As of the second quarter of 2024, Hanting had a total of 3,883 stores, covering more than 1,000 cities at or above the county level. In the whole quarter, there were 2,472 stores nationwide; Orange Hotel has a total of 736 stores. It is not difficult to find that Quanji, Orange and Hanting, as the “Iron triangle” brands of Huazhu Group, have become the main brands in the sinking market of the Group in recent years.
Since its inception, Dongcheng Group, which has been deeply cultivated in second, third and fourth tier cities, has a total of 14 brands. Dongcheng Group focus on improving the core brand, bigger and stronger city convenient, Yishang, Berman, Yicheng four main brands, other brands will also develop through other means. At the same time, the four main brands were set up divisions, through accurate positioning and differentiation strategy, gave the four brands their unique market competitiveness, and fully occupied the commanding heights of the market with new products.
At present, it operates 10 major brands, including high-end resort hotel brands such as Fang Wai, Guan Tang, and Parkview Green Resort Hotel, high-end business hotel brands such as New Century Famous City, New Century Famous Court, and Manju, and lifestyle brands such as Ruby Hotels, Gem Hotel, Yizu, and MORA SPACE. In order to highlight the characteristics of individual brands and the needs of changing users, Zheng Nanyan took the helm of New Century Hotel, based on the idea of “brand first”, re-combing the brand, simplifying the 14 brands to 6. He said, “The original New Century hotel has 16 or 17 brands and about 200 stores. But the differences between brands are minimal. So we narrowed them down to six brands. “
From the perspective of the core brands of the local head hotel groups after “streamlining”, they are basically focused on the mid-end and mid-high-end markets. According to the financial reports of various hotel groups, in the first half of the year, Jinjiang Hotel newly opened 680 hotels, with a net increase of 490 hotels, of which mid-end hotels and economy hotels accounted for 59.17% and 40.35% of the total number of hotels opened respectively.
In the first quarter of 2024, the number of hotels in China reached 9,817, of which 5,118 were economy hotels, an increase of 4.5%, 3,787 were mid-range hotels, an increase of 28.1%, and mid-range and high-end hotels increased by 26.6%, to 747. By the end of the first half of the year, the number of BTG hotels was 6,475, of which the proportion of high-end hotels increased to 28.6%. During the reporting period, 567 new stores were opened, three of which became medium and high-end hotels. These figures directly reflect the “increase” of the head hotel group on the mid-end and mid-high-end hotel market, and the competition in the mid-end and mid-high-end hotel market is becoming increasingly fierce.
From constantly incubating new brands to selecting strong brands, the underlying logic of the head hotel Group is: to obtain more market share with the most competitive brands on the circuit. By concentrating resources on the most competitive core products, the hotel group can not only enhance its professional height, but also consolidate its market position and fully release the competitiveness of the brand. In this process, less is more, and “thinning” is efficient.
Number of hotel brands ，more or less?
The debate over the number of brands has been a major concern in the hospitality industry. Is it true that more hotel brands is better? Or is it better to keep the number of brands to a minimum? Will hotel brands disappear?
From the perspective of hotel groups, the continuous expansion of new brands is the need of the market, but also the need for their own development. The hotel circuit is constantly segmented with the needs of consumers, which leaves a market opportunity for professional vertical brands. They have managed to capture a broader market by offering a diverse range of brands that cater to travelers with different budgets, travel styles and destination needs.
In this regard, some hotel groups have incubated new brands to meet the diversified and personalized consumption needs of current consumers. For example, Jinjiang Hotel (China) has incubated the “Hui Language” that shapes the happy consumption destination with natural affinity, the mid-to-high-end lifestyle hotel brand “Bin Yue” with health sports experience as the core, and the Nordic comfort and health hotel brand “Shuhe” created for the fine crowd. As well as the “vacation series” represented by the middle and high-end national holiday brand “Cloud House” series, the high-end Eastern quiet brand “Kyungge”, the Mediterranean lifestyle brand “European Leisure · Mediterranean” and so on.
Some hotel groups acquire new brands in a more direct and brutal way: directly acquire hotel groups, the brand into their own, to improve the brand matrix. Hyatt Hotels Corporation recently acquired the hotel brands and most of its affiliates of Standard International, a well-known hotel group, for $335 million to expand Hyatt’s brand portfolio.
The Standard Hotel, London. Hyatt will pay a reserve price of $150 million for brands including The Standard, Bunkhouse Hotels, Peri Hotels, The StandardX and The Manner, and the acquisition does not include any physical hotel buildings, Management, franchise and operating licensing contracts for 21 hotels with a total of 2,000 rooms in New York, London and Bangkok. With more than 30 new hotels in the pipeline, Hyatt has agreed to pay an additional $185 million as these new projects are added to Standard International’s system.
