USD65 Million Investment In E-Commerce From 7 Days Inn

Zheng Nanyan, CEO of 7 Days Inn, has announced the the budget hotel group will invest the USD65 million funding that the company acquired in 2008 on creating an e-commerce platform.

Zheng believes that this will save the hotel a lot of money, by optimizing the room bookings to meet the diverse demands of customers, and by alleviating the pressure on the hotel's reception desk and call centers. while saving costs involved in sales.

Zheng says that the global financial crisis won't affect 7 Days Inn's expansion plans, though they will make an adjustment on the pattern of opening new outlets. It is reported that 7 Days Inn has a total of 240 outlets, of these just 20 are franchise hotels and account for less than 10% of the total number of properties.

Zheng says that 7 Days Inn will adopt a more stable policy for expansion in 2009, but the number of new hotels will be greater than in 2008 when it opened 130 new hotels across the country. Zheng says that 7 Days Inn aims to open 150-180 hotels in 2009 with the focus on regions such as southern China, central China, and southwest China away from the first tier and second tier cities.