Pushed by Atour, the local giant Jinjiang Hotels makes a second push into Hong Kong stocks, with last year's revenue of 13.8 billion yuan.

This article is sourced from Times Finance, written by Lin Xinlin.

The hotel industry’s “mega giant” is making a push for an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Image source: pixabay

On March 27, Jinjiang Hotels (600754.SH), a hotel chain group with the largest scale of hotel numbers in China, submitted its listing application to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Oriental Securities International is the sole sponsor.

This is Jinjiang Hotels’ second attempt to launch an IPO on the Hong Kong market. If it succeeds in listing on the H-shares, it will become the first hotel group in China to achieve an “A+H” listing.

The prospectus shows that, as of December 31, 2025, Jinjiang Hotels owned 14,132 opened hotels and 1,368,057 rooms that had already been put into operation. Of these, 613 are owned and leased hotels, and 13,519 are franchised and managed hotels; in addition, there are 4,083 hotels under construction reserved for the pipeline.

It is understood that Jinjiang Hotels currently includes 12 core brands: Jinjiang Inn, Days Inn, Magnolia Hotel, Vienna Hotels, Vienna International, Laifeng, Liyi, Qilaiyade, Comfor, Z Coffee (喆啡), Hixian, and IU; and three mid-to-upscale brands: Jinjiang Metropoles, Lirui, and Libai.

As China’s hotel industry enters a stock-based competitive stage, Jinjiang Hotels’ revenue has continued to edge down over the past three years. In 2025, Jinjiang Hotels recorded total revenue of RMB 13.81 billion, down 1.8% year over year. Jinjiang Hotels explained in the prospectus that the revenue decline was mainly due to shutting down some of its owned and leased hotels and a decrease in RevPAR.

In 2023, 2024, and 2025, Jinjiang Hotels’ annual profit for the year was RMB 1.28 billion, RMB 1.14 billion, and RMB 0.99 billion respectively, with net profit margins of 8.7%, 8.1%, and 7.2% respectively. Jinjiang Hotels said the reduction was attributable to a decrease in non-recurring income mainly from asset sales and a decline in revenue affected by current market conditions.

From several major core indicators, it can also be seen that Jinjiang Hotels’ main business operations are under some pressure.

In 2025, Jinjiang Hotels’ domestic hotel segment recorded a full-year occupancy rate of 64.6%, down 0.6 percentage points from 65.2% in 2024. The occupancy rates of upscale and above hotels, mid-to-upscale hotels, and mid-tier hotels all fell to different degrees, while occupancy at economy hotels rose from 59.4% to 60.5%.

Compared with occupancy rate, the declines in ADR and RevPAR are even more pronounced.

In 2025, Jinjiang Hotels’ domestic hotel segment recorded a full-year ADR (average daily room rate) of RMB 239, down RMB 5.3 from 2024, a decline of about 2.2%; RevPAR (average revenue per available room) was RMB 154.4 for the year, down RMB 4.8 from 2024, a decline of about 3%. Affected by the simultaneous decline in both occupancy rate and room rates, RevPAR for upscale and above hotels saw the largest drop—from RMB 250.6 down to RMB 234.1, a decline of 6.6%.

This is consistent with the overall direction of the current hotel industry in China. In 2025, amid intense stock-based competition in the hotel industry, most hotels were in a situation of increasing revenue but not profits. For example, Huazhu Hotels and Atour Group both faced declines in both occupancy and RevPAR.

Jinjiang Hotels’ overseas business is also drawing significant attention.

At present, the Louvre Hotels Group in France is an important part of Jinjiang Hotels’ overseas business and is also one of the results of its early overseas expansion. In 2015, Jinjiang Hotels’ predecessor, Jinjiang Co., Ltd., fully acquired the Louvre Hotels Group in France, a subsidiary of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, for EUR 1.29B. This enabled Jinjiang Hotels to enter the European market comprehensively and quickly move into the top 8 globally ranked hotel groups.

The prospectus shows that the overseas business currently accounts for nearly 30% of Jinjiang Hotels’ contribution. In full-year 2025, Jinjiang Hotels’ overseas business achieved operating revenue of RMB 3.85 billion, down 9.6% year over year. Its share of total revenue was 27.9%. At the same time, all three major operating hotel metrics for the overseas business declined, while the economy-hotel segment experienced the most obvious decline overseas.

Jinjiang Hotels explained in the prospectus that the revenue decline was mainly due to the 2024 Olympics in France lifting the baseline, and last year’s renovations and upgrades of rooms at several hotels.

However, Jinjiang Hotels’ overseas business has not yet delivered positive earnings in a smooth way. According to earlier financial reports, since 2020, the Louvre Group has been in losses for multiple consecutive years, and in 2024 it recorded a net loss of EUR 10.79 million.

It is worth noting that after its first attempt to strike an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange last June, nearly nine months have passed, and Jinjiang Hotels has now adjusted the purpose of its journey in Hong Kong.

In last year’s board resolution, Jinjiang Hotels clearly stated that after deducting the relevant issuance expenses, the proceeds from issuing H-share listed stocks would be used for purposes such as further strengthening and expanding its overseas business, repaying bank loans, and replenishing working capital.

Previously, on March 9, Jinjiang Hotels’ board of directors reviewed and approved the “Resolution on Adjusting the Plan for the Use of Proceeds from the Company’s Overseas Public Issuance of H-Share Stock,” which mentioned, in light of the company’s business development needs and the overall progress of the H-share issuance and listing work, that the board agreed that after deducting the relevant issuance expenses, the proceeds from the company’s H-share listing would be adjusted for purposes including an overall digital integration transformation, repaying bank borrowings, acquiring high-quality targets related to mergers and acquisitions, and working capital and general corporate purposes.

Compared with last year’s definition of planned use of proceeds, this time’s core adjustments to the Hong Kong IPO fundraising plan newly add two directions: an “overall digital integration transformation” and “high-quality targets related to M&A,” and it is no longer listed “overseas business expansion” as a specific-use fundraising purpose. This suggests that this hotel giant may have brought new thinking to the focus of its business development and its capital operations strategy.

With Huazhu and Atour playing catch-up and moving fast, Jinjiang, a long-established hotel group, may hope to maintain its competitive position by leveraging the path of capital.