[photopress:topstarhotel.jpg,full,alignright]He Hongzhang, founder and chief executive officer of Top Star Hotel Management Group, set up in September 2005, has started a new direction in China’s economy hotel market.
All Top Star hotels, besides offering bed and breakfast, are trying to appeal to business travellers’ desire to be cared for and appreciated by providing such facilities and services as a ‘think garden,’ a theme blog, a Scandinavian-style interior design that’s simple and trendy, a separate glass-window shower room and in-room massages.
He Hongzhang said, ‘It is a way to distinguish us from the other economy hotel chains.’
The economy hotel chains market is relatively new in China. The first real budget hotel chain was Jinjiang Inn, which opened its first hotel in Shanghai in 1996. Since then, Home Inn and Motel 168 have also opened budget hotels.
Set up in 2002, Home Inn has 163 now but expects to have 350 to 400 by 2008. With the Olympics coming to Beijing in 2008, industry analysts say it is the budget chains and hotels not the four- and five-star ones that will get the most business and make the most profit.
There is a blog element to these hotels. Top Star will put up a hotel-related topic on http://www.blogcn.com for discussion by users who register on the website. One month later when the topic is closed, the 10 blogcn users whose posts get the most hits will get prizes such as a free stay in a Top Star hotel or a Top Star VIP membership.
So far, more than 30,000 posts have been logged on the glassed shower ‘room’ concept, for example. Each room, separate from the toilet, is cylindrical, with the walls made of glass.
He concedes that Top Star’s room rate is a little higher, which is about RMB200 to 300 ($25.32-37.97) in major cities, and RMB150 to 200 ($18.99-25.32) in secondary cities.
Source: China Daily
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