China's Hanting Plans Mega Expansion to Be World's Largest Hotel Chain by 2030
Xu Wei
DATE:  Jul 16 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Hanting Plans Mega Expansion to Be World's Largest Hotel Chain by 2030 China's Hanting Plans Mega Expansion to Be World's Largest Hotel Chain by 2030

(Yicai Global) July 16 -- Hanting Hotels plans to open 10,000 hotels by 2030 to become the world's largest single hotel brand as it sheds its budget image and shifts toward the high-end market.

Hanting has 2,411 hotels in China right now, and the Shanghai-based firm will have upgraded 80 percent of them to the Hanting 3.0 standard by the end of next year, The Paper cited Chief Executive Xu Haochun as saying on July 14. It will wind down those that it does not renovate.

Hanting 3.0 mostly focuses on improving designs and digitization and will result in higher quality rooms but without price hikes, Xu said, adding that it will also cut management costs and be a time-saver for franchisees. The firm unveiled the standards on July 13 and Xu compared them with those of luxury hotels, though the rooms will still be limited by the existing space and facilities available at the properties.

Chinese consumers are no longer content with staying at cheap hotels, said Zhang Min, chief executive of Hanting's parent Huazhu Group. They want more in terms of quality accommodation and so there is no room for budget hotels to try and become cheaper.

The past three years have been a transformational period for Hanting as it shifts away from the budget model, Zhang said, adding that the firm has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in renovating hotels, training employees and improving its practices. She believes that once the upcoming renovations are complete, Hanting will begin rapidly expanding again.

The firm plans to sign for another 1,000 Hanting hotels next year as it looks to penetrate a larger number of cities, as in many areas throughout the country it still has a fairly low market share, Zhang added, saying the brand aims to have 3,500 hotels up and running by the end of 2020, Zhang added.

Editor: James Boynton

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Keywords:   Hanting Hotels