Photo source: Visual China

Blue Whale News, November 7 (Reporter Sun Yu) From November 5 to 10, the 7th China International Import Expo was held in Shanghai.

Blue Whale News learned that a number of hotel groups participated in this year's CIIE as exhibitors. Among them, Intercontinental Hotels Group was a “full student” of the 7th CIIE. Eimer, CEO of Greater China, said, “We have seen that CIIE has become an important platform for the world to share 'China's opportunities', and also demonstrated our determination to further cultivate China through the CIIE.”

Over the past seven years, more and more exhibitors have felt the charm of the Expo, attracting newcomers to participate. Huazhu Group debuted at the Expo this year, showcasing the innovative model of the Chinese hotel industry to the world and conveying Huazhu's development strategy of “taking root in China and going global”.

During the Expo, Jin Hui, CEO of Huazhu Group, expressed his future expectations, “A world-class hotel group must bring its brand and management to world-class standards. Huazhu is confident that in the process of adhering to high-quality development, China's hotel industry will be brought to a world-class level.”

Showcased with a new brand design

Huazhu was founded in 2005. After 19 years of development, it owns a series of hotel brands such as Hanting, All Seasons, and Orange. At this year's fair site, Huazhu brought the latest hotel brand “All Seasons · Xiaoshanqing”. The hotel design paid more attention to humanities, the visual appearance of white space, the Zen taste of tea, and the room style were more minimalist.

Additionally, the booth showcased the design styles of Hanting 3.5 and Orange 3.0. Blue Whale News learned that Hanting 3.5 has added convenient facilities such as self-service laundry, delivery, and storage, while Orange Hotel has a more vivid and bold space design, presenting Orange's consistent aesthetic style.

IHG was founded in the UK and has been in China for 49 years. It is one of the first international hotel management groups to enter the Chinese market. So far, it has introduced 12 brands to China, covering luxury, high-end and quality lines. Currently, in the Chinese market, more than 1,300 intercontinental hotels have been opened and are under construction, spread across more than 200 cities.

This time, Intercontinental Hotels Group focused on showcasing the design features and ideas of the three high-quality and high-end brands Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Express, and Yiheng Hotel. Blue Whale News learned that Holiday Inn Express follows market demand and has achieved continuous product innovation and iteration. Holiday Inn has completed a complete renewal of its brand image this year, while Yiheng Hotel presents diverse lifestyle scenarios such as sports and wellness, and is more loved by young travelers and owners.

The supply chain and business model behind it

According to public information, Huazhu operates more than 0.01 million hotels worldwide, with more than 1 million guest rooms. Intercontinental Hotels has more than 6,500 hotels in more than 100 countries and regions around the world. Currently, the number of guest rooms is 0.955 million. Behind such a huge scale, it is inseparable from a perfect supply chain system and an advanced business model.

Blue Whale News learned from China Residence that from a supply chain perspective, Huazhu's overall cost of materials such as guest consumables, mattresses, cotton textiles, tiles, lamps, televisions, and wood-plastic panels has dropped by more than 20% since 2024.

In terms of digitalization, Huazhu's brands have digitally experienced and managed the entire process from consumer reservation, check-in, and check-out to the next repurchase. At the same time, the digital operation system can also achieve accurate forecasting of passenger flow, service demand, and dynamic allocation of channels and resources.

The relevant person in charge of Intercontinental Hotels told Blue Whale News that consumers' pursuit of a high “price ratio” for hotel products and the degree of diversification of destinations have all increased, bringing huge room for growth. Intercontinental Hotels continuously upgrades innovative hotel products according to changes in consumer needs to meet consumers' pursuit of a better lodging life.

IHG said it has full confidence in the Chinese market, continues to invest in China with localized development strategies and diversified innovative services and products, and looks forward to using the Expo to connect with more business partners and work together to seek high-quality development.

It is worth mentioning that both Huazhu and Intercontinental Hotel Groups have seen room for development in the sinking market. Huazhu management said at this year's semi-annual results meeting that the layout of the sinking market is inseparable from improving the supply chain. Huazhu restarted the supply chain upgrade and chassis reconstruction this year, and replaced and upgraded a large number of suppliers in the first half of the year. Intercontinental Hotels said that in the future, while deepening the layout of core cities, it will continue to expand into third- to fifth-tier cities and niche destinations through a franchise model.

Looking at the industry as a whole, according to data from Aowei Cloud Network, there are currently about 0.34 million hotels in the Chinese market, with more than 16 million rooms. 0.023 million new hotels were opened in the first half of the year. Among them, mid-range hotels are still the mainstream.