Just after Huazhu Group went public for the second time in Hong Kong and was about to accelerate its expansion in China, the founder and CEO of Huazhu Group, known as the "Godfather of Entrepreneurship", Ji Qi chose to step down again. CEO, and this is the third time Ji Qi stepped down as CEO. Throughout the history of Huazhu’s development, it is found that Huazhu has undergone different stages of adjustments from when Ji Qi became CEO to when he stepped down as CEO. What kind of changes has Huazhu this time? In the end, what kind of path Huazhu will take in the future cannot help but arouse the attention of the industry.
"The Godfather of Entrepreneurship" steps down as CEO
On the evening of September 16, a message of "Ji Qi stepping down as CEO" suddenly appeared in the travel circle.
In response to this, Huazhu Group stated that Ji Qi will step down as the CEO of Huazhu Group on October 1, 2021 due to personal reasons. After resigning, Ji Qi will remain as the chairman of the board of directors of the company, and will focus on the formulation of the company's long-term strategy and the exploration of business innovation in the future.
At the same time, Huazhu also made a series of personnel changes. Huazhu Group also announced that, after review and approval by the company’s board of directors, from October 1, 2021, Jinhui will be appointed as the CEO of Huazhu Group and will be responsible for the daily operation and management of Huazhu Group; Liu Xinxin has been appointed as Huazhu Group. The president of Huazhu Group, together with Jinhui, formed the new management of Huazhu Group.
According to public information, Jinhui joined Huazhu Group in 2005 and successively served as Head of Development Department, Vice President, Executive Vice President and President of Huazhu Group. Liu Xinxin joined Huazhu Group in 2012 and successively served as Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer of Huazhu Group. At the same time, Liu Xinxin is also the founder and CEO of Mengguang Information Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Huazhu Group.
Regarding this personnel adjustment, Ji Qi said: "Huazhu Group will form a management team with Jinhui and Liu Xinxin as the core, give full play to collective wisdom, and promote the implementation of the group strategy. Looking forward to the future they will lead the team to work together with a new look Towards a new journey."
Sudden changes in personnel can not help but also arouse widespread concern in the industry.Will Huazhu change its previous development strategy? In this regard, the Huazhu Group said that since the beginning of this year, the Huazhu Group has achieved a stable recovery in operating performance. In the second quarter of 2021, the hotel revenue of China Lodging Group increased by 97.8% year-on-year to RMB 13.1 billion, and net income increased by 83.7% year-on-year to RMB 3.6 billion. In the future, Huazhu will continue to implement its strategy to further penetrate low-tier cities, accelerate the development of mid-to-high-end markets, upgrade the organization and introduce talents in order to maintain long-term stable growth.
However, from the perspective of industry insiders, Ji Qi’s resignation as CEO is more like a kind of control behind the scenes. After all, Ji Qi still serves as the chairman of Huazhu Group, and Huazhu’s executive has become With Jinhui, I believe that there will not be much change in the overall strategy.
Behind the three advances and retreats
In fact, this is not the first time Ji Qi has stepped down as the CEO of Huazhu. In the first two steps as CEO, Huazhu has also undergone two strategic adjustments, and this seems to have been It has become a "habit" of Huazhu, and what does Ji Qi's resignation mean to Huazhu this time?
It is understood that Ji Qi founded Huazhu in 2005 and served as the CEO of Huazhu for the first time until August 2009. Driven by the dividends of budget hotel brands, Hanting has indeed ushered in rapid development. On the eve of Hanting Hotel Group’s listing of and NASDAQ, Ji Qi also chose to step down as CEO for the first time. At that time, Zhang Tuo took over. After that, Hanting continued Ji Qi's previous style and went public in 2010, ushering in a bright moment. In the same year, Hanting·Jiji also officially upgraded to a mid-range hotel brand, Jiji Hotel.
However, the "leisure" time is short. In 2011, with the decline of Hanting's net profit, the decline in market value, and the "encirclement and suppression" of rivals such as , such as and 7 days, retreated behind the scenes. Qi had to re-elect as CEO and hold the banner. From January 2012 to May 2015, Ji Qi once again served as the CEO of Huazhu. At that time, after Ji Qi became CEO, he quickly sorted out the brand front and established the brand matrix of Xiyue, Quanji, Starway , Hanting, Haiyou, etc.And cover the price range from 100 yuan to 1,000 yuan. At the same time, China Lodging has gradually adjusted its focus on budget hotels to mid-range hotels, even betting on the two mid-range hotel brands "All Season" and the acquired "Starway", and also established the All Season Independent Brand Division. After these businesses stepped onto the right track, Ji Qi once again chose to step down as CEO, and Zhang Min, who had an overseas background, became the new CEO of Huazhu Group.
After Zhang Min took office, Huazhu Group is accelerating its expansion and launching an international strategy. At that time, due to the slowdown in global economic growth, Huazhu was also under pressure from performance growth. Afterwards, at the end of 2019, Zhang Min stepped down and Ji Qi once again returned to the long-lost CEO position.
Coincidentally, not long after Ji Qi returned to CEO, the entire market experienced the "black swan" of the epidemic, and various hotel groups were also facing a huge impact, and China Lodging Group also had to adjust its strategy and refocus its focus. To the domestic market. In November 2020, at the fourth stop of the "China New Trends Forum and 2020 Huazhu World Conference" held in Beijing, Huazhu Group also put forward the slogan of "heavy warehouse" in the Chinese market. "Ji Qi's third outing is more like coming out to preside over the overall situation when he is in danger, and after he has brought his business to the right track, he chooses to retreat to the'second line'". An industry insider close to Huazhu pointed out the analysis.
chose Jin Hui, who had pioneered and witnessed the expansion of Huazhu’s territory from the first store to more than 7,000 stores, to take over as CEO. His role is more like a kind of "Wanjia Denghuo" and "Shigecang China" proposed by Ji Qi Continuation, because Jinhui has another identity, that is, the CEO of Huazhu China. And Liu Xinxin, who had served as chief information officer and chief digital officer, was appointed president of Huazhu Group. This also shows that Huazhu Group will also spend more thoughts on digital development.
Market competition still exists
Although Huazhu Group is close to the goal of "Wanjia Denghuo", and completed the second listing in Hong Kong. But even so, Huazhu still faces many challenges in the face of the ever-changing market and crowded tracks.
"After Jinhui took office as the CEO of Huazhu Group, it must be more focused on expansion, and how Huazhu will consolidate the economy hotel Hanting, how to accelerate the development of mid-to-high-end hotels, and promote the landing of high-end brands in China? The next important task." Industry insiders pointed out.
In terms of budget hotels, Huazhu’s Hanting not only faces competition from old brands such as Jinjiang, 7 Days, and Home Inns, but also faces a share in hotels such as Shangmei Group. In addition, in terms of mid-to-high-end hotels, several large chain hotel groups are even more intractable in terms of multi-brand development.
In terms of high-end hotels, China Lodging also faces the question of further landing the high-end hotel brand of Deutsche Hotel Group (DH Hotel Group), which will be acquired overseas, and its original brand, Huajiantang, and expanding its market share. Obviously, as the epidemic situation changes and the market is full of uncertainties, it is not easy for Huazhu to expand and increase revenue, and ultimately increase its market value.
Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge officer and senior economist of Huamei Consulting Group, believes that the current competition of hotel groups is a competition of core competitiveness, and the first is the competition of the reservation system. From this point of view, Huazhu still has an advantage, but it can Whether or not to maintain and how Huazhu will accelerate the sinking of the market and develop high-end brands in the future still need to make great efforts to think about it. And all this is also full of variables.
Beijing Commercial Daily reporter Guan Zichen and Wu Qiyun
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