Abandon the Model That Doesn't Work Mid-Flight

“The three businesses – Ctrip, Home Inn and Hanting – have much common ground. First, the actual business models were not entirely the same as those conceptualized at the time of the initial financing Ctrip moved from an online travel agency to hotel room bookings, while Home Inn moved from the hotel franchise model to privately owned and operated…”

“The initial business model was hotel franchising, which is common in the West. We used Ctrip’s marketing power to attract three-star hotels to adopt the Home Inn brand. Though facilities, quality of service and pricing varied, we persevered with the brand. But the hotels had different operators and many hotels displayed two brands. This profit model brought in little income because brand identity was not distinguishable enough Also, financing was not smooth. Neil Shen and I visited numerous venture capital companies in Beijing, but it never resulted in anything. No one…”