Italian luxury goods company Prada is set to file a listing application for a Hong Kong IPO that could be worth almost $2 billion, Reuters reports.

The Milan-based company, known for its colorful Miu Miu dresses and Prada handbags, planned to list in Hong Kong at the end of June.

Prada would be only the second company from Western Europe to list in Hong Kong, after L’Occitane International.

Jumeirah Group, the Dubai-based luxury hotel company, announces the soft opening of its first five-star luxury hotel in China at the Himalayas Centre in Pudong, Shanghai.

Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai features 401 contemporary Chinese-style guestrooms, including 62 suites and residences, four restaurants and lounges, a 24-hour fitness centre and indoor swimming pool.

The hotel also offers extensive meeting, conference and event facilities, including two grand ballrooms and a 5,000m2 rooftop Infinity Garden.

Sports fans are well catered for by a new hotel design which popped up in China this month — shaped like a ping-pong racket.

The wacky design, which will reportedly be built in the city of Huainan, in East China’s Anhui province, is perfectly modelled on an upside down table tennis racket and is designed to be built in a planned Olympic park.

The detail of the 150-meter design is impressive — even down to the handle at the top (designed for sightseeing) and the rounded windows of the guestrooms which resemble the rubber surface of the racquet.

The marketing spin has been that Hainan Island is the “Hawaii of China” but up until the past 12 months the reality has not quite matched the hype.

Times, though, are fast changing on China’s southernmost territory with the local government this year adding duty-free shopping and opening up its pristine waters to the international yachting community in an effort to lure more tourists to the island.

Hainan, which boasts a tropical climate, is also undergoing a resort-building boom with the Hilton and Marriott chains already this year becoming the latest to develop sites on the island which only saw its first “international-style” resort built in 1999.

The world’s highest hotel opened its doors in Hong Kong on Tuesday, offering unrivalled panoramic views of the world famous Victoria Harbour.

Towering some 490 metres (1,600 feet) above the bustling, chaotic streets of the Southern Chinese city, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is making a grand comeback after temporarily closing in 2008.

Visitors peered out of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 118th floor of the International Commerce Centre, which houses the hotel, for a 360 degree view of the glitzy financial hub and the South China Sea.

BMW is to launch a plug-in hybrid model in China next month, designed specifically for the Chinese market, it has emerged.

The company’s boss Norbert Reithofer said recently that the new “new energy vehicle” model would be based on the 5-Series and unveiled at Auto Shanghai, describing it as “our e-car from China for China.”

It is squarely aimed at China’s rapidly-growing luxury market and is set to feature the same long wheel base as its Chinese-only predecessor, the 535Li, which was designed to add more comfort to those wishing to be chauffeur-driven.