Home Inn

"Our business model was hardly an earth-shattering innovation; we just followed Expedia’s model, by first creating content, then relying on hotel room and ticket bookings to take profit. That was an era when a good business plan was enough to attract financing. Our plan was not as exciting as a web portal but with the impressive qualifications of the four founders we were able to get some venture capital. The first tranche came from IDG, and from this beginning they’ve invested in the three enterprises I participated in founding: Ctrip, Home Inn and Hanting hotels. It just goes to prove that even in a crazy era there are smart people who understand what’s going on."

"Our experience with the four BTG hotels convinced me more than ever of the direct management model, making me determined to abandon alliances, which is why Home Inn developed so fast and quickly became profitable. At Home Inn I brought a great deal of IT and internet business style with me, much of which…"

"From the outset of initiating the setup of Ctrip I had an absolutely professional team with James Liang establishing a solid foundation, Fan Min carrying it forwards, and Neil Shen dealing with the financial and legal aspects. I established the firm base for Home Inn, then Sun Jian took up the baton; I also initiated Hanting and established a solid base…"

"Fourth, all three companies were the perfect marriage of entrepreneurial spirit and professional management. From the outset of initiating the setup of Ctrip I had an absolutely professional team with James Liang establishing a solid foundation, Fan Min carrying it forwards, and Neil Shen dealing with the financial and legal aspects. I established the firm base for Home Inn, then Sun Jian took up the baton; I also initiated Hanting and…"

"Fifth, all three businesses were a reformation of a traditional industry. Ctrip was transformed from a traditional travel agency to a modern travel service company. Both Home Inn and Hanting were upgraded from traditional hotels to modern hotel chains. These are…"

"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…"

"Second, each of the businesses required about three years to take shape. For Ctrip it was from 1999 to 2002; Home Inn 2003 to 2005; and Hanting from 2007 to 2010. In a similar manner to human development, the basic shape of these three businesses, their teams, structure, character and culture was formed in the first three years. Thereafter it was just a question of continued growth. Three years is a critical time for Chinese companies to reach a certain level to be able to enable significant future growth. This is because Chinese companies grow fast and there are many imitators and…"