HOME Inns & Hotels Management Inc, operator of China's largest budget hotel chain, plans to more than triple its portfolio over the next decade amid a robust travel demand.

In 10 years, Home Inns will operate more than 5,000 hotels under its three brands - Home Inns, Motel 168 and the premium Yitel - up from around 1,400 hotels across the country, David Sun, CEO of Home Inns, said yesterday in Beijing.

"The country's budget hotel market will remain vibrant in the next 10 years and Home Inns will ride on that opportunity to further consolidate its industry leadership," Sun said. "The Home Inns brand will remain a major engine for our future growth while Motel 168 and Yitel branded hotels will also boost their size notably during the period."

The company plans to add between 3,000 and 3,500 Home Inns hotels nationwide over the next 10 years to its portfolio of around 1,100. Its Motel 168, a budget hotel brand it purchased less than half a year ago, will expand from over 300 hotels now to exceed 1,000. Yitel, a brand targeting higher-end business travellers, will add between 50 and 60 new hotels in the next five to six years, the company said.

Inbound travellers may exceed 2.5 billion this year in China, an annual growth of 12 percent, said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy. Revenue from inbound travel will climb 20 percent annually to a record 2 trillion yuan (US$316 billion) this year, the academy predicted.

In May, Home Inns said it will acquire the entire stake of Shanghai Motel Management Ltd, then China's fifth-largest budget hotel chain operator, for US$470 million.

Source:shanghaidaily.com