Beijing, July 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On the afternoon of July 6, the China Hotel Alliance Development Conference, jointly organized by six major hotel groups — City Celebrity, Huatian, Kaiyuan, New Beacon, Shuguang, and Yuehai — was held at the Kaiyuan Mingdu Hotel in Beijing. During the event, the six parties signed a strategic cooperation agreement and announced the establishment“of a Hotel Alliance”, and innovatively proposed the creation of an independently operated alliance platform to engage in in-depth cooperation in member sharing and joint room booking. This aims to provide comprehensive online and offline services to members of all parties and jointly usher in a brand-new era of hotel alliances. Over 100 guests attended the conference, including representatives from government departments, industry associations, the six hotel groups, the hotel industry, and major mainstream media.
The scene at the China Hotel Alliance Development Conference
The conference officially began at 3:00 PM, hosted by Qiao Yi, founder and CEO of迈点网 (Meadin.com). Mr. Chen Canrong, President of Kaiyuan Tourism Group, delivered the opening welcome speech. He pointed out that in today’s world, it has become an obvious trend for hotels to choose alliance cooperation. The demand for tourism and travel among the public continues to grow, and the hotel industry is showing a thriving development momentum. However, the level of chain operation in China’s hotel industry is very low, especially for high-star hotels. Although there are tens of thousands of such hotels nationwide, the development of major hotel groups remains highly regional. As a result, although each hotel group has established a central marketing platform and a loyalty customer system, the coverage of individual hotel groups is far from meeting the travel and business needs of their members. Therefore, forming alliances among hotel groups to achieve resource sharing and create a combined effect of 1+1>2 has become the dream of countless hotel professionals. In September 2014, Kaiyuan Hotels Group took the lead in initiating an alliance partnership with City Celebrity Hotels Group. The two parties achieved resource sharing through technology integration, attaining certain collaborative results. The original intention behind establishing the Hotel Alliance is first and foremost for the benefit of hotel guests, ensuring they can enjoy a consistent service experience and a convenient, pleasant stay in cities across the country, while also maximizing the value of membership benefits across all major hotel groups. Secondly, it aims to realize complementary strengths, resource sharing, and regional layout among the various hotel groups, seizing the golden opportunity presented by the booming tourism industry. Lastly, it is also intended to foster better cooperation and coordination between the major hotel groups and online hotel booking platforms, achieving harmonious mutual success.
The High-Level Forum on the “Path of Cooperative Development for Hotel Alliances”
The first activity was a high-level forum themed “The Path of Cooperative Development for Hotel Alliances.” Du Juexiang, Secretary-General of the Zhejiang Hotel Association, served as the moderator. Six hotel industry leaders — Chen Xianwei, President of City Celebrity Hotels Group; Wu Liping, General Manager of Huatian Hotels Group; Chen Miaoqiang, General Manager of Kaiyuan Hotels Group; Ji Xiaodong, CEO of New Beacon Hotels Group; Wang Weixing, President of Shuguang Hotels Group; and Wang Wei, General Manager of Yuehai International Hotels Group — engaged in an open dialogue and exchange of ideas. Key topics included the reasons for forming the hotel alliance, the changes and impacts brought by the alliance, various alliance models, the innovation of the decentralized new mesh-structured alliance formed by the six major hotel groups, and the operational model of the mesh-structured hotel alliance. Through the in-depth discussions and detailed explanations by the panelists, attendees gained a clearer understanding of the purpose and original intention behind the establishment of this new type of hotel alliance by the six major hotel groups, as well as how this mesh-structured alliance skillfully applies internet thinking.
The second activity was the most exciting segment of the conference — the alliance cooperation signing ceremony. The six hotel industry leaders who participated in the forum stepped onto the stage to represent their respective hotel groups. Under the witness of industry association leaders and media reporters, they signed the alliance cooperation agreement. This marked the formal establishment of the Hotel Alliance by the six major hotel groups, signifying that traditional hotels are truly embracing the internet and entering a comprehensive transformation phase with an open and shared user-centric mindset.
The six major hotel groups sign a strategic cooperation agreement
The third activity featured Fu Quanyong, General Manager of Jinshanzi Network Technology Company, who presented the alliance’s development model and work path. He first discussed the background of the alliance’s establishment, pointing out that the alliance is essentially a membership value platform. Through the effective operation of this platform, it aims to bring added value to all alliance members, enabling shared member-exclusive pricing and mutual recognition of benefits, consolidating scattered points to achieve great value from small points. He then provided a detailed explanation on the mechanism construction of the alliance, key operational aspects, the O2O technical platform of the alliance, and the future of the alliance. He stated that the alliance will also engage in comprehensive cooperation with companies such as Tencent and Alitrip (a part of Alibaba), and through capital integration, establish a robust technical service platform. General Manager Fu Quanyong believes that under the current “Internet+” environment, the innovative establishment of a mesh cooperation model by the six hotel groups, using a third-party independently operated platform to connect resources within the alliance, will undoubtedly present a brand-new landscape for the hotel industry.
Zhang Rungang, President of the China Tourism Hotels Association, then took the stage to speak. He expressed high recognition and support for the establishment of the alliance by the six major hotel groups. President Zhang cited examples such as international hotel groups vigorously developing their online businesses and the Swiss Hotel Management School (EHL) setting up online courses, illustrating that the traditional concept of hotel products being simply hardware plus software is outdated. Nowadays, hotel products should include both online and offline components, with the offline component encompassing hardware and software. The core competitiveness of the hotel industry now lies in customer relationships and big data. Hotels have evolved from being tied by capital, to being tied by brand, and now to the third form — being tied by online customer relationships. The full launch of the China Hotel Alliance’s operational platform is a valuable attempt to align with this industry trend, and he is very optimistic about the future of this endeavor.
The final activity was the launching ceremony of the alliance cooperation. President Zhang Rungang, Chen Xianwei, President of City Celebrity Hotels Group, Chen Jiming, Chairman of Huatian Industrial Holdings Group, Chen Miaolin, Chairman of Kaiyuan Tourism Group, Wu Bin, Chairman of New Beacon Hotels Group, Jiang Huiping, Chairman of Shuguang Holdings Group, and Liu Jian, Chairman of Yuehai International Hotels Group — seven distinguished guests — together poured champagne into a tower to celebrate the full launch of the China Hotel Alliance’s operational platform. The China Hotel Alliance Conference and the strategic cooperation signing ceremony of the six major hotel groups were a resounding success. This marks a great moment in the history of China’s hotel industry development, signifying that the Chinese hotel alliance model has entered a brand-new “Internet+” era. After the event, media reporters conducted on-site interviews with guests such as Chen Miaoqiang, General Manager of Kaiyuan Hotels Group. The organizers held a thank-you dinner at the Beijing Kaiyuan Mingdu Hotel, where Chen Miaolin, Chairman of Kaiyuan Tourism Group, delivered a toast.
Chen Miaoqiang, General Manager of Kaiyuan Hotels Group, gives an on-site media interview
Following the cooperation among the six major hotel groups, the alliance now includes 250 open mid-to-high-end hotels with 75,000 rooms, covering major business and tourist destination cities in China. The total membership within the alliance has reached 5 million, making up China’s highest-quality pool of premium hotel clientele. The alliance will also engage in comprehensive cooperation with companies such as Tencent, Alitrip, YeePay, Zhonghui, and Travelsky Travel Agency Network. Through capital integration, it aims to establish a powerful technical service platform. The alliance plans to develop over 50 mid-to-high-end hotel groups within the next three years, with more than 1,500 hotels and over 50 million members, creating a membership value platform that integrates online and offline services.
These are an inspiring set of figures and an ambitious plan that shakes the hotel industry.“In the new era of Internet+”, today marks a solid step forward in the development history of China’s hotel industry — a hopeful step, a historic milestone, and one that will surely be successful and glorious.