Huazhu announced at the Fantastic Yisu Event in Shanghai last Saturday that it had launched its shared hotel reservation platform Yisu, which allowed travelers to book all hotel brands under the Huazhu Group at affordable prices. Yisu is also planning a range of brand activities to draw closer to customers and bring them better and more youthful experience.
Earlier this year, Huazhu launched its soft brand franchise system represented by Starway, Hi Inn and Elan. By lowering the franchise charges and conversion costs, Huazhu gives independent hotels more opportunities in operating under the Huazhu brands, with access to Huazhu’s full-service hotel operation management solutions.
In the first year of its operation in 2019, Yisu will provide direct sales channels to soft brand stores and it will charge no commissions as it’s goal is not to make a short-term profit. Commission is expected to contribute just 1% to the platform’s turnover in 2020.
In addition, members of Huazhu’s loyalty program HUAZHU Rewards can log into Yisu seamlessly to enjoy member benefits provided by both platforms. Yisu is expected to boost the customer bases of the soft brands by 50% by the end of 2021.
Yisu has currently reached agreements with 100-plus hotels and is expected to sign 1,000 hotels in the coming year.
