On November 27th, the performance conference for the third quarter of 2023 of Huazhu Group was held online.
The data shows that the net profit of Huazhu Group in the third quarter was RMB 1.3 billion; The revenue increased by 55.1% year-on-year and 15.8% month on month to 23.5 billion yuan; The revenue reached 6.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53.6% and a month on month increase of 14.5%. Overall, Huazhu's revenue for this quarter still exceeded expectations, and the company's profit growth elasticity was stronger than expected under relatively inert costs and expenses.
At the performance conference, Jin Hui, CEO of Huazhu Group, stated that due to the strong rise of the summer leisure tourism market and the recovery of business travel, Huazhu China continued to maintain a better recovery trend than the industry since the beginning of the year in the third quarter. Huazhu China RevPAR (average room rental revenue) has recovered to 129% of the same period in 2019.
According to financial report data, the group opened 545 new hotels in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 28%, and the number of hotels to be opened reached 2935. As of the end of the third quarter, Huazhu had a total of 9157 hotels in operation worldwide. Among the 9028 operating hotels in China, franchise stores account for 93%.
Since the beginning of this year, favorable policies have stimulated the continuous recovery of domestic consumption scenarios, and the demand for leisure tourism has surged. The summer cultural and tourism market has entered a "peak". As of the end of September 2023, 40% of the hotels operated by Huazhu Group are located in lower tier cities, and 55% of the hotels to be opened are distributed in lower tier cities, with a further increase in the proportion. In lower tier cities, the number of operating hotels in Huazhu has increased by 6% year-on-year to nearly 3600 stores, while the number of hotels waiting to open has increased by 20% year-on-year to over 1600. The number of cities covered by the company has further increased to 1217.
The third quarter financial report data shows that 55% of the hotels operated by Huazhu Group are economy oriented national hotels, and 37% are mid-range hotels; 37% of the hotels to be opened in the third quarter were economy oriented national hotels, and 48% were mid-range hotels. The proportion of mid-range hotels increased by 5 percentage points year-on-year; Among the newly opened hotels in the third quarter, 91% are economy oriented national and mid-range hotels. At the end of the third quarter, the Hanting brand of "National Hotel", which has been updated to version 3.5, had 3500 hotels in operation, becoming the largest hotel brand in China at present.
The all-season hotel, which carries the confidence of Eastern culture, had 1980 operating hotels by the end of the third quarter and recently welcomed the opening of its 2000th store. The mid-range brand Orange Hotel has launched a new 3.0 version, which not only attracts market attention to the concept of "living happily," "healthy," and "sustainable", but also promotes it to scene design, facility configuration, catering experience, etc. In the third quarter, Orange Hotel had 284 hotels waiting to open, becoming one of the hotel brands that received attention after Hanting and all season backup.
Huazhu has also made breakthroughs in the development of mid to high end hotels. As of September 30th, Huazhu Group has operated 605 high-end hotels, an increase of 18% year-on-year and 8% month on month; There are 357 mid to high end hotels waiting to open, with a year-on-year growth rate of 35% and a month on month growth rate of 13%. Among them, the wine to be opened
The accelerated growth in the number of stores reflects the continuously enhancing brand power of Huazhu's mid to high end hotel track, which also provides strong guarantees for the future development of Huazhu's mid to high end hotels.
This year, intercity hotels have opened several directly operated stores in areas such as Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. Financial report data shows that as of September 30th, the number of intercity hotels waiting to open has reached 41 stores; The number of orange crystals waiting to open has reached 108.