Huazhu Hotels Group

Huazhu Hotels Group Ltd (NASDAQ: HTHT；01179.HK )() is a hotel management company in China. In 2021, it was ranked the 7th largest hotel group in the world. As of June 2020, Huazhu Hotels Group operates 6,187 properties in 16 countries around the world. It was previously known as China Lodging Group Limited. The company's head office is located in Minhang District, Shanghai.

Founder

Qi Ji is the founder and CEO of Huazhu Hotels Group, travel booking site Ctrip (NASDAQ:CTRP), and Home INNS & HOTELS MANAGEMENT INC (NASDAQ:HMIN). In 2020, he was ranked as #178 on Billionaires 2021 and #178 on the China Rich List 2020.

History

The China Lodging/Hanting Inns business was established in 2005. The original company, Powerhill, was established in 2005, and the current Huazhu company was established in 2007.Investor FAQs

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The first Hotel of Huazhu Hotels Group opened at Kunshan Railway Station for trial operation in August 2005.

Ji Qi (), the founder, stated that he got the idea to start the chain by reading a book discussing Accor Hotels. As of 2012, the company had four brands and about 1,000 properties in China.

In August 2005, the first Hanting Hotel opened at Kunshan Railway Station.

In July 2007, Hanting completed the first round of financing of $85 million.

In March 2010, Hanting was successfully listed on NASDAQ.

In November 2012, "Hanting Hotel Group" changed its name to "Huazhu Hotels Group."

In July 2013, Huazhu Hotels Group operated hotels in more than 200 cities.

In December 2014, Huazhu Hotels Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) signed a long-term strategic alliance agreement with Accor in France. They finalized their strategic alliance in January 2016.

In May 2015, the company announced that former President Jenny Zhang would be appointed chief executive officer.

In 2017, Huazhu Hotel Group acquired Crystal Orange Hotel Group for CNY3.65 billion. In 2018, Huazhu also acquired Blossom Hill Hotels & Resorts.

In August 2018, the company faced a major data breach, where millions of customer data was leaked and sold on the dark web.

In November 2019, the company announced that one of their subsidiaries purchased Deutsche Hospitality for 700 million euros.

Corporate affairs

The company's head office is located in Minhang District, Shanghai.

The company head office formerly was in Changning District, Shanghai.

Huazhu means China Lodging (simplified Chinese:中华住宿) in Chinese, which means the representation of the Hotel Industry in China.

Huazhu Brands

Huazhu Hotels Group operated more than 25 different Hotel Brands around 16 countries that cover from Luxury to Economy.

Recognition

According to the data from Hospitality ON, Huazhu Hotels Group ranked as No.4 highest value Hotel Group around the world in 2021.

Partnership with

Accor

On December 15, 2014, Huazhu signed a long-term strategic alliance agreement with Accor to jointly expand its hotel business in China. According to the agreement, Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis Style and Ibis will be operated by Huazhu in China and Mongolia.

Accor and Huazhu will continue to develop the successful partnership that started in January 2016. Under franchise agreements, 300 economy and middle-scale hotels have opened in China, mainly under the Ibis, Novotel, and Mercure brands. Over the next three years, more than 200 properties are planned to open.

Purchase of Deutsche Hospitality

China Lodging Holding Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huazhu Hotels Group, has acquired 100% equity interest in Deutsche Hospitality (DH).

Deutsche Hotels Group (DH) is a German hotel group with more than 10,500 employees. Its five major hotel brands include Steigenberger Icon, Steigenberger Prosche Design Hotel, Steigenberger Hotels & Resort, MAXX by Deutsche Hospitality, IntercityHotel, House of Beats, Jaz in the City, and Zleep.

DH is distributed in 19 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, such as Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Steigenberger Hotel, located in Davos, Switzerland, is the annual World Economic Forum's main venue and reception hotel (also known as "Davos Forum"). Its high-quality reception service enjoys a high reputation in the world.

Incidents of Huazhu Hotels

On August 28, 2018, it was reported that user data belonging to Huazhu Group was sold on the darknet. An official of Huazhu Group responded to the incident, saying, "We have called the police. However, the authenticity can not be verified at present, and our information security department is in urgent processing." On September 17, 2018, Huazhu Group made an official statement to the public and reported the case to the public security organ. According to the general security authorities, the issue has been solved. The suspects took advantage of the public opinion to carry out extortion attempts. Whether the suspects' claims on the dark web are valid or not will be officially released after the investigation is completed.

Financial results

See also

*

References

* Ruetz, David and Macy Marvel. "Budget Hotels: Low Cost Concepts in the U.S., Europe and Asia." In: Conrady, Roland and Martin Buck. ''Trends and Issues in Global Tourism 2011'' (Volume 0 of Trends and Issues in Global Tourism). Springer Science & Business Media, February 4, 2011. Start p. 99. , 9783642177675.

Notes

External links

Huazhu Hotels Group Ltd
- Site for all hotel brands

China Lodging Group Limited
(Investor site, in English)

Hanting Inns


China Lodging Group, Ltd
at Google Finance

{{Hotel chains

Companies based in Shanghai
Chinese companies established in 2005
Hotels established in 2005
Hospitality companies of China
Hospitality companies
Hotel chains in China
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Chinese brands
Hospitality companies established in 2005