The Horizon Club in Shangri-La Chengdu is designed by Hirsch Bedner Associates, one of the world's biggest hospitality design firms. Photo Provided to China Daily

Mathew Lui and his team have helped shaped China's hotel industry over the past two decades, sometimes quite literally. He gives Rebecca Lo some insider tips on which cities are coming up.

If you build it, they will come. This famous line paraphrased from the 1989 film Field of Dreams seems to be the rationale for the extensive hospitality expansion throughout China in the past 20 years.

For Mathew Lui, partner with the Hong Kong office of Hirsch Bedner Associates, building a shiny new hotel in a sprawling mixed-use complex in a developing Chinese destination does not always equate with success for the owner or operator.

One of the world's biggest hospitality design firms, HBA was founded in Santa Monica, California, in 1965 by Howard Hirsch and Michael Bedner.

The firm set up its Hong Kong office in the 1970s and has been responsible for designing some of China's most respected establishments, including White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and, more recently, renovating Shanghai's historic Fairmont Peace Hotel.

Lui worked on his first project in China 15 years ago when he was assigned to design the St. Regis in Shanghai (now a Luxury Collection hotel). He learned the differences between working in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, and that a lot of money spent on a project does not necessarily mean it will look good.

"The variation between projects on the mainland can be huge," Lui acknowledges. "After being burned a few times, I realized that I didn't want to invest our company's time and effort into a project where the outcome won't be something we're proud of. It's not worth the fees at the expense of the quality of our portfolio.

"There are some owners and developers that respect what we do and admit that they don't know much about designing a hotel. Then there are those who think that since they are paying us, we should jump through hoops to please them.

"Even today, we still have to educate our clients.