China Living Group Announces Merger of its Elan Brand and Hello Hotel

After the merger of Hello Hotel and Yilai, how to use the large chain's anti-fragility to build a new model will be the key.

On March 9, Huazhu Group officially announced the merger of its Yilai brand with Hello Hotel. After the completion of the transaction, Huazhu will give full play to the advantages of the large chain, empower small and medium-sized single hotels that have suffered a huge impact from the epidemic, and help them quickly resume production and operation, while realizing the entire process of upgrading and rebuilding the existing hotel market.

It is understood that in 2019, Hello Hotel has received a round A financing jointly invested by Huazhu and IDG. As of the end of 2019, the number of contracted hotels was 2,500. Elan is a subsidiary of Huazhu focusing on deep-cultivating small, medium and micro-economic single hotels. Management brand, by the end of 2019 the number of operating hotels exceeded 600.

The merger of Hello Hotel and Yilai means that Hello Hotel has officially crossed its investment relationship and entered the Huazhu brand matrix. The hotels of Hello Hotel will enjoy the corresponding chain benefits in the future; it also means that the hotel's soft brand (light joining) has fewer tracks With an independent brand, the integration of individual hotel stocks may enter the time of giant wrestling.

Ji Qi, founder, chairman and CEO of Huazhu Group, said: "In the fight against the epidemic, Huazhu's advantages as a major hotel chain group have been fully demonstrated. Through the merger of Yilai and Hello, we hope to use Huazhu's original creation. The commercial operating system empowers more individual hotels and continues to promote the transformation of existing hotels. While providing consumers with a better quality accommodation experience, it also allows individual hotels to improve their anti-risk capabilities, and ultimately build them in the light chain industry A replicable model of success. "

As one of the top ten hotel groups in the world, China has gradually formed a set of industry-leading, practical and effective unique business operating systems during its fifteen-year growth process: offline stores are hardware platforms; products and brands are built on hardware , Investment consultants, finance, members, marketing, revenue management, quality control, IT / AI, cloud services, supply chain, training, and other 12 efficient systems, empowering more than 6,000 of its stores. At present, the 12 core elements of Huazhu's commercial operating system can be combined and applied according to the individual differences of individual hotels. The most critical of these are the module of member flow, supply chain and operation management. The merger of Yilai and Hello Hotel is the combination of these key modules to achieve empowerment.

As one of Huazhu's important brands, Elan was positioned as a high-quality soft brand for small and medium-sized hotels since its establishment. Compared with Hanting, it has a different aesthetic and consistent quality. Beginning in the second half of 2019, it has entered a speed-up period of opening at a rate of 100 stores per month. By the end of 2019, the number of operating hotels had exceeded 600, becoming the group's management brand focusing on deep, medium, small, and micro-economic single hotel management.

The industry generally believes that the epidemic has provided the hotel industry with an opportunity to iteratively upgrade its products and services. The chain brand's ability to resist risks may accelerate the chain of individual hotels that survive the epidemic. The chaining rate of China's wine industry is expected to increase in the future. It has been effectively promoted; and the soft chain brand's pursuit of scale growth and neglect of the surface chain formed by operating capabilities will also be further refined by the market. This may be the best time for the Grand Hotel Group to enter.

It is worth noting that after the merger of Hello Hotel and Elan, the soft brand track lacked a relatively independent brand. The other side of the hotel group's strong investment is the disappearance and shock of the popular soft brand in 2019. At present, the soft brand track is still full of variables. It is not clear whether OYO 3.0 can save the decline of 2.0. At the same time, it is understood that Luyue's brand is no longer the main push brand, and OYU's OYU has also experienced mode adjustments. Without any profitability and difficulties in hematopoiesis, who will be the next brand to welcome new homes?