Days Inn’s Development Path in China

Chen Jiacai

In June 2011, Days Inn China held its fourth general managers’ annual conference in Xi’an,capital city of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. With five new deals to build hotels,Days Inn is about to open its 100th hotel in China—so this annual conference marked a new starting point for the group.

Since Days Inn, a hotel group from the United States, entered the Chinese market in 2004, it has signed deals to build 99 hotels with more than 23,000 rooms in China. Covering 21 provinces,62 cities and four autonomous regions in China, it now boasts the youngest and fastest growing international hotel brand in the middle market.

Chen Jiacai, CEO of Days Inn China, talked about the development path of the group in China.

Market positioning

In China, Days Inn has fi ve brands of different star grades to satisfy various demands of its customers. What it attaches the most importance is the middle market. Since its entry to China, it has put its focus on the middle market.

This far-sightedness owes to Chen’s excellent knowledge of the Chinese market. With three decades’ experience in world renowned hotels chains, including Shangri-La, Mandarin and Holiday Inn and 24 years’ hotel management experience in China, he has formed unique insights into the Chinese hotel market.

“Many people think 5-star hotels and budget hotels have very bright prospects, but middle-level hotels don’t have much potential. I don’t think so.As far as I see it, high-end hotels are becoming increasingly costly. As a result, part of their customers will fl ee. On the other hand, the residential needs of business people are increasing and they have increasing budgets as well. In addition, most Chinese families prefer middle-level hotels while traveling,” said Chen.

Therefore, Days Inn gives top priority to middle-level hotels and business hotels in its development plan in China. China is a country with more than 600 cities, and middle-level hotels will surely see great success here, said Chen.

Based on this market positioning, the group has expanded in China’s second-tier cities and thirdtier cities. So far, it has entered several big business regions, including Chongqing, South China and Northeast China. In Chongqing alone, it already has 14 hotels.

Strong cohesion

At the annual conference in Xi’an, general managers from more than 40 hotels gathered together. “Days Inn advocates an open and forthright style. We hope everyone can be happy here and we are a big family,” said Chen during the conference.

The group can’t develop without local talent,said Chen. He attaches great importance to training at the management level.

Under the theme of “quality and valuepriced,” the conference set a series of forums for discussion, centering on how to enhance the group’s service quality through training resources. Such targeted annual conferences and training activities are welcomed by all the hotels of the group.

Brand building

The brand of Days Inn was created in the United States in 1970. Today, it has more than 160,000 rooms in 15 countries across the world.And it ranks fi fth in the global hotel brand list published byHotelsmagazine.

The core value of the group’s management is humaneness, concluded Chen. “To be specific,humane management means to provide humane service to customers. Each hotel must have a very clear mind about what the customer needs. Only in this way can we provide humane services to the customers.”

“Our beds must be comfortable, our showers must be strong and our breakfasts must be delicious,” said Chen.

He further introduced Days Inn’s advantages.Its price is not too high, which makes customers feel it’s a good value for money. There is also a VIP card plan to keep our customers, and these VIP cards can be universally used across the world.

Days Inn China is in rapid expansion and growth mode. This excellent performance owes to experienced hotel management professionals both domestic and international who understand the Chinese market and customer needs.

“We are con fi dent of our ability and we believe we have huge potential. We have given top priority to the middle hotel market for seven years in China and will continue with this positioning in the future, so as to maintain sound, top-quality development,” Chen said.