Zheng Nanyan, Chairman of Plateno Hotels Group
Zheng Nanyan: Breaking the Competitive Logic of Traditional Hotel Industry!
(by Zhou Feixia, MyDotNet) Innovation is synonymous with Zheng Nanyan, and his understanding of innovation has always been refreshingly unique."The best state for a company is to be slightly chaotic. Tencent has the ability to achieve disruptive innovation amid chaos. Well-organized companies won’t innovate."
This inherent restlessness deeply rooted in him and his company is also the reason behind 7 Days’ privatization: "As a listed company, there are many things we want to do, but due to the special status of being public, we lack a certain level of flexibility. 7 Days has now achieved healthy and rapid growth, but beyond 7 Days, we want to do more things that are more technical and innovative." Therefore, on the day Plateno Group was established this July, in addition to fully owning 7 Days, they also launched multiple mid-to-high-end hotel brand subsidiaries at once, including Plateno Fino, Lavande, U? and MAX.
After privatization, adjustments, research, and a bit of "chaos," the entire business direction underwent a disruptive change: from making "products" to building "brands"; from running "hotels" to creating a "hotel brand entrepreneurship platform"; from managing an "information system backend" to operating a "membership platform"; from "letting employees take initiative" to "letting hotel brand founder teams take initiative"; and from the traditional competitive logic of "starting with directly operated stores, then franchised ones" to "brand first, no directly operated stores, go straight to franchising."
7 Days: Finding "Blue Ocean" in the "Red Sea"
Plateno: Overturning the Traditional Hotel Industry to Pioneer a "Blue Ocean"
It’s an undisputed fact that the hotel industry is oversupplied. However, just as 7 Days once "found a blue ocean in a red sea," Zheng Nanyan is now thinking about carving out a share in new territories. In his view, no matter how the hotel industry evolves, new blue oceans always exist. The current competition in the mid-range hotel market hinges on "who can first discover the brand capability to communicate with consumers."
In 2006, there were over 50 national economy hotel brands, with more than 1,000 stores opened. Everyone was competing for properties in prime locations, driving up property costs by 29%, and even by 40% in Beijing and Shanghai. 7 Days was founded in 2004 and opened its first store in 2005. It managed to leap over the "red sea" and find a "regional blue ocean," and has since opened nearly 2,000 7 Days hotels, during which it also set the miracle of going public within four years. According to the latest industry financial report data as of September 30 this year, 7 Days Inn has successfully leapt to the top in terms of scale, becoming the largest economy hotel brand in China.
Nowadays, the mid-range hotel market is just like the early days of the economy hotel market competition, with various players showcasing their strengths. However, currently, many people in the mid-range hotel sector don’t know what they want, nor do they know what consumers want, leaving the path of competition unclear.
The hotel industry is a slow-moving one. You can’t wait until the trend has already been revealed before you start acting. You need to slowly work on it 3–5 years in advance, so that by the time everyone accepts it and the trend breaks, your stores are already everywhere. That’s the way to do it.
—— Zheng Nanyan
Nowadays, Plateno is tapping into its own strengths, researching and forming three core platform-based competitive capabilities centered around the "membership platform," "brand leadership," and "self-motivation." Such a business model is not even afraid to be promoted or copied. "Others can’t replicate it, and even if they do, they won’t be able to operate such a platform," Zheng Nanyan confidently revealed.
Although apart from Plateno Fino, the other new brand subsidiaries didn’t even have fixed offices when the group was first established. Yet, even without a single directly operated store or concept store, these four newly launched mid-to-high-end hotel brands under Plateno have in just four months genuinely secured nearly 50 signed hotels, with over 80% of them being new franchisees. Franchisees who came from the original 7 Days system currently account for no more than 20%. This miracle was achieved thanks to the "platform" that Zheng Nanyan mentioned.
So, what exactly is this platform?