Chapter 599 [Becoming one of the top three hotel groups in the world]
Hongkong.
The senior executives of New Era Hotel Group Holdings gathered together, and the person presiding over the meeting was Lin Zuhui. More than half of the entire conference room was occupied by foreigners, which made Lin Zuhui a little surprised.
Of course, this is his policy, because he wants "Hong Kong-owned hotels" to go global. With the strong development momentum of Hong Kong-branded hotels, everyone can see the strong vitality and strong competitiveness of national brands overseas.
In the past, it was difficult for mainland enterprises to go abroad. In addition to the reasons of sight and ability, there was also the inconvenience of sending funds overseas:
First of all, let’s talk about ability. Most of them only know how to buy and buy, but they have no real meaning to integrate resources and strengthen management. In the end, they sell out and lose money is inevitable;
Secondly, speaking of seeing it, they always like to chase high prices, and Westerners can see this and are very happy to sell it to you at a high price when the market is good. Anyway, there is hope to get it back in the future, such as office buildings in Manhattan, whether it is in Japan
People, even Chinese people, have suffered great losses.
Finally, let’s talk about funds. It is very convenient for Xiangjiang’s funds to go overseas without any supervision. If you negotiate an overseas acquisition today, the funds can reach the world the next day.
In summary, Lin Zuhui feels that it is time for New Era Group to strengthen its investment in the hotel field and quickly create a Chinese-owned ‘Marriott Group’ through global mergers, acquisitions, integration and other means.
Originally, even without Lam Cho-fai, Hong Kong-branded hotels in Hong Kong would have developed very well abroad. In the previous life, Hutchison Whampoa, New World Hotel Group, Great Eagle Group, Hang Lung Group, and Shangri-La Hotels Group were all world-class hotel groups.
Strength cannot be underestimated.
Of course, once Lin Zuhui is over, he will either not do anything, or he will do his best and build a truly international hotel group.
There is no need to worry about funds. There was a non-recurring profit of 200 billion in the late 1990s; there is no need to worry about management experience. After these years of development, New Era Hotel Group Holdings already has world-class management experience.
Lin Zuhui said: "The Langham Hotel in London was acquired for 105 million pounds. I agree to this project. But what preparations do you have for the subsequent development of this hotel?"
The Langham Hotel, London, as the first luxury hotel in Europe, opened to the public with a gorgeous appearance in 1865. The huge castle-like building can feel its profound history at a glance.
President Colbert said: "After our investigation and planning, we plan to spend 80 million pounds on a comprehensive renovation and upgrade of this hotel after its acquisition. Of course, if we want to fully expand the hotel industry in Europe and the United States, we must ensure that we condense the local customs and culture.
The essence of it has become a master of international culture. It combines modern flavor, ancient and modern, retro and innovation."
It makes sense. To acquire such a hotel with historical significance and a landmark building in London, we must deeply explore its own value and combine it with a modern atmosphere to achieve the words "luxury and luxury".
Lin Zuhui said: "How many years will it take to renovate?"
First, it was London, so the efficiency was very low; second, it was a historical landmark building, so it was difficult to renovate it.
Corbett said: "It is expected to take 2 to 3 years."
Lin Zuhui nodded, this answer was acceptable. But he immediately said: "The acquisition of London Langham Hotel is because I hope to own a chain of luxury hotel brands, so I suggest that you continue to expand Langham Hotel and don't stop."
Corbett nodded and said: "Okay. But now the company has begun to vigorously develop the hotel group, but the group's business is scattered. I suggest that we learn from the integration of Marriott Hotel last year and divide the hotel business into two parts: heavy assets and light assets, and conduct them independently.
Operations. Then unify the heavy assets under the Langham Hospitality Group and abandon the name of New Era Hotel Group Holdings. After all, the name does not match the reality."
Lin Zuhui thought for a moment and then said: "Okay, the reorganization of the group's assets is a big deal. Please sort out a plan and give it to me."
"Okay, BOSS."
Hotel light assets are "hotel management services". New Era Group acquired an American hotel management group very early and has been developing since then. It currently manages tens of thousands of hotel rooms.
Of course, taking the Furama Hotel as an example, although it also has a manager, it only needs to pay a 3% management fee; and this management does not involve the management of the entire hotel. Simply put, it means joining an alliance, and the alliance provides Furama Hotel with
Some management suggestions and reservation systems; the actual management still belongs to the hotel itself.
Assuming that the hotel business of New Era Group is divided into: Langham Hotel Group (heavy assets) and New Era Hotel Management (light assets), it is a very good plan.
The new era of hotel management can cooperate with owners around the world, provide management services, charge a management fee of 3 to 10%, and also enhance hotel management experience.
Langham Hotel Group has two luxury brands: Langham Hotel and Atlantis Hotel.
It has two more mid-to-high-end brands: Miramar Hotel Group and Constellation Hotel (Canada)
In addition, there are some franchise hotels (the owner is Langham Hotel Group): Hilton Manila, Hilton Beijing (not yet open).
There are also some joint-stock hotels: Peninsula Hotel (major shareholder), seven joint venture hotels in Beijing (Great Wall Hotel, etc.).
Lin Zuhui continued: "The Atlantis hotel project will be officially launched next year. You go to Dubai to look for opportunities. You can cooperate with the locals to start this project. We must build the world's top luxury hotel."
The Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai is already under construction, so the Atlantis Hotel must be very attractive to locals.
In the past year, New Era Hotels has been planning this project and hired dozens of designers from around the world to build the Atlantis Hotel, especially Disney’s architectural designers to create the Water World.
Of course, the Atlantis hotel has also been successfully registered, and there is also an Atlantis resort in Panama, so we almost met them.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Corbett nodded and said: "No problem, we will immediately arrange to go to Dubai for inspection." He knew that the boss originally wanted to build a second store in Sentosa, Singapore.
An Atlantis hotel, but Singapore’s planning efficiency is really slow.
As a result, Atlantis Hotel has confirmed two locations - Dubai and Singapore. The third location is of course Sanya, but it will have to be in the 21st century.
This brand is a top luxury hotel brand, and building three of them is enough.
The Langham Hotel is a high-end brand. If there are not 30 hotels in the world, it will not be able to match the strength of New Era Group.
Back in his office, Lin Zuhui was still thinking about things in the hotel field.
It is generally accepted that the hotel industry does not make money. With a turnover of 100 yuan, the profit is only 6 to 8 yuan. Moreover, the market value of the hotel group when it is listed will not be high. In the previous life, the Marriott Group was so great, and its market value was only more than 50 billion US dollars.
The most profitable one is Xiangjiang Development Real Estate, with a turnover of 10 billion in the past two years, it will earn 6 to 7 billion (before tax). Of course, the prices of various real estate companies are different; assuming that your land is the previous reserve land, then the land cost
If it is low, the gross profit will naturally be large; assuming it is an official land auction in recent years, the cost will naturally be much higher.
Although Xiangjiang Real Estate has made huge profits, Lin Zuhui must consider the group's integration, globalization, and plans for the future.
He called Liang Zhenxun and said: "Arrange some funds and prepare to short-sell next year's Nikkei Index futures for March, May and June."
According to history, Japan will be hit by the Great Kanto Earthquake in January next year, which will cause the Japanese stock market to fall, so it will be a good time for New Era Group to make some money.
Liang Zhenxun immediately asked: "Do you want to close some of the Sony stocks you bought?"
New Era Group bought a total of 5 billion Hong Kong dollars in Sony stock (equivalent to a market value of approximately 160 billion Hong Kong dollars), and it has still incurred a lot of losses!
It's just a long-term investment, and Lin Zuhui doesn't care. But now think about it, Sony only released PS this month, and short-term sales will not affect the market value at all. In addition, the earthquake has affected the Japanese stock market, and a decline in the first half of next year is inevitable.
"Okay, all the funds will be withdrawn. Don't transfer the funds back. Just stay in Japan and wait for the opportunity to enter again! Use the funds that are about to be withdrawn to short-sell the Nikkei Index in Singapore, the United States, and Japan. But don't affect too much.
Large enough to avoid being mistaken for malicious short selling." Lin Zuhui said decisively.
"OK"
It's not that short selling is impossible, but short selling cannot be done maliciously. Although Lin Zuhui hates Little Japan, he still wants to do their business in the future, so naturally he will not offend others. It is the last word to quietly enter the village and not shoot anyone.
When Liang Zhenxun left Lin Zuhui's office, he thought to himself that the boss had finally suffered a loss. It turned out that New Era Group had lost two to three billion on Sony's stock. Of course, Liang Zhenxun believed that this was the normal performance of the stock god, and he could do it in time
Adjust strategy.
In early December, Lin Zuhui urgently led Colbert and his party to the United States with the intention of acquiring the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
After the last hotel group meeting, Lin Zuhui considered it all and felt that Langham Hotel was not enough to support the development of high-end hotels. Langham Hotel Group also needed a high-end brand. In the end, he chose the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
This hotel brand developed very well in Asia in its previous life, with as many as 100 stores around the world, and its hotel concept enjoys a high status in the world's hotel industry.
Therefore, Lin Zuhui decided to get ahead of Marriott and did not wait for the reorganization of New Era Hotel. After all, he seemed to remember that Marriott purchased 49% of the equity of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in 1995, and the two hotel groups first worked together for three years.
, and then Marriott Hotels Group spent US$1 billion to acquire the remaining 51% in 1998, thus taking full ownership.
On Lin Zuhui's private plane, he, Colbert and his team were having a meeting to discuss. Everyone was holding a piece of information about the Ritz-Carlton that had just been sent to Xiangjiang.
New Era Hotel Group already has a team that specializes in managing the global hotel business. Especially in the past year, it has recruited many hotel elites.
Lin Zuhui looked at the information and gradually understood that the acquisition was not difficult. At this time, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel only had 24 stores. Although it had great influence in the hotel, it was because it was too high-end and not listed on the market.
The expansion rate is very slow.
The current president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel is Horst Schulz, who is also the co-founder. As far as Lin Zuhui knows, he also founded the Capella Hotel in later generations. Probably after the sale of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, he
Capella Hotels were re-established.
"Whether the acquisition is successful or not this time, we will move the hotel business headquarters to New York, USA, and then separate the Asian and European business divisions. You must be prepared for new challenges."
Colbert nodded. He knew that his boss would either not do it or he would expand crazily. Generally speaking, funds are the biggest obstacle to expansion, but there is no pressure in front of the stock gods. New Era Group itself has strong
profitability, and this boss often brings huge non-recurring profits to the company.
"As a result, we have two high-end hotel brands that need rapid expansion, and our hotel group is not listed, so we need a lot of financial support from the group."
Lin Zuhui immediately said: "Funding has never been a pressure on the company. Even if Langham Hotel Group is listed, it will be the return of the king. Instead of raising funds for development, it can only be said to be raising funds for expansion. In short, Langham Hotel Group will be listed.
, but not in the past few years.”
Colbert and others immediately knew what was going on and said, "Yeah."
Lin Zuhui has already said that in the next few years, high-end hotels will be opened on a global scale, and the mainland in particular will also start investing.
In Washington, the headquarters of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Ltd., Chairman Holmes, President Horst Schulz and others received Lin Zuhui and his party.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After simple greetings, Lin Zuhui went straight to the topic: "We want to invest in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and learn about your hotel's business philosophy. I wonder if Holmes and Schultz
Are you interested in cooperating?"
Before the two parties met, there had been one contact, otherwise there would not have been this meeting.
Holmes said: "Mr. Lin, although your company is very large and is one of the world's top real estate companies, we have discussed it and feel that your company's hotel business is not very strong, so inviting you to become a shareholder can bring great benefits to Ritz."
What does Carlton bring to the table?”
Lin Zuhui said calmly: "It's money! If we buy 49% of your shares, you can ensure that you live a happy life. After all, your aggressive expansion in the past few years has caused Ritz-Carlton's debt to be huge.
Increase and cash flow dry up.”
One word hits the mark!
In 1983, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels, LLC was established with President and founder Colgate Holmes, Horst Schulz, Joe Franey, Ed Stalos and Hervey Ha
Under Mueller's leadership, the company began to expand, building new hotel projects across the United States. Within two years, a total of five hotels were opened, including the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta, and the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Guanaco and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples. Maintaining this expansion rate, by the end of 1993, the number of Ritz-Carlton's outstanding luxury hotels had grown to 24, helping it win the Marco Polo Award for the first time.
Rich National Quality Award. In that year, they also created the first hotel in Asia, the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong.
Behind the crazy expansion is increased debt and increased risks. After all, Ritz-Carlton is not listed on the market, and almost all expansion funds are through bank loans. Coupled with the economic downturn in Europe and the United States in the past few years, Ritz-Carlton's finances are not optimistic.
, at least it is no longer able to expand.
President Schultz immediately asked: "You are only investing in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and the management is still in our hands. Is that true?"
The implication is that it has loosened up. After all, the company's debt is more than US$800 million, which is very worrying.
Corbett said at this time: "We hope to have a running-in period, two or three years, because we are recently integrating the group's hotel assets and will establish a new hotel group. In the next two years, we will
Spend billions of dollars to develop the global hotel business. Therefore, if we cooperate well, of course we hope that the Ritz-Carlton Hotel will fully belong to our Langham Hotel Group in two or three years. Because only in this way, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel will come
We can have a steady stream of funds to expand globally.”
Ambition, Colgate Holmes, Horst Schulz and others saw the ambition of Lin Zuhui and others.
In this case, they looked at each other, and then Holmes said: "We can sell you 49% of the equity, but the initiative is still in our hands whether to cooperate or not in the future, because we don't want to sell the Ritz-Carlton to you."
The hotel should be handed over to a hotel group that has no strength."
It is certain that they want to cash out, but they will not hand over the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to a weak hotel group.
Lin Zuhui smiled and said: "No problem, you make a price!"
After Holmes and others communicated in a low voice, he said: "800 million U.S. dollars."
It's a little more expensive. Although there are 24 five-star Ritz-Carlton hotels, not all of them are asset-heavy, and some properties are leased.
Of course, the situation is pressing. The Ritz-Carlton brand is worth a lot of money, and Lin Zuhui hopes to win them all, so the initial cooperation should be pleasant.
After a few simple probing words, and seeing that Holmes and others would not relent, Lin Zuhui finalized the deal.
As for money, the key is to know how to spend it, and you can earn it from other places later.
He now wants to grab the money from Marriott Hotel, finalize the cooperation between the two parties, and then reorganize the hotel assets in the first half of next year, and then use Langham as the flagship to start conquering cities around the world.
In the previous life, among the top ten hotel groups in the world, Chinese companies only had one or two seats, or even ranked at the bottom, which is undoubtedly a pity. Now that Lin Zuhui has come to invest, he has to make it into the top five, or even the top three.
Lin Zuhui plans to borrow all the funds for this acquisition. Since he wants to develop hotel assets in the next few years, even if the group's debt is 30 billion Hong Kong dollars, there is no harm in doubling it.
New Era Group has money, but now it needs to ensure cash flow on its books, so there is no need to use it.
Before Jiuqi arrives, his only option is to reduce his debts.