A STRATEGIC partnership between China’s HNA Hotel Group and Spain’s NH Hoteles has resulted in the entry of an international business hotel brand into China, and the formation of a brand new hotel management company.
The partnership comes on the back of HNA Hotel Group’s acquisition of 20 per cent of NH Hoteles’ shares through a capital injection of 430 million euros (US$609 million).
The first milestone for the duo is the opening of a 210-key NH-branded hotel in Chongqing early next year, the first Asian property for the Spanish group, which has 400 hotels in 25 countries under its belt. The property, owned by HNA Hotel Group, will be managed by their joint hotel management company, which both will have an equal share in.
Steven Song, executive chairman and president of HNA Hotel Group, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the yet-to-be-named hotel management company would be responsible for hotel development and management projects in China.
NH Hoteles will add properties in Beijing and Nanjing soon after, and the group’s chief strategy & development officer, Francisco Zinser Cieslik, said the expansion would focus on primary and secondary cities in China.
“Our hotels in China will adapt to the Chinese market, which means the decor will have a mix of European and oriental flavours, and more F&B outlets will be offered,” he said.
NH Hoteles will also bring its signature staff development programme to China. Its virtual university, which offers online training to improve employees’ skills and career advancement opportunities, has helped the group achieve an enviable staff turnover of less than five per cent. Cieslik said the industry average in Europe was 15 per cent.
Training programmes will be adapted to the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, HNA Hotel Group is pushing ahead with its expansion plans for Tangla Hotels & Resorts, which debuted its first property in Beijing in 2009 under the flagship Tangla label.
Tangla Hotels & Resorts has three other brands – ultra-luxe Tangla Grand Place, boutique-style Tang Hotel and business-class Gardenlane Select.
By the end of the year, Tangla Hotels & Resorts will open a Tang Hotel in Sanya and a Gardenlane Select in Haikou, as well as a Tangla in Shenzhen. A Gardenlane Select in a hot springs area in Beijing is also being planned.
The flagship Tangla brand will also head overseas with a hotel in Brussels, Belgium, and another in the east coast of the US, said Song. Construction of the Brussels hotel will begin early 2012.
“China has opened its doors to international trade for many years now, but there is still no homegrown hotel company that has gone worldwide. We acknowledge that we are a young company, but we can go far by positioning ourselves as a five-star oriental brand (in overseas destinations),” he said, adding that the brand’s homegrown status will help to attract Chinese travellers.
