Following trends is not He Hongzhang's style. From his days as a college
tutor to his life today as an investor and the operator of an economy hotel
chain, he prefers to differentiate himself from everyone else.
As founder and chief executive officer of Top Star Hotel Management Group,
set up in September 2005, He has created a buzz in China's economy hotel market
by coming up with a new concept.
As its name, "feeling hotel" or "fotel" implies, all Top Star hotels, besides
offering bed and breakfast, are trying to appeal to business travellers' inner
desire to be cared for and appreciated by providing such facilities and services
as a "think garden," a theme blog, a Scandinavian-style interior design that's
simple and trendy, a separate glass-window shower room and in-room massages.
"It is a way to distinguish us from the other economy hotel chains," He said.
The economy hotel chains market is relatively new in China. The first real
budget hotel chain was Jinjiang Inn, which opened its first hotel in Shanghai in
1996. Since then, Home Inn and Motel 168 have joined the fray among the domestic
companies.
Jinjiang currently has 139 inns. Set up in 2002, Home Inn has 163 now but
expects to have 350 to 400 by 2008.
The major players so far among the international companies are Super 8 from
the United States, with 96 projects in 54 Chinese cities, with 26 inns already
opened, and Ibis, a brand licensed to Accor of France, which has three inns in
China currently but whose stated goal is 50 by 2010. Both opened their first
inns in China in 2004.
With the Olympics coming to Beijing in 2008, industry analysts say it is the
budget chains and hotels not the four- and five-star ones that will get the most
business and make the most profit.
Small wonder, then, that this industry is really starting to heat up.
Super 8 says it plans to have 68 at the end of this year.
It is against this backdrop that Top Star and He are
starting their "fotels."
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
