Recently, the news that Zhongzhou Express Hotel changed its name to Hanting Hotel has caused a lot of shock in the industry. A hotel brand that was once used as a sample of learning by local hotels suddenly changed its course and could not help but sigh.

Henan Business Daily reporters found through interviews that at present, a large number of economic hotels in Zhengzhou are facing development confusion caused by declining performance and rising costs. In the face of the new market environment, where should they go?

【status quo】

Many budget hotels have lost profits

Mr. Li, who is in his hometown in Shangqiu, came to Zhengzhou 6 years ago and opened a budget hotel with a price of less than 200 yuan on Zijingshan Road.

Due to the large number of passengers, the business is very hot. In the year of investment, not only recovered the cost, but also earned 80,000 yuan.

Mr. Li, who tasted the sweetness, took her sister to Zhengzhou in the second year and asked her to open a hotel of the same grade.

However, such a good day lasted only less than three years.

"In the second half of 2013, the business is getting worse and worse. In addition to paying daily expenses and workers' wages, it is almost impossible to make money." Mr. Li said that now he has no heart.

Not only the hotel business of Mr. Li’s brothers and sisters is not good. In recent years, many budget hotels have also experienced a decline in performance.

Founded in August 2004, Zhongzhou Express Hotel, in its heyday, opened nearly 40 stores. In recent times, it was not renamed Hanting Hotel or was closed.

The nationally renowned hotel chain brand – Home Inns has seen a decline in net profit since 2011; in the first quarter of 2012, its total operating income was 1.264 billion yuan, but the overall loss was as high as 103 million yuan.

According to data from the China Investment Consulting Industry Research Center, since the beginning of 2015, there have been about 1,000 star-rated hotels closed every quarter, most of which are budget hotels.

[Exploration]

Homogenization and low price competition are the main reasons

For the current status of economic hotels, industry summary, poor management, homogenization and low price competition are the main reasons.

In addition, health non-compliance, service is too sloppy, and many security holes are affecting people's accommodation experience and weakening consumers' trust.

However, in the view of Zhao Huanzhen, a senior economist at the Huamei Hotel Consultancy, the golden age of the rapid development of budget hotels has passed. “Economic hotels now face two problems: First, the relationship between supply and demand has changed after the increase in quantity; secondly, labor costs and property leasing costs have increased by 300% compared with the earliest. Therefore, since 2010, the operating conditions have been in a downward channel. ."

Declining profitability and homogenization of product services have forced hotel companies to compete for customer base and market share by lowering house prices.

According to a three-way express hotel owner who did not want to be named, due to the competitive pressure, the hotel room occupancy rate has dropped sharply in recent times. In order to maintain normal operation, as long as it is a door-to-door customer, he will try to let them live. under.

"Under normal circumstances, as long as the price is not too low, we will let the customer stay, and idle can not produce value." The boss said.

Henan hotel network CEO Zhang Feng told reporters that in the first half of 2016, the key profitability indicator RevPAR of the budget hotel (the average actual operating income generated by each rentable room) decreased by 5%.

Some media pointed out that the average profit per room industry of a budget hotel is only about 10 yuan per day.

【direction】

Turn to mid- to high-end hotels, personalized hotels

It is understood that at present, in order to find more profit points, many budget hotels are transforming into mid-end hotels.

“There is nothing wrong with the transition to a mid-end hotel, but it is not only a mid-end hotel, but a supporting facility and supporting services,” said Zhang Haiyang, general manager of Henan Yanyun Minghui Hotel Management Co., Ltd.

Home Inns has said that it will accelerate the promotion of the mid- to high-end hotel market, while developing B2B's "home alliance" platform, mobile micro-electronics platform, long-term rental apartments and other products.

The China Living Hotel Group has produced two differentiated mid-range brands. The all season hotel is a standardized room that emphasizes consistent quality service. Starway Hotel pays attention to the personality of the room, and each store presents different styles.

In addition, China Lodging Group will invest in apartments and shared office space.

Zhang Min, CEO of China Living Hotel Group, said that the market potential of the apartment is huge, estimated to exceed 1 trillion yuan. At the moment, this market is in a period of rapid growth, but the scale of the companies involved is not large enough.

【sound】

Regional hotels need to be differentiated

Then, under the new competitive landscape, how should regional brand hotels be transformed?

It is understood that there are strong capital backgrounds behind the well-known 7-day hotel chains, such as Home Inns, Hanting Hotels, Jinjiang Stars and other budget hotels.

Zhang Haiyang believes that there is a clear gap between local brands and national brands in terms of financial strength. “If local brands want to develop well, they must use capital strength and advanced management models to make up for their shortcomings.”

In Zhang Feng's view, in addition to borrowing capital from regional economic hotels, it is necessary to take a different approach and take the path of differentiated development.

It is reported that many mid-end boutique hotels have now developed towards the direction of intelligent integration. This is a trend that represents the demands of consumers. Taking Lifeng Hotel as an example, the introduction of intelligent curtains, music showers and other intelligent services has aroused praise from the outside world.

Now, Home Inns, Jinjiang Inn and others have begun to experiment with VR rooms, and hotels such as City 118 have launched robot services.

"Users' needs and industry competition have driven the hotel to an intelligent and integrated service era." Zhang Feng said.

Editor in charge: Jiang Xue