Recently, Homeinn held a U+ product launch event in Qingdao, announcing major strategies such as product upgrades. One detail stood out: the hotel brand under Homeinn—Homeinn Select—has introduced intelligent check-in features like WeChat-based door unlocking. What seems like a minor innovation actually reflects Homeinn’s further exploration and upgrade of the product experience in the mobile internet era.
From Offline to Online: Reverse O2O as a New Model for Customer Acquisition
1. By continuously improving their mature booking channels
2. By integrating branch resources, such as advertising displays, TVs, and WeChat-based door unlocking
3. By developing new profit models, such as "Stay at the hotel for free" via the U-SHOP mall
The ultimate goal is to enable branches to achieve greater profitability
By integrating branch advertising resources and selling advertisements to generate revenue for branches,
Customers’ own consumption (such as staying at the hotel for free) also brings revenue to branches
The mobile internet has not only triggered persistent integration within the traditional internet industry but has also introduced new variables and opportunities for competition in traditional sectors.
In the internet era, traditional hotels relied more on search engine keyword rankings and partnerships with OTAs like Ctrip for customer acquisition. However, as hotel brands scale up—for example, Homeinn achieved the performance of opening 1,000 stores in five years—the actual offline foot traffic has become very substantial. Yet, in the internet era, the value of this foot traffic has not been fully tapped. In the mobile internet era, traditional hotels can rely on launching mobile apps to achieve self-aggregation and self-guidance of traffic, thereby opening up another major marketing channel and platform.
Homeinn recognized this opportunity early on. As early as December 2013, it launched a hotel booking app and an official WeChat public account. At the same time, Homeinn’s headquarters bundled third-party OTA channels, third-party apps, and the Homeinn booking app into a unified resource package provided to branches for booking services. Through channel integration, the booking process at each branch became more convenient, multi-channel integration enriched the customer base, membership increased, and both occupancy rates and revenue at branches further improved.
Moreover, Homeinn transformed the traditional membership management model into a fan management model. Previously, the hotel industry managed customers mainly through membership cards, offering preferential treatment based on them. But apps and WeChat stores have given Homeinn more flexible ways to serve fans. For example, users who download the Homeinn app and make their first booking at a Homeinn Express Hotel can enjoy double points immediately, along with over 800 bonus points as an extra incentive. Points can be redeemed for prizes on the official Homeinn website, including stationery, mouse pads, and even free rooms for customers to choose from.
It’s clear that through new mobile channels, Homeinn can engage users with low-cost, high-frequency promotions and convert some of them into membership card users, driving higher revenue. More importantly, in the mobile internet space, there is no so-called “number one” in the hotel industry—all hotel brands are essentially on the same starting line. As a "latecomer," Homeinn once again has the opportunity to "corner overtaking." This is also a key reason why Homeinn is actively focusing on the mobile front.
Win-Win Cooperation: Integrating Industry Chain Resources with an Open and Shared Spirit
The biggest challenges in the current hotel industry are not only rising costs such as labor and renovation, but more importantly, the industry has long been stuck in the quagmire of "price wars." Homogenized competition is severe, and the key competitive factor is price rather than quality service or sufficient brand premium.
Homeinn strives to break this deadlock through differentiated innovation. And the mobile internet actually provides the most important opportunity. According to Ma Yingyao, Chairman of Homeinn Group, Homeinn will collaborate with other hotel brands to allow users to book rooms from multiple hotel brands through the Homeinn app, providing consumers with one-stop accommodation and other consumption services.
This also signals a new industry outlook: hotel brands of different levels and diversities, guided by an open spirit, leverage mobile internet tools to collaborate and build a large-scale hotel industry platform grounded in the hotel business itself.
Ma Yingyao proposed this vision and told reporters that Homeinn hopes to promote this process and will not seek dominance over the platform. He hopes the industry ecosystem can be more open, more collaborative and win-win, rather than engaging in homogenized, bloody competition.
At the Homeinn U+ product launch event, Homeinn also initiated brand collaborations with five industry giants: Haier, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Alitrip・Qunar, Red Star Macalline, and Yunyou Technology. These strong partnerships aim to create new competitive advantages and explore new opportunities for the development of the hotel industry.
“You have to stand high to see far.” The mobile internet is not just a tool; more importantly, in the wave of connecting everything, the links between various links in the industry chain have become unprecedentedly close. If one’s vision remains confined to oneself or to the short term and local context, not only will opportunities be missed, but one may also be pushed into a deeper quagmire. Homeinn has already stepped onto the path of breaking the deadlock, and will go even further.