For most Chinese people, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and much of northwest China still evoke images of barren earth and drifting dunes. It's not without good reason: due to a lack of water, Ningxia remains one of the country's poorest regions. However, one high-end hotel group is trying to entice wealthy Chinese travelers into coming to Ningxia specifically to experience its raw environment.

The Huang He Su Ji hotel group is comprised of an alliance of five major domestic hotel operators. They wanted to create high-end accommodation that wouldn't look amiss in the desert landscape. In order to do that, they contracted out an entire village, converting and rebuilding houses from the ground up, plastering them in adobe – a mixture of earth and straw that's one of mankind's earliest building materials. Seen from above, the complex of hotels could be mistaken for a centuries old settlement.

The hotels exude a sense of rustic luxury and encourage their guests to get closer to nature. Instead of large tour groups, they cater towards a new breed of tourist born from China's rising middle-class. Well-heeled and tech-savvy, these discerning travelers are less interested in sightseeing, and more in unique travel experiences. To that end, the hotels provide bespoke itineraries and private tours. From lakeside picnics to camel trekking and candlelit dinners among the dunes – everything is designed to be unforgettable.

It's a shift towards a more personalized travel experience, one that favors quality over quantity. Instead of sharing a tourist sight with a hundred other visitors, Huang He Su Ji's guests get an unobstructed view to call their own, one that might better help them experience and appreciate the raw beauty of Ningxia.

Explore China's extraordinary hotels with Tianran He, host of Travelogue on CGTN. Travelogue broadcasts at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays, 2:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Mondays, and 6:30 a.m. on Fridays, (Beijing Time).