Meituan, a Tencent-invested local and travel service platform, reported that its total revenues for 2020 were RMB 114.8 billion (USD 17.6 billion), up by 17.7%. Operating profit increased 61.6% year on year.
For the fourth quarter of 2020, revenues from the in-store, hotel & travel businesses increased by 12.2% year over year to RMB7.1 billion, despite the reoccurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic in several cities. Operating profit from the in-store, hotel & travel businesses increased to RMB2.8 billion from RMB2.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2019, while operating margin increased to 39.5% from 36.7%.
For the whole year, revenues from in-store, hotel & travel business decreased 4.6% year-on-year, and operating profit from this segment was down by 2.6%.
With respect to the hotel booking business, domestic room nights consumed on the platform were 354.5 million, down by 9.7% year over year in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.
In the fourth quarter, despite the reoccurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic in several cities hampered the recovery of consumption in these regions, consumer demand for hotel booking services in other cities continued to unleash, with domestic room nights consumed on the platform increasing by 8.8% year over year.
Among total domestic room nights consumed on the platform, the number of room nights from five-star hotels increased by more than 110% year over year in the fourth quarter.
