Jinjiang Inn
Jinjiang Inn, one of China’s largest budget hotel chains, said it will open a new hotel under a separate brand name, Bestay, to capture the growing number of business travelers with ever tightening budgets.
Jinjiang said that it has plans to open at least 30 Bestay hotels in 2009, with the first one to be launched in Beijing early this year.
Like many other large hotel chains around the world, Jinjiang Inn has been hit hard by the global economic downturn as shrinking profits are forcing many corporations to cut their travel budgets. The traditional budget hotels occupy the segment of the market that has taken the most severe blow.
In December 2008, Jinjiang Inn, which manages 350 budget hotels in 95 Chinese cities, reported a 30% drop in sales from a year earlier.
The average daily room rate at Bestay’s hotels, at RMB150 ($22), will be about 30% lower than that of Jinjiang Inn.
Source: China Daily