Zheng Nanyan, chief executive officer of 7 Days Inn, was insistent on its single-brand development strategy at the end of last year but he suddenly changed his attitude just a few months later.

  “We will launch high-end brands this year,” said he on the company’s 7th anniversary celebration and he added that 7 Days Inn moved into medium- and high-end hospitality market. 7 Days Inn was the last economy hotel giant that abandoned single-brand strategy and joined other brands, such as Home Inns and Hanting, to seek diversified development path.

The sudden change of 7 Days Inn’s strategy was not a surprise to industry insiders. The above-mentioned three economy hotel giants did not present sound performance last year, according to their latest financial reports for 2011. Their aggregate net profit was 97.7 million yuan lower than that in 2010, meaning 14.1% of decrease.