Huazhu Hotels Group


Huazhu Hotels Group Ltd, is a hotel management company in China. It was previously known in English as China Lodging Group Limited. The company head office is in Changning District, Shanghai.

History

The China Lodging/Hanting Inns business was established in 2005. The original company, Powerhill, was established in 2005, and the current Huazhu company was established in 2007. Ji Qi, the founder, stated that he got the idea to start the chain by reading a book discussing Accor Hotels. As of 2012 the company had four brands and about 1,000 properties in China.
In May 2015 the company announced that former President Jenny Zhang was to be appointed Chief Executive Officer. In 2017, Huazhu Hotel Group acquired Crystal Orange Hotel Group for CNY3.65 billion.
In January 2016 Huazhu and Accor Hotels finalize their strategic alliance.
In 2018 Huazhu Announces Acquisition of Blossom Hill Hotels & Resorts.
In August 2018, the company faced a major data breach, wherein millions of customer data was leaked and sold on the dark web.

Operations

The company brands include Hanting Inns and Hotels including Hanting Express ; Hi Inn ; JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Joya Hotel, and Manxin Hotels and Resorts. The company classifies Joya and Manxin as upscale brands, JI and Starway as midscale, and Hanting and Hi Inn as economy brands. Previously the sub-brands of Hanting Inns and Hotels were Hanting Seasons Hotel and Hanting Express Hotel, and Hanting Hi Inn.
Jiazhen Huo and Zhisheng Hong, authors of Service Science in China, wrote that the Hanting brand is promoted to be "similar to youth' hostels so as to meet the customer demands lower than its former market positioning."