H World Group;

H World Group Limited (NASDAQ: HTHT and HKEX: 1179) last week announced preliminary results for hotel operations in the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

Business update

For the Legacy-Huazhu business, our RevPAR in Q3 2023 recovered to 129% of the 2019 level, supported by the strong travel demand. Breaking down into monthly numbers, our RevPAR in July, August and September 2023 recovered to 132%, 128% and 128% of the 2019 levels, respectively. While the RevPAR growth continued to be primarily driven by ADR growth, the occupancy rate recovery also improved sequentially this quarter. In Q3 2023, our hotel openings picked up with a gross openings of 545 hotels, and our hotel closures amounted to 139 hotels.

Steigenberger Hotels GmbH and its subsidiaries (“DH”, or “Legacy-DH”) continued its promising business recovery trend and its RevPAR recovered to 107% of the 2019 level.

Operating Results: Legacy-Huazhu(1)

  Number of hotels Number of rooms

  Opened

in Q3 2023

Closed (2)

in Q3 2023

Net added

in Q3 2023

As of

September 30,

2023

  As of

September 30,

2023

 
Leased and owned hotels 4   (12 ) (8 ) 608     87,026  
Manachised and franchised hotels 541   (127 ) 414   8,420     772,258  
Total 545   (139 ) 406   9,028     859,284  
(1) Legacy-Huazhu refers to H World and its subsidiaries, excluding DH.

(2) The reasons for hotel closures mainly included non-compliance with our brand standards, operating losses, and property-related issues. In Q3 2023, we temporarily closed 8 hotels for brand upgrade or business model change purposes.

  As of September 30, 2023
  Number of hotels   Unopened hotels in pipeline  
Economy hotels 4,992   1,084  
Leased and owned hotels 334   1  
Manachised and franchised hotels 4,658   1,083  
Midscale, upper-midscale hotels and others 4,036   1,851  
Leased and owned hotels 274   14  
Manachised and franchised hotels 3,762   1,837  
Total 9,028   2,935  
 
  For the quarter ended

  September 30, June 30, September 30, yoy
  2022 2023 2023 change
Average daily room rate (in RMB)        
Leased and owned hotels 294   384   406   38.1 %
Manachised and franchised hotels 248   295   314   26.4 %
Blended 254   305   324   27.7 %
Occupancy rate (as a percentage)        
Leased and owned hotels 73.1 % 83.6 % 87.8 % +14.7 p.p. 
Manachised and franchised hotels 76.4 % 81.6 % 85.7 % +9.2 p.p. 
Blended 76.0 % 81.8 % 85.9 % +9.8 p.p. 
RevPAR (in RMB)        
Leased and owned hotels 215   321   356   65.8 %
Manachised and franchised hotels 190   241   269   41.7 %
Blended 193   250   278   44.3 %
 
  For the quarter ended
  September 30, September 30, yoy
  2019 2023 change
Average daily room rate (in RMB)      
Leased and owned hotels 288   406   41.0 %
Manachised and franchised hotels 235   314   33.4 %
Blended 245   324   32.1 %
Occupancy rate (as a percentage)      
Leased and owned hotels 90.0 % 87.8 % -2.3 p.p.
Manachised and franchised hotels 87.2 % 85.7 % -1.5 p.p.
Blended 87.7 % 85.9 % -1.8 p.p.
RevPAR (in RMB)      
Leased and owned hotels 259   356   37.5 %
Manachised and franchised hotels 205   269   31.1 %
Blended 215   278   29.4 %
 
 

Same-hotel operational data by class

Mature hotels in operation for more than 18 months

  Number of hotels Same-hotel RevPAR Same-hotel ADR Same-hotel Occupancy
  As of

September 30,

For the quarter

ended

September 30,

yoy

change

For the quarter

ended

September 30,

yoy

change

For the quarter

ended

September 30,

yoy

change

(p.p.)

 
  2022

2023

2022

2023

  2022

2023

  2022 2023
Economy hotels 3,669   3,669   154   216   40.1 % 192   247   28.8 % 80.3 % 87.3 % +7.1  
Leased and owned hotels 322   322   167   263   57.7 % 213   295   38.9 % 78.4 % 89.0 % +10.6  
Manachised and franchised hotels 3,347   3,347   152   209   37.3 % 189   240   26.9 % 80.5 % 87.1 % +6.6  
Midscale, upper-midscale hotels and others 2,797   2,797   244   343   41.0 % 325   399   22.5 % 74.8 % 86.1 % +11.3  
Leased and owned hotels 254   254   270   439   62.5 % 390   504   29.1 % 69.2 % 87.1 % +17.9  
Manachised and franchised hotels 2,543   2,543   240   329   37.3 % 317   383   20.8 % 75.7 % 86.0 % +10.3  
Total 6,466   6,466   199   281   41.1 % 257   324   26.2 % 77.5 % 86.7 % +9.2  
 
 

Operating Results: Legacy-DH(3)

  Number of hotels Number of rooms

Unopened hotels in pipeline

As of

September 30, 2023

 
  Opened

in Q3 2023

Closed

in Q3 2023

Net added

in Q3 2023

As of

September 30, 2023(4)

  As of

September 30, 2023

   
       
Leased hotels 2   -   2   82   15,961   24  
Manachised and franchised hotels -   (1 ) (1 ) 47   10,511   11  
Total 2   (1 ) 1   129   26,472   35  
(3) Legacy-DH refers to DH.

(4) As of September 30, 2023, a total of 3 hotels were temporarily closed due to repair work.

 
  For the quarter ended

  September 30, June 30, September 30, yoy
2022 2023 2023 change
Average daily room rate (in EUR)        
Leased hotels 113   119   113   0.0 %
Manachised and franchised hotels 116   112   116   0.3 %
Blended 114   117   114   0.1 %
Occupancy rate (as a percentage)        
Leased hotels 67.4 % 69.4 % 71.4 % +4.0 p.p.
Manachised and franchised hotels 64.1 % 63.8 % 65.5 % +1.4 p.p.
Blended 66.1 % 67.1 % 69.0 % +2.9 p.p.
RevPAR (in EUR)        
Leased hotels 76   83   81   5.9 %
Manachised and franchised hotels 74   71   76   2.4 %
Blended 75   78   79   4.5 %
 
 

Hotel Portfolio by Brand

  As of September 30, 2023
  Hotels

Rooms

Unopened hotels

in pipeline

  in operation
Economy hotels 5,007   405,226   1,097  
HanTing Hotel 3,500   311,067   700  
Hi Inn 461   24,272   180  
Ni Hao Hotel 247   18,369   181  
Elan Hotel 561   27,244   1  
Ibis Hotel 223   22,541   22  
Zleep Hotels 15   1,733   13  
Midscale hotels 3,329   359,600   1,432  
Ibis Styles Hotel 98   9,893   29  
Starway Hotel 636   54,705   229  
JI Hotel 1,980   229,990   890  
Orange Hotel 615   65,012   284  
Upper midscale hotels 663   94,523   369  
Crystal Orange Hotel 175   22,876   108  
CitiGO Hotel 35   5,301   3  
Manxin Hotel 127   11,994   70  
Madison Hotel 80   10,447   57  
Mercure Hotel 157   25,907   56  
Novotel Hotel 21   5,415   18  
IntercityHotel(5) 59   11,326   53  
MAXX(6) 9   1,257   4  
Upscale hotels 132   20,789   64  
Jaz in the City 3   587   1  
Joya Hotel 7   1,234   -  
Blossom House 59   2,750   51  
Grand Mercure Hotel 9   1,823   3  
Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts(7) 54   14,395   9  
Luxury hotels 16   2,360   2  
Steigenberger Icon(8) 9   1,847   1  
Song Hotels 7   513   1  
Others 10   3,258   6  
Other hotels(9) 10   3,258   6  
Total 9,157   885,756   2,970  
(5) As of September 30, 2023, 6 operational hotels and 41 pipeline hotels of IntercityHotel were in China.

(6) As of September 30, 2023, 4 operational hotels and 4 pipeline hotels of MAXX were in China.

(7) As of September 30, 2023, 11 operational hotels and 3 pipeline hotels of Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts were in China.

(8) As of September 30, 2023, 3 operational hotels of Steigenberger Icon were in China.

(9) Other hotels include other partner hotels and other hotel brands in Yongle Huazhu Hotel & Resort Group (excluding Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and Blossom House).

 

About H World Group Limited

Originated in China, H World Group Limited is a key player in the global hotel industry. As of September 30, 2023, H World operated 9,157 hotels with 885,756 rooms in operation in 18 countries. H World’s brands include Hi Inn, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Orange Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, Manxin Hotel, Madison Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Ni Hao Hotel, CitiGO Hotel, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, MAXX, Jaz in the City, IntercityHotel, Zleep Hotels, Steigenberger Icon and Song Hotels. In addition, H World also has the rights as master franchisee for Mercure, Ibis and Ibis Styles, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in the pan-China region.