Jin Jiang International has acquired an 81% stake in the Plateno Hotels Group, creating one of the world’s largest hotel groups.

The agreement essentially marks the merger of three major hotel companies, including Louvre Hotels, following Jin Jiang’s recent acquisition of the French hotel group.

The resulting entity will incorporate a vast portfolio of brands, including Jin Jiang’s J.Hotel, Jin Jiang, Jin Jiang Inn, Kunlun, Rock Garden, Bestay Hotel Express, Magnotel concepts, Louvre’s Golden Tulip, Royal Tulip, Tulip Inn, Première Classe, Kyriad and Campanile brands, and now, a further 17 hotel brands operated by Plateno, including Portofino, 7 Days Inn and ZMAX.

This will create a combined portfolio of more than 6,000 hotels with 640,000 rooms in 55 countries, ranking it among the world’s top five hotel groups.

Jin Jiang is a name people will hear a lot more in the coming years. Already China’s largest domestic upscale hotel group, the Shanghai-based company catapulted itself onto the world stage with its acquisition of Louvre. As well as the Plateno deal, Travel Daily has learned that Jin Jiang also made inquiries about acquiring at least one other major Asian hotel group.

And with the might of the Shanghai Municipal Government behind it, we could well see future deals that allow Jin Jiang to climb even higher up the global hospitality hierarchy.

“The collaboration will not only make both sides more motivated to reach their strategic objectives, but also gain advantages in integrating the upstream and downstream industry chains as well as in globalisation of services… exploiting synergy and complementing each other to create more opportunities in global development and international operation,” said Yu Minliang, chairman of Jin Jiang.

Plateno’s co-chairman, Alex Zheng, added that the “the global hospitality landscape is about to be significantly transformed through this strategic cooperation”.

“Jin Jiang has the most complete industry chain in the tourism business and Plateno possesses the biggest membership platform and the largest number of hotel brands, while both are the best examples of Chinese hospitality groups expanding business overseas,” said Zheng.

“This strong combination helps to form a stronger joint force in global market expansion and to provide our members with more streamlined services for their outbound business and leisure travels.”

While both hotel groups are based in China, they also have significant overseas expansion plans. Plateno has recently unveiled its first properties in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while Jin Jiang is planning to develop luxury hotels in a series of major global gateway cities.

According to a joint statement by the companies, the ultimate goal of the merger is “to create a leading and competitive international group with global brand influence in the world”.

“We have another dream: that in every beautiful destination in the world, there will be a Chinese-run hotel, so that Chinese customers will always feel a sense of belonging wherever they go and will hear familiar greetings in Chinese and be served a warm bowl of congee whenever they want. That dream is fast becoming a reality, and that reality is here!” asserted Zheng.

Source: http://www.traveldailymedia.com/227467/jin-jiang-acquires-plateno-to-create-chinese-hotel-giant/