Wyndham Hotel merges its China unit into Asia Pacific
>> Wyndham Hotel Group said it will combine its Greater China unit with Southeast Asia Pacific Rim as Asia Pacific and after that Greater China president Leo Liu will soon leave the company. CEO Geoff Ballotti said the reorganization aims to "further streamline overhead expenses" in face of the COVID-19 pandemic. China represents just 2% of the company's adjusted EBITDA, Ballotti said during Wyndham's fourth-quarter earnings call back in February this year.
IHG's first-quarter RevPAR drops 65.3% in China
>> InterContinental Hotels Group said it had 15% or 1,000 hotels closed as of end of April but just 2% or 10 hotels closed in Greater China. First-quarter RevPAR in Greater China was down 65.3%. RevPAR was down 89% in February, improving modestly to an 81% decline in March and to an expected ~75% decline in April.
Huazhu announces offering of $450 million convertible notes
>> Chinese hotel giant Huazhu Group announced the offering of up to USD 450 million of convertible senior notes due 2026. The company plans to use the net proceeds from the notes offering to repurchase its convertible senior notes due 2022, and to repay part of the principal and interest of its loans.
China's tourism revenue drops 60% in first major holiday
>> Millions of Chinese people kept their spending down during the first major holiday in China since the coronavirus outbreak. During the May Day holiday from May 1-5 this year, China recorded 115 million tourist trips domestically, raking in tourism revenue of RMB 47.56 billion (USD 6.79 billion). That’s a 59.58% slump from the RMB 117.67 billion recorded for last year’s Labor Day holiday, which was one day shorter.
Trip.com: young travelers raise hope for tourism recovery
>> China reported 115 million trips over the five-day holiday in May, down by 41% from the 195 million last year. But the figure beat expectations of about 90 million trips and was a hopeful sign, travel operators and authorities said. Tourists traveling by car accounted for more than 60% of the travel during the holiday, the tourism authority said. Trip.com said bookings for its car rentals were 10% up on the same period last year.
China Eastern became the world's largest airline by seat count
>> The coronavirus has affected global aviation in a way that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before. This week, China Eastern beat out U.S. carrier Southwest for the title of the biggest airline in the world in terms of number of seats available. The likely temporary title for China Eastern comes after low-cost giant Southwest grounded many of its flights, leading to a reduction of over one million seats, according to OAG.
Investor lowers stake in Trip.com Group
UK-based investment management firm Baillie Gifford, a major shareholder of the Trip.com Group, reported that its stake in the Chinese online travel company has decreased from 7.7% as of February this year to 4.32% as of April 30. Baillie Gifford boosted its stake in Chinese lifestyle service provider Meituan from 4.97% to 5.08% earlier last month.
