On December 28, the Huazhu Partner Conference was held in Changsha, with nearly 3,000 ecosystem partners attending. Ji Qi, founder of Huazhu Group, shared his thoughts on hotel investment in the "Resilient Era" at the conference, and he believes that China is still the most attractive investment fertile ground and important economy in the world, and Huazhu should continue to insist on deeply cultivating China and treating China as the world.
Ji Qi, founder of Huazhu Group, shared "Hotel Investment in the Resilient Era"
Deeply cultivated in China, the hotel industry is moving towards the third and fourth lines
Ji Qi analyzed the current changes in consumption, travel patterns, and changes in the trend of the hotel industry, and proposed that the main business model of China's hotel industry in the future should be a development model that focuses on limited service and select-service hotels, and combines rental properties and franchise brands. And the overall industry data for the past three years also shows that limited-service hotels, which are made up of budget and mid-range hotels, are significantly more resilient than full-service hotels.
He believes that the hotel industry is currently in an "era of resilience", and another golden period of hotel investment has appeared. The advantages of brands and chains are becoming more and more prominent, and the chain rate of hotels in China has been gradually increasing in recent years. At present, the chain rate of China's first-, second-, third- and fourth-tier cities is 44%, 36%, 25% and 14% respectively, compared with more than 70% in developed countries, the hotel industry in the third and fourth tier cities in mainland China has more room for growth.
Through field visits to 172 prefecture-level and county-level cities in the past three years, Ji Qi further summarized the hotel investment logic of the "Resilient Era" as "four lows" and "four precepts", namely low-tier market, low cost, low investment and low leverage, as well as avoiding impetuousness, high and high-spirited, and high-profile. Hotel investors should also choose "good brands, good products, and good rents" to prevent risks in hotel investment in lower-tier cities.
Ji Qi summarized the hotel investment logic of the "Resilient Era" as "four lows" and "four precepts"
Driven by scientific and technological innovation
From "Lean Growth" to "Service Excellence"
Jin Hui, CEO of Huazhu, believes that "high-quality development is scientific and technological innovation, lean development and excellent service. Huazhu has reconstructed its business processes through the use of innovative digital management such as "super store manager, remodeling front desk, operating system, and management master". On this basis, the "Huazhu Superbrain" will be built to reconstruct the user experience and operation through the application of AI in the hotel scene.
In the past two years, Huazhu has focused on the development of flagship stores and qualified stores through its lean growth strategy, and has achieved an overall industry lead in occupancy rate OCC and RevPAR per room revenue.
At the meeting, Huazhu announced that it would also launch a 1 billion yuan "Huazhu High-quality Development Fund" to be used for talent incentives, product improvement and marketing empowerment of backward stores.
CEO Jin Hui announced the launch of 1 billion yuan "Huazhu High-quality Development Fund"
The beauty of the unfinished world, starting again for a better life
As of September 30, 2023, Huazhu Group operated 9,157 hotels in 18 countries, with 885,756 rooms in operation, creating 175,000 jobs for the community, 98% of which were front-line grassroots employees.
Since the beginning of this year, Huazhu has received more than 250 million residents. According to incomplete statistics, one out of every 12 travelers chooses Huazhu Hotel. Huazhu currently covers 96% of prefecture-level cities and 42% of county-level cities in China, with an average of 4 Huazhu hotels opening every day.
A new all-season product experience area on display outside the conference
The conference released the new products of Seasons 5.0, creating a new benchmark for mid-range hotels with the aesthetics of "ceiling", leapfrog experience, and a new space business model. With just 2,000 stores opening in the season, it is the fastest-growing brand in the history of a midscale hotel.
At the same time, Huazhu has also laid out another brand of the national circuit, Hello Hotel, which is expected to appear in Chengdu in the first quarter of next year, providing consumers with diversified choices.
The new Hanting product experience area displayed in the outfield of the conference
In line with the current new consumption concept of "the province, the province, the flower", Huazhu will also strive to develop a new epoch-making economic hotel Haiyou. While having the ultimate cost performance, it provides an international standard sleep and bathing experience. Whether it is for residents or franchisees, Haiyou is a "cheap and reliable" choice.
The new Haiyou product experience area displayed in the field of the conference
Huazhu said that although macroeconomic uncertainties still exist, Huazhu will continue to adhere to long-termism, insist on doing difficult but right things, and work with partners to promote the high-quality development of China's hotel industry.
Red Star News reporter Zhang Bo He Zheng
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