Hilton takes pandemic in its stride as domestic market booms

While the global economy, especially tourism, has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, global hospitality company Hilton still performed well in the domestic market.

Around 70-80 hotels that belong to Hilton have opened in China this year, while another eight to nine hotels will open their doors by the end of the year, according to Huang Jie, senior vice-president and commercial director for Hilton Greater China and Mongolia.

Including the just-opened DoubleTree by Hilton Yingde Resort in Yingde, Guangdong province, and the upcoming Hilton Hainan Ocean Flower Island in Danzhou, Hainan province, Hilton's target is to have a total of 300 hotels by the end of the year, Huang pointed out.

"Ten out of our 18 hotel brands have been introduced to the nation after launching the hotel Tapestry in Taipei, Taiwan this year," Huang said.

"The pandemic has also provided opportunities for us. A trend is showing that investors and proprietors are willing to cooperate with well-known brands such as Hilton while consumers care more about the cleanliness and sanitation of a hotel after the outbreak," she added.

Apart from the increasing number of Hilton-owned hotels, the booking rate has been recovering rapidly since April.

"The recovery of sales is helped by the internal circulation, while many travelers who used to travel outside the country have begun to explore the destinations inside the country," Huang said.

Huang pointed out that the sales of hotel rooms in the Tibet autonomous region, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and Northwest China are extraordinary.

"The sales in Sanya have already resumed to the level of last year during summer, followed by surging reservations during the National Day holiday in October that even surpassed the performance in the average rate and occupancy rate last year," she added.

As part of the plan, Hilton is aiming to open 1,000 hotels in China by 2025 and Huang is confident about the target. "When we set the goal four years ago, we had only around 100 hotels in China, but we believe that the market here is big," Huang said.

According to Huang, to introduce the rest of the brands owned by Hilton to the Chinese market is one of the company's focuses for the future. Others include expanding and upgrading the middle-level brands, such as Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn.

"We will continue to open high-end hotels in popular destinations, such as Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Jiuzhaigou Valley in Sichuan province," Huang added.

Huang also explained that she was not worried about the pandemic affecting the tourism industry.

"We call the current condition the new normal and our life may be like this for a while but if you look at the newly reported cases in Beijing and Shanghai recently, we found that the tension felt by people has been reduced a lot," she said.

"When having new confirmed cases, there must be some short-term impact on the market. But I think the current situation is only temporary. It is only a matter of time to completely control the virus," Huang said.

According to online travel platform Ctrip, the number of hotels listed in September this year decreased by 163,000 compared with that of last year. It is estimated that the number of hotels closed in 2020 would reach 150,000.

The founder of hotel chain Huazhu Group, Ji Qi, said at the Huazhu World Convention in Shanghai on Dec 8, that its hotel brands will grow rapidly in the future and will transfer from single hotels to hotel chains.

Also, more people will use hotels as investment tools in the future and the Chinese market is full of potential, Ji pointed out.