area network and feature an ISDN line for videoconferencing and a built-in projection screen.