Hyatt and BTG Homeinns launched a joint venture brand “UrCove”, mid-range hotels returned to rationality after the epidemic

UrCove Chengdu, Picture provided by interviewee

In the recovery period after the epidemic, domestic mid-range hotel brands began to exert strength. One thing in common is that they all began to pay more attention to investment efficiency.

On August 13, Hyatt Group and BTG Homeinns jointly announced the joint venture of the mid-to-high-end business travel hotel brand “UrCove”, announcing the opening of “double official website” reservations, which means that consumers can book in Hyatt or First Travel booking platform can book Yifei Hotel, and you can also choose any member account to accumulate points to connect the member traffic of the two major hotel groups for this new brand. In addition, the two parties announced that the first Yifei Hotel in Jing’an District, Shanghai will start booking on the same day (13th).

The management company responsible for the independent operation and development of the Yifei Hotel brand is a joint venture of Yusu Hotel Management Co., Ltd. established by an affiliate of Hyatt and Home Inns (China) Co., Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing BTG Hotel Group) .

Yan Chun, the chief development officer of Yusu Hotel Management, said that as the two groups’ brands tailored specifically for the Chinese market, it is estimated that the number of stores of Yifei Hotel will reach 300 within five years. According to market opportunities, it is expected that East China and South China will be opened. There are about 100 companies, and about 45 companies in the southwestern district, which will be deployed in business travel destinations and holiday destinations for business travelers.

Yan Chun said at the press conference, “The shops that can’t make money are hooligans.” “We will verify the profitability of Yifei Hotel’s business model in directly-operated stores, and then promote it to franchisees.” He told Jiemian News.

He introduced that the profitability of the brand will be reflected in two aspects: throttling and open source. In terms of cost control, the cost of building a single room at Yi Fei Hotel is RMB 160,000 to 180,000, and the operating cost of the night is controlled. It reduces the ratio of people to room through self-check-in at the front desk and multi-level training for lobby service personnel.

In terms of open source, Yi Fei will use the advantages accumulated by the Hyatt Group in catering to increase catering options and supplement room income. According to reports, in the future, Yifei Hotel will provide more than 130 varieties of buffet breakfast, and increase the service bar selling ice cream, craft beer, and healthy light meals. In addition, Yifei Hotel will combine the local culture and build the hotel scene into a community center, becoming a consumption place for surrounding communities and a link for residents to experience local culture during their journey.

Among the hotel projects that have been confirmed, two Yifei hotels will be opened in Nyingchi and Xigaze, Tibet. Yan Chun told Jiemian News that the selection of these two locations was based on the judgment of business travel customers’ vacation choices this year.

Data shows that in the first half of this year, Tibet received 8.33 million tourists, ranking first in the recovery rate of the national tourism market. “Mid-to-high-end customers who originally preferred to go abroad are more willing to go to destinations that are farther away and have different cultures and scenery during the normalization of epidemic prevention and control.” Yan Chun said.

Yan Chun said that in addition to the Yi Fei Hotel in Jing’an, Shanghai, Shanghai Wujiaochang, Shanghai Lujiazui Expo Center and Chengdu Yi Fei Hotel will also open soon. The Yifei store in Nanjing South Railway Station is also under construction and plans to open before the end of this year. At present, the number of signed hotels has exceeded ten.

The hardware equipment of Yifei Hotel mainly considers the consumption needs of business travelers, such as Sealy mattresses, Nespresso capsule coffee machines, Dyson hair dryers, sensory smart toilets, independent fresh air systems with PM2.5 level filters, and There is a 24-hour self-service gym and laundry room. The Yifei hotels in Nyingchi and Xigaze will be equipped with oxygen supply systems.

Different from some high-end hotel brands’ service philosophy of “treating guests as God”, Yi Fei Hotel’s philosophy is “treating guests as friends”.

“We don’t have a big front desk to separate guests and employees. The employees are all outside, and the islands are square. There are no exceptions. Including organizational structure, employee uniforms, and the way of greeting are different.” Yusu Hotel Sun Wu, CEO and Managing Director of Management Co., Ltd. introduced.

Yi Fei Hotel is just one of the personalized mid-range brands that began to work after the epidemic. Similar brands include Mora Hotels, a mid-range hotel brand incubated by Pattaya, advocating the life concept of “Lohas Healthy” And natural beauty. “Niche resonance has begun to become a trend of mass consumption.” Zheng Nanyan, founder of the Pattaya Group and co-founder and partner of Ocean Link, said in a recent interview.

In addition, Jianguo Puyin Hotel, a mid-to-high-end hotel brand launched by BTG Homeinns, has recently opened its first store, featuring “national style”, and is committed to building an “urban secluded space” that restores physical and mental balance. Sun Jian, general manager of BTG Homeinn Hotel Group, said at the previous press conference that BTG Homeinn will speed up the construction of mid-range hotels and build mid-to-high-end hotel clusters.

The “inner cycle” of consumption has brought a wave of domestic hotel and tourism product consumption demand upgrades, which is exactly the time for personalized mid-range hotels to quickly cut in.

“The trend towards mid-end is that hotels have begun to focus on the business nature of enterprises and think from the perspective of return on investment.” According to Xia Zifan, Vice President of Hanyue Hotel Group, “In the past, there were many products in the same market. The transformation is very serious, and there are too few products that can meet customer needs. We have to be thankful that the group has begun to focus on the essence of business.”

The chief consultant of Huamei Hotel, Zhao Huanyan, told Jiemian News that the industry believes that the domestic mid-range hotel market has become saturated, and new mid-range hotels are currently competing for the stock market. In addition, the experience economy will bring premiums to hotel operations, such as multi-element humanistic experience, a second space outside the guest room, and high-quality product elements beyond basic needs, such as innovative catering and health-related additional services.

Source: Interface News