DOMESTIC budget hotel operators are on a fast-growth track as small businesses and family excursions are increasing on the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. And international hoteliers, with more capital and management expertise, are also targeting a larger share of the lucrative market.
InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world's largest hotel companies in terms of room numbers, announced yesterday it will launch a franchising business model for its Holiday Inn Express hotels in China to help expand its local portfolio more quickly.
"We plan to increase our China presence to a total of 125 hotels covering four of IHG's brands by 2008, with the Holiday Inn Express brand contributing a significant part," said Kieron Ritchard, vice president for IHG's China strategy.
IHG, which operates seven hotel brands, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, now has 65 hotels operating under the first four brands, all across the country.
Positioned between full-serviced four-star hotels and branded budget inns, the Holiday Inn Express brand, however, targets a different guest type - mainly savvy business travelers, rather than regular price-sensitive economy hotel dwellers, the company said.
The company now has six Holiday Inn Express hotels in China. Franchising is a business model that has become extremely popular among global hoteliers.
For instance, about 85 percent of hotels operating under IHG brands worldwide are franchised, with the remainder either managed or owned by the hotel group, which had 556,000 rooms in more than 3,700 hotels across nearly 100 countries by the end of 2006.
IHG is not alone. Accor SA, Europe's biggest hotel company, said on March 2 that it will expand the number of its Ibis budget hotels under development in China to 40 from six by 2008.
Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels (Group) Co, China's largest hotel operator, said in January it will inject 1.38 billion yuan (US$17.69 million) into its budget hotel unit to help it expand.
As of 2006, Jin Jiang Inn Co Ltd, the economy hotel subsidiary of the group, operated 185 facilities in 56 cities across the country, and the firm plans to expand its portfolio to between 260 and 280 by the end of this year.
Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc, China's second-largest budget hotel chain with 134 hotels in operation and 48 hotels in the pipeline covering 50 cities as of 2006, said last month it will continue to strengthen its national scale.
The Shanghai-based company raised US$109 million last year by selling shares in the United States.
Source:佚名