High-end hotels are densely populated in Star City, and tourist hotels are on the rise.
The pace of foreign brands has slowed down, and the transformation of local hotels has become closer to the people.
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Six high-end hotels have settled in Changsha this year, including Howard Johnson Xiangjiang Hotel (Figure ①), Rui J Hotel Hotel (Figure ②), Grand Hyatt Changsha Hotel (Figure ③) and Courtyard by Marriott China Construction. (data picture)
On December 8th, Four Points by Sheraton Changsha BBK Hotel officially welcomed guests, which was invested and built by the local commercial tycoon BBK Group in Hunan.
Since the opening of Sheraton Changsha Hotel in 2007, international high-end hotels have entered the Changsha market for ten years. This year, Changsha once again ushered in the intensive opening of high-end hotels.
According to the Report on Market Competition Situation of Changsha Hotel Industry in China from 2017 to 2022, in recent years, the situation that the occupancy rate of domestic star-rated hotels continues to decline due to the economic downturn is being alleviated, among which the occupancy rate of five-star hotels has achieved positive growth year-on-year. In such fierce market competition, how can we stand out?
■ Sanxiang Metropolis Daily trainee reporter Chen Kezhen reporter Zhu Rong
phenomenon
Changsha high-end hotels welcome the opening tide
"After the opening of Four Points by Sheraton Changsha BBK, marriott international’s brand camp in Changsha will be increased to five, thus bringing more diversified choices to Changsha consumers." On December 8th, Huo Rishen, vice president of brand promotion in marriott international Asia Pacific, said. It is understood that the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel opened this time has a total of 279 rooms, with a total meeting space of more than 2017 square meters. It is the second Marriott Group brand hotel opened in Xiangjiang New District. Last September, Jinmao Luxury Hotel in Meixi Lake, Changsha, invested by China Jinmao Group and managed by Marriott International Hotel Group, officially opened.
According to the incomplete statistics of Sanxiang Metropolis Daily reporter, six high-end hotels have settled in Changsha this year, including Grand Hyatt Changsha, Rui J Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott China Construction and Howard Johnson Xiangjiang Hotel. "There are many high-end hotels, and even the buffets are dazzling. I don’t know which one to choose." Mr. Wang, a buffet fan of Changsha Hotel, is so emotional.
It is worth noting that according to the opening information of Sheraton’s official website, by 2020, the number of hotels under the brand in Hunan will increase to 11, among which Changsha, the provincial capital, will occupy 7, and there are four international brand hotels in Meixi Lake area alone: Luxury Select, Le Meridien Resort, Four Points by Sheraton and Marriott.
In addition, Chen Cuitong, executive secretary of the Provincial Tourist Hotel Association, also revealed that there are at least six high-end hotels under construction, unopened and under construction in Changsha, and it is estimated that they will open one after another in a few years. "The supply of star-rated hotels in Changsha is still expanding, and the number of international five-star hotels will nearly double in the next five years. This situation will intensify the competition of middle and high-end star hotels."
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The occupancy rate ranks among the top in China.
The intensive opening of high-end hotels has once again made Changsha hotel market the focus of attention of the industry. Chen Cuitong said that Changsha has become one of the cities with the largest number of international brand hotels in the central provinces. Compared with Wuhan, Nanchang, Zhengzhou and other central cities, the number and brand of high-end hotels in Changsha are relatively good.
According to the Catalogue of Five-star Tourist Hotels 20170510 published by china tourist hotels association, there are 19 five-star hotels in Hunan, including 11 in Changsha. This figure is only slightly inferior to 12 in Wuhan, and Nanchang, which is close to Changsha, has only seven five-star hotels; Zhengzhou, another central metropolis, has only five five-star hotels, far behind Changsha.
According to the data from the Provincial Tourist Hotel Association, there are currently 13 international brand hotels in Changsha, including Sheraton Yunda Hotel, Windham Supreme Haoting Hotel, Yunda Rui J Hotel, Jinmao Luxury Select Hotel, Beichen Intercontinental Hotel, Grand Hyatt Huayuan Hotel, Kempinski Shuntian Hotel, Modern Gloria Hotel and so on.
Will the surge of high-end hotels break the market in Changsha? Chen Cuitong revealed that the occupancy rate of Changsha hotel rooms is still increasing year by year, and it can reach about 70% in the market at present, which is at a relatively high level. She bluntly said,
The occupancy rate of Changsha Hotel is "one of the best in the whole country".
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The pace of foreign brands slowed down.
The rise of tourist hotel projects
According to the reporter’s investigation, under the background of the economic downturn and the policy of restricting "three public consumption", high-end hotels once slowed down the pace of competing for the market. "According to the original plan in 2012, there should be 178 international hotels, but the reality has not reached the original plan, which shows that the speed of high-end hotels has slowed down in the past two years." Chen Cuitong told reporters that foreign brand hotels are making some adjustments according to market demand, such as formulating more localized marketing strategies, in order to stand out in the market competition.
Professor Chen Wen, director of the Hotel Management Department of the School of Tourism Management, Hunan Business School, believes that foreign hotels need a localized adaptation process, which is different from local hotels’ deeper understanding of Hunan’s market demand, local cultural understanding and people’s consumption psychology.
Before 1998, Hunan consumers’ concept of high-end hotels in Changsha stayed on local brands such as Huatian and Tongcheng. Based on the consumption capacity and habits at that time, the five-star hotels in Changsha, which are scarce, can be said to be high and low.
The reporter of Sanxiang Metropolis Daily noticed that in recent years, these high-end hotels have also begun to make new transformation attempts, such as Huatian brand launching selected hotels, and pasta such as steamed buns and steamed buns sold in the lobby of Tongcheng Hotel are also very popular among consumers. Chenwen felt that in the past, ordinary people had a look up attitude towards high-end hotels, but now, these hotels have taken the initiative to make many people-friendly adjustments and will also do some promotional activities in order to gain greater market share.
In addition, driven by the growing consumer group of millennials, high-end hotels also try to launch some special products and activities that young people like, such as some parent-child theme suites, preferential buffet discounts and so on. According to the reporter’s statistics, hotels such as Sheraton and Jinmao Luxury Select have all offered buffet discounts at low prices, while hotels such as Century Golden Resources Hotel and Days Little Swan have long cooperated with online platforms such as Meituan to promote hotel catering business.
The reporter of Sanxiang Metropolis Daily also noticed that with the rise of the concept of global tourism, many high-end hotels began to try to combine with the urban Zhou Bianyou project to focus on the "light holiday" market. According to the relevant person in charge of BBK Group, the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, which opened this time, is an important part of Meixi Xintiandi, the first purely business and cultural complex in China. According to public information, the Dawangshan Intercontinental Resort Hotel, which will open next year, is adjacent to the Xiangjiang Happy City Ice and Snow World Project, and its biggest selling point is "the world’s largest indoor ice and snow paradise".
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Accurate positioning is the way to survive.
"At present, the high-end hotel industry in Changsha is in the stage of industrial upgrading. Although the speed once slowed down, it is still rising and developing."
Although more and more hotels are clustered in Changsha, regarding the saturation of the current hotel market, Chen Cuitong said that the hotel market in Changsha has yet to be further developed.
During the interview, many people in the industry believe that the hotel’s positioning for the market is the key to stand out in the highly competitive Changsha market.
"Because the consumer’s thinking concept changes rapidly in the information age, the progress of the Internet and intelligent technology, and a large amount of information circulation make consumers’ consumption habits constantly updated." Chen Wen said that it is particularly important for hotels to grasp the market demand and locate the customers at this time.
In addition, she believes that strengthening the maintenance of internal brands and launching featured or high-quality products are also the homework that must be done in hotel operation and media influence output. "Compared with the previous high-end consumer market, it is inevitable for high-end hotels to compete freely for the mass market, but facing the mass market does not mean giving up personalized featured products and services. On the contrary, personalized and featured products can become one of the magic weapons for enterprises to dominate the competition."
Huo Rishen also believes that Changsha, as the leader of new first-tier cities, has profound cultural heritage, rich tourism resources and distinctive entertainment industry, and is an ideal destination for consumers to travel for business and leisure. This will lay a good foundation for the sustainable development of high-end hotels in Changsha in the future.
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Crowne Plaza Changsha Quits Intercontinental Management
According to a Letter to Customers signed by Crowne Plaza Changsha, intercontinental hotels group Crowne Plaza Changsha stopped providing management services to Changsha New World International Hotel Co., Ltd. at midnight on December 7, 2017. The letter emphasizes that the hotel will be handed over to Changsha New World International Hotel Co., Ltd. for management from December 8, and the Crowne Plaza brand of Intercontinental will no longer represent the hotel.
This also means that Crowne Plaza Changsha, the first-generation international brand hotel in Changsha, which is close to the core business district of Central South China, has withdrawn from the management of InterContinental Hotels Group. It is still unknown where the hotel will go in the future. On December 8, the reporter of Sanxiang Metropolis Daily called the front desk of the hotel three times, but no one answered. However, the Meituan Hotel Accommodation Channel shows that on December 8th, the hotel was full, so it was impossible to make a reservation, and the reservation page of the hotel official website could not be opened.