While the Renaissance hotel brand globally repositions itself around the concept of "discovery", the Renaissance Guiyang Hotel is seamlessly situated in this market.

That's not merely because its geographic location is in the fastest-growing district in the capital of Guizhou province, which the China National Tourism Administration names the country's fastest growing tourism market. It's also because it has honed its array of amenities to accommodate explorers who equally appreciate luxury and adventure.

The establishment opened in 2012 as the newest of the city's five establishments with an equal number of stars. It's located in the rapidly developing Jinyang New District, next to the Guiyang International Exhibition and Convention Center, and the municipal government and Party offices.

More than 100 companies and factories are within 2 kilometers of the Renaissance, and a light-rail train station will open in front of the hotel next year.

While continuing its focus on meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, the hotel is luring more travelers who use it as a base for surveying one of China's most ethnically diverse and ecologically blessed provinces.

That's why it has developed such conveniences as personalized pocket maps for global nomads, who use the hotel as their base camp.

And guests need not leave the Renaissance to explore the culinary traditions of Guizhou, China and the world at the hotel's three restaurants.

Bai Wei offers local cuisine, the sour and spicy flavors of which are influenced by the diversity of Guizhou's ethnicities.

It serves such iconic native delicacies as suantangyu, or "sour fish soup". This broth of fish, tomato and Chinese onions is the must-try dish for the province's visitors.

For those with more tempered palates, doumi hotpot offers a less tangy equivalent. Bai Wei also serves such local specialties as qingnian tofu, smoked pork, sour-soup noodles and xishui tofu skin.

New Dynasty restaurant focuses on Cantonese cuisine and offers private booths with mahjong tables, Tang-era statues and ethnic Miao silver ornamentation. The grandest tables seat 24.

The hotel has swapped the archetypal floral centerpieces for crystal chess sets and pagoda statues. There are 15 seats in New Dynasty's public area.

BLD (standing for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) is the hotel's main restaurant and features Guiyang's largest open kitchen. It offers a more conventional blend of foreign and Chinese fare.

The Renaissance Hotel Guiyang also features such bars as Club Lounge, which offers the city's highest outdoor-balcony seating.

Club Lounge also features a work center with meeting rooms and leisure areas.

Those who stay in the club guestrooms can use the lounge for an hour a day for free. It also has a rooftop pavilion overlooking a park with a lake that makes it Guiyang's highest bar.

There's also R Bar, with private booths and shelves of books on culture and travel. Sweet teeth can be satisfied by the Chocolate Cake Factory's pastries, desserts and coffees.

The hotel's 700-square-meter Grand Ballroom can be sectioned off by dividers that drop from the ceiling. It's flanked by six function rooms, bringing the hotel's total meeting space to 1,150 square meters.

That's along with more standard amenities, such as an indoor swimming pool and a 24-hour fitness center.

And, of course, there are the 340 guestrooms, including deluxe, club and suite options, all with leather-wallpaper soundproofing.

That's to ensure quiet nights before and after adventurous days of exploration.

(China Daily 03/14/2013 page19)