Foreign capital looks at China| Ascott Wong Wai Man: Full of confidence in the Chinese market and continue to promote the "asset-light" strategy

Reporter Fang Chao and Quartz Jing report from Shanghai

The recovery of the domestic lodging industry is accelerating.

In the context of the recovery of the cultural tourism industry, many foreign giants have also increased the accommodation market, and the reporter of "China Business Daily" noticed that the accommodation business segment of CapitaLand Investment, Ascott Co., Ltd., is one of the typical representatives.

"China's domestic leisure tourism consumption has basically recovered to the level of 2019, and from the perspective of international comparison, China's tourism consumption still has a lot of room for improvement. Consumption is expected to continue to recover in the second quarter of 2024, and service consumption will continue to be the main driving force for consumption growth. A few days ago, Ascott China Managing Director Huang Weimin said in an interview with reporters.

Ascott China's Managing Director, Wai Man Wong. Newspaper Reference Room/Picture

"Ascott's contribution to CapitaLand Investment has been increasing," Wong said, adding that Ascott has always attached great importance to the Chinese market, "We have always attached great importance to the asset-light business, and have always insisted on exploring different cooperation models, and strengthened our development by exploring richer models on the basis of adhering to entrusted management." ”

In the future, we will focus on core cities in China

With a presence in 42 cities in China and more than 200 properties under its belt, Ascott is still expanding at an accelerated pace after 26 years in China.

In 1984, the first Ascott serviced residence with international standards opened in the Asia-Pacific region, and up to now, Ascott has about 950 properties worldwide, with operations in more than 220 cities in more than 40 countries, including Asia Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States.

In the Chinese market, Ascott entered the Chinese market in 1998 with the first property being Somerset Olympic Tower Tianjin, and since then, Ascott has gradually entered other cities in China, and to date, it has owned and managed more than 200 properties in 42 cities across the country, distributed in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.

"Since 2024, Ascott has continued to make great strides in China, signing more than 2,700 new units." According to Ascott China, the newly signed projects are located in Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Xi'an, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the brands include Ascott, Citadines, Oakwood, Yayu and Villas. At the same time, 5 properties were officially opened, and more than 1,700 apartment and hotel units were put into operation.

Will Ascott China further expand its scope in the future? Huang Weimin gave the answer.

"Ascott has serviced apartments, hotels, long-term rental apartments, senior apartments and other products, and the hotel asset type is not limited to business, and is crossing over into more urban hotels and full-service resort accommodation products. Therefore, the company has a large market, but it is not in a hurry to expand everywhere, and there are still many opportunities in major core cities," said Wong, "As the company's international brand becomes more and more popular with guests, we will continue to bring more distinct brand accommodation experiences in the future, and will integrate and create with reference to local characteristics." ”

With the ever-changing needs of users and the continuous iteration of the market, how does Ascott China keep pace with the times to meet the different needs of consumers?

"From the initial contact of the project, we will match the brand according to the market and the needs of consumers, including the size of the room, or the single room or the double room, etc., all according to the local market demand, so that different guests can feel the difference brought by the brand while having a similar experience." Huang Weimin said.

Not only that, Huang Weimin further introduced to reporters that Ascott China's products will also be flexibly designed according to different cities, "For example, Xi'an is a very important tourist city, so we are more inclined to short stays in the design, while Shanghai is more inclined to long stays, and the room equipment will be more complete."

The proportion of asset-heavy business decreased to 3%

Under the demands of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, scale expansion, etc., the "asset-light" model has been favored by many hotel giants in recent years.

As a well-known vertically integrated lodging operator in the Asia-Pacific region, Ascott has also continued to increase its "asset-light" model.

"At present, Ascott's main business cooperation model in China is entrusted management, accounting for 97% of the total business volume." Huang Weimin recently revealed in an interview with reporters that Ascott has become lighter and lighter in recent years, and "the proportion of heavy assets (self-owned properties) has dropped from the vast majority of the business to only about 3% now."

Huang Weimin also told reporters: "In the first quarter of 2024, 80% of the contract models of wine management companies in China are franchise models, and Ascott China is also exploring its own franchise model. At present, whether it is in the world or in China, the company attaches great importance to asset-light. ”

The reporter noted that at the beginning of May this year, Ascott China released information that it had reached a cooperation with Wuxi Liangxi Asset Management Company to jointly build the first Oakwood Hotel Apartment project in Wuxi in the future, which is expected to open within the year.

Coincidentally, on April 23, Science City (Guangzhou) Development Group Co., Ltd. reached a cooperation agreement with Ascott China. It is reported that the two parties will use the Ketong Building project as a starting point to introduce the mature international service standards and operation system of the Ascott "Citadines" brand to improve the service quality and operational efficiency of the area. It can be seen that on the road of cooperation between state-owned real estate enterprises, Ascott has been deepening.

Behind the continuous expansion of the layout through the "asset-light" model, talent and technology have also become one of the important weights for Ascott China to cope with market competition.

"The talent, team resources and brand of the Ascott team have great potential, and there is no need to make big changes, but what is really needed is how to better leverage the strength of the team, so the future potential of Ascott often comes from the potential from within." Huang Weimin said.

With the continuous emergence of ChatGPT and AI models, embracing the era of digital intelligence has become a new topic for the travel and accommodation industry. When it comes to sharing digital transformation and exploring new technologies with reporters, Wong Wai Man is like a treasure. He said: "Ascott is willing to embrace new technologies and is now actively exploring the use of technology to capture and meet user needs. Last year, Ascott took the lead in launching the intelligent chatbot 'Kirby' to try to improve pre-sales consultation, and also used intelligent robot-related technology to replace some manual work to better serve guests and improve team efficiency. ”

"Ascott has always attached great importance to the Chinese market and is confident in the future of the Chinese market. There is still tremendous potential and opportunity in China's lodging market, and Ascott will continue to grow in China by focusing on lodging management and expanding its business, and will continue to provide guests with a unique accommodation experience by introducing more international brands and products, and experimenting with more cooperation models. Huang Weimin said.

(Editor: Quartz Jing Review: Tong Haihua Proofreader: Zhai Jun)