The hotel, scheduled to open in 2017, will be part of a multi-purpose complex located in the central business district in Ningbo National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, a focal point of the fast-developing east Ningbo area.

The pentahotel Ningbo will feature 222 New York loft-style inspired guestrooms, a 300-square-metre gym, four function spaces and the pentahotels' brand hallmark – pentalounge with its combined lobby, reception, bar and café.

Ningbo is one of the key transportation hubs in eastern China with a major port, an international airport, and rail and highway connections to the rest of China.

According to the Ningbo Travel Bureau, the city received more than 1.2 million visitors in 2013 and will continue to enhance infrastructure to encourage inbound business and leisure travellers.

Pentahotel Ningbo will be only 20 minutes' drive from the Ningbo railway station and 40 minutes from Ningbo Lishe Airport.

"We thank our partner Ningbo Grand Investment Company Limited for the opportunity to bring pentahotels into this energetic city and become part of its increasingly dynamic lifestyle," said Sonia Cheng, chief executive officer of Rosewood Hotel Group, pentahotels' management company. "Pentahotel will certainly become a Ningbo home base for independent-minded travellers to the city and a hub for local residents to chill out."

The pentahotel Ningbo is part of the brand's target of 80 pentahotels worldwide in operation or under development by 2020.