Ranked 6th in the world and 1st in China, a 4,000-word article deeply analyzes Huazhu's marketing secrets

The rejuvenation of the hotel industry has also brought about intelligent innovation. Let's take a look at how hotels are marketing and building their own brands.

With the end of the epidemic and the full liberalization of the tourism industry, the hotel industry has also ushered in a wave of performance recovery.

Against the backdrop of generally rising performance in the industry, Huazhu Group has once again proved its position as an industry leader with a beautiful "report card".

On November 24, Huazhu Group released its third-quarter financial report for 2023. The report showed that in the third quarter, Huazhu Group's operating revenue increased by 55.1% year-on-year to 23.5 billion yuan, and the group's revenue increased by 53.6% year-on-year to 6.3 billion yuan.

At the same time, the number of registered members of "Huazhu Club" exceeded 200 million, a year-on-year increase of 14% .

Currently, Huazhu Club has the largest number of members in China's hotel industry, and the brand uses "On average, one out of every 10 Chinese is a member of the Huazhu Member Club" as its promotional slogan.

What are the "secrets" of Huazhu Group behind its high-quality growth? This article will analyze Huazhu's marketing model in depth to see what we can learn from it.

1. Hotel operations: Based on digital stores, reduce costs and increase efficiency to seize the market

For the hotel industry, offline stores are the most important touchpoints for brands to reach consumers.

In Huazhu's growth strategy, offline stores also play a very important role. Let me break it down for you.

1. Hotel occupancy efficiency

Taking the check-in process as an example, at present, most hotels on the market process check-in, from the time the guest enters the hotel to the time they enter the room, generally takes about 3 minutes.

However, Huazhu founder Ji Qi believes that the speed of check-in is related to the user experience, which in turn affects his evaluation of the hotel.

Therefore, Huazhu has used many technical means to improve the problem of low check-in efficiency. As early as 2010, Huazhu shortened the average check-in time of Hanting Hotel to 1 minute and 30 seconds, saving half the time compared with its peers.

Afterwards, Ji Qi proposed the concept of "zero-second check-out" and, through digital management, truly realized the guests' slogan of "30-second check-in, 0-second check-out".

2. Comprehensively popularize food delivery robots

In 2020, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission and save manpower costs, major hotels are increasing their investment in intelligent services represented by robots.

During the epidemic, Huazhu insisted on staying open and implemented contactless smart services in nearly 6,000 hotels under its umbrella. The popularity of robots ranks first in the industry, with hotel robots making more than 200,000 deliveries per month.

Compared with manual delivery, robot food delivery is not only safer and faster, but also saves labor costs for hotels. According to statistics, intelligent robot technology alone can save 100 million yuan in labor costs for Huazhu stores in a year.

3. Store design and operation design always focuses on user needs

It is worth mentioning that even the high-end hotels under Huazhu do not have luxurious lobbies, swimming pools, etc. designed like five-star hotels.

The reason for this design is also Huazhu's "user first" concept. They accurately identify their customer base - business travelers. Compared with the gorgeous lobby and swimming pool for family fun, they pay more attention to the cost-effectiveness of housing and the actual living experience and service.

Therefore, compared with traditional five-star hotels, Huazhu is more willing to use this part of the fee to improve hotel room facilities, services, and products. Specifically, I will explain it in detail in the [User Experience] section.

4. Brand Customer Listening——"What you see is what you get"

"Huazhu Listening" is a new retail project incubated by Huazhu Hotel Group, which is mainly deployed in Four Seasons Hotels.

The vision of "Keting" is to provide a "third space" that integrates a selection of good books, daily necessities and light meals for residents, urban white-collar workers and residents of surrounding communities.

The goods and services provided by "Ke Ting" include but are not limited to books, daily necessities, artworks and light meals. They attract customers through carefully selected books and activities.

At the same time, "Keting" is also committed to providing high-quality customer service, such as free drying services on rainy days and first aid kits, to enhance customer satisfaction.

To sum up, for the hotel industry, stores are undoubtedly the most important touchpoints for brands to reach users. Huazhu takes stores as the core and invests in digital technology to build intelligent stores, improve both user experience and efficiency, and provide guests with the best stay experience.

2. Product strategy: multi-brand strategy to provide users with more diverse choices

The Internet era has indeed created many new opportunities, but “product is king” remains an eternal truth.

Without management, there will be no marketing. Without good products, no matter how good the promotion is, it will only kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and will have no meaning.

As for the hotel industry, its products must meet both travel and business travel needs. Huazhu's multi-brand strategy covers almost all aspects, providing consumers with more choices.

Based on pricing, we can simply divide Huazhu Hotels into four levels.

1. Economy type: Hanting Hotel, Hi Inn, Elan Hotel, Ibis Hotel, etc.
2. Comfortable: All Seasons Hotel, Hanting Hotel, Orange Hotel, Ibis Styles Hotel, etc.
3. High-end: Orange Crystal Hotel, Mercure Hotel, Manxin Hotel, Royalton Hotel, etc.
4. Luxury: Xiyue Hotel, Huajiantang, Meilun International Hotel, etc.

As can be seen from the above figure, Huazhu's multi-brand strategy is progressive. By launching different products at different stages to meet the needs of different residents, it provides users with more choices while also achieving economies of scale and improving market competitiveness.

Not only in the domestic market, but also in the global market, Huazhu is actively making plans to ultimately achieve global development.

3. User experience: starting from user needs and paying close attention to details

Today’s users start with the product and are loyal to the experience .

Good user experience can bring trust to the brand and lead to spontaneous dissemination, thereby helping companies reduce costs and increase traffic and conversions.

Next, let’s take a look at how Huazhu provides good “user experience”.

1. The origin of the double-sided buckwheat pillow

Huazhu CEO Ji Qi pays great attention to details from the perspective of user experience. He noticed that most of Huazhu's users are business people, and cervical spine problems are the main problem that business people are troubled by.

To this end, Ji Qi visited many five-star hotels and was inspired by the pillows in a five-star hotel to design a double-sided pillow with buckwheat on one side and sponge on the other.

The double-sided buckwheat pillow fits the cervical spine very well when you sleep on it, and can also change and adjust its shape to actively adapt to the human body. Nowadays, it has become one of the reasons why many business travelers choose Huazhu.

2. The birth of velvet carpet

Before Hanting was founded, many hotels on the market used carpets. Traditional carpets are not only expensive, but also easy to accumulate dust and difficult to clean.

Hanting, which strictly controls construction costs, chose laminate flooring because it could not afford solid wood flooring. However, laminate flooring is too noisy and easily deformed by water drops.

Hanting was very concerned about this issue which might affect the user's stay experience, and they finally developed a velvet carpet.

After testing, it was found that the carpet is not deformed by dripping water, is not damaged by cigarette butts, has no noise and no odor, so it is promoted for full use.

3. Smart home system

It is worth mentioning that Huazhu’s All Seasons Hotel has now fully adopted whole-house intelligence.

The whole season uses Xiaomi's smart home system, and users can control it by waking up the "Xiao Ai" speaker.

When the user enters the room and swipes the card, the curtains will open automatically, making the room look clean and bright.

Then, you can give various instructions to Xiao Ai according to your needs, such as: adjusting the lights, TV, air conditioning, playing music, etc.

The toilet in the bathroom also has a built-in heating function, which is very friendly for users staying in the bathroom during the winter.

Lei Jun once said that the key to providing a good user experience is to give them an experience that "exceeds their expectations." All of the above "charming" details reflect Huazhu's high attention to user experience based on demand .

4. Membership operation: spend points as money to enhance the sense of value

Huazhu currently has as many as 200 million private domain members. How to serve these members well and increase their repurchase rate is the top priority of the brand.

From the membership points system and membership benefits design, we can see that Huazhu has actually put a lot of thought into this.

1. Member points system

At present, Huazhu Club's points acquisition channels are mainly divided into two parts: one is the consumption points of hotels and malls, and the other is the active points of APP sign-in and interaction.

The former is to increase sales (stimulate repeat purchases), while the latter is a means of daily promotion.

In order to activate interaction with users and enhance user stickiness, Huazhu Club has broken the relatively isolated and outdated model of the traditional "points system".

In addition, Huazhu Group was the first in the industry to propose the monetization of points. Points earned from hotel stays can be spent as money and directly deducted from room charges. The ways to obtain points are also relatively diversified.

Image source: Instant Innovation

In addition to the common channels for exchanging points for rooms, items, and coupons, Huazhu Club also innovatively adds public welfare projects to its points usage channels.

Points can be used to bid for paintings by autistic children, and points can be directly donated to charity projects, with 100 points equal to 1 yuan in cash. This greatly increases the value of points, which is a win-win choice for companies and users.

2. Membership rights design

There is no threshold for joining Huazhu's [Growth Membership]. As long as you register with your mobile phone number on the Huazhu Club APP, you will be automatically activated as a member.

According to the changes in growth value, you will be upgraded to different levels of membership and enjoy different rights and interests.

In essence, Huazhu's "growth value" is consumption points. As long as users place an order for a room through the Huazhu mini program or APP, they will obtain certain points after the transaction is successful. When a certain number of points are accumulated, they can achieve an upgrade.

Huazhu Group has carefully designed its membership system, setting up four levels: star member, silver member, gold member and platinum member .

Different levels have set up tiered usage rights, including price discounts, free breakfast, check-in reservation reservation, late check-out and other rights.

This membership level stratification and differentiated services for different members will not only make higher-level members feel more distinguished and superior.

At the same time, it can also motivate members of other levels to advance, encourage customers to have more customer privileges through continuous consumption, enhance member stickiness, and solve the problem of continuous repurchase.

3. Member Content Community

A content community is essentially a unique and relatively vertical content discussion circle formed by people with common interests, attitudes, and values.

Doing a good job in content community can not only enhance user participation and make users fall in love with the brand, but also cultivate "super users" for the brand, bringing more seeding and dissemination. In this regard, Xiaomi Community is undoubtedly a model worth learning.

It is reported that Huazhu has accumulated more than 200 million members. In order to better serve its members, Huazhu has launched new modules such as the Vacation Channel and the Shopping Channel on the "Huazhu Club APP", transforming from a "single business travel hotel brand" to a "multi-faceted business travel scenario service".

Image source: Huazhuhui APP

Taking the "Guangguang" channel as an example, users can not only participate in posting discussions in this channel, but also refer to the brand's selected travel routes, such as: Hexi Corridor, Sichuan-Tibet Tour, and Inner Mongolia Tour.

For each route, the brand recommends nearby hotels, providing a one-stop solution to users' "eating, drinking, playing and having fun" problems.

In summary, whether it is membership benefits, point system or content community, they all reflect Huazhu’s “user-centric” philosophy. These innovations and designs have greatly enhanced user participation and loyalty, bringing sustainable benefits to the brand.

5. Final Thoughts

Mountain climbing is the favorite sport of Qi Ji, the founder of Huazhu. In today's trend, Qi Ji and Huazhu's courageous climb to the top is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the hotel industry.

Success is not accidental. Huazhu's innovations and experience in store management, product strategy, user experience, and membership operations are not only applicable to the hotel industry, but also worth learning from other industries.

Author: Yan Tao

Source: WeChat public account "Yan Tao Sanshou (ID: yantao-219)"