In 20 years, it has reached the fourth place globally. The technological engine behind Huazhu's leadership in improving industrial efficiency

On March 18th, Huazhu Group released its full - year performance for 2025. During the reporting period, Huazhu Group achieved a revenue of 25.3 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 5.9%. The adjusted net profit was 4.9 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 32.9%. As of the end of 2025, the group had 12,858 operating hotels globally, with over 1.26 million rooms, covering 21 countries.

2025 marked the 20th anniversary of Huazhu Group's establishment. This performance report reflects, on the one hand, the group's steady business growth, and on the other hand, the achievements of its supply - side reform driven by technological innovation.

A few months ago, Ji Qi, the founder and chairman of Huazhu Group, clearly pointed out at the Huazhu Partners Conference that the greatest opportunity in the Chinese hotel industry lies in "supply - side reform". Against the backdrop of rising labor costs, rigid service standards, and bottlenecks in operational efficiency that continuously squeeze the industry's profit margins, Huazhu Group has achieved a high - quality growth curve that outperforms the industry fundamentals.

Looking through the financial report, Huazhu Group's technological path is particularly clear: it uses intelligent technologies such as AI in - stay services and the industry's first unmanned new front - desk "Huazhanggui" to release labor productivity, creates a digital product for GOP cost management to achieve refined control of seven major operating costs, and promotes the digital - model construction mode to improve the capital efficiency of hotel owners. A series of measures are reshaping the hotel industry from a traditional labor - intensive industry to a modern service industry empowered by technology.

This is not an isolated superposition of technologies but a systematic reconstruction of the industry's underlying logic. It precisely responds to the strategic directions of "deepening supply - side structural reform" and "comprehensively promoting digital technology empowerment" in the 15th Five - Year Plan, and attempts to provide a practical reference sample for the high - quality development of the Chinese hotel industry from three aspects: efficiency revolution, experience reconstruction, and industrial upgrading.

Technology Redefines Service Boundaries and Fills Experiences with Warmth

For a long time, the traditional hotel industry has faced an irreconcilable contradiction: front - desk employees are trapped by cumbersome registration processes and repetitive customer service inquiries and cannot truly focus on improving the customer experience. Huazhu Group's solution is to hand over high - frequency and repetitive mechanical tasks to machines and return valuable warm - hearted services to people.

Last year, with the rapid development of large - model and intelligent - agent technologies, Huazhu Group officially announced a cooperation with Tencent in September to explore the efficiency improvement of AI intelligent agents in the hotel field.

Within just a few months, the AI in - stay services jointly developed by the two parties have been implemented in over 3,200 stores under Huazhu Group. For the most complex in - stay service scenarios, 38 workflows have been established to automatically handle over 70% of high - frequency inquiries, replacing human service staff.

Different from traditional intelligent customer service, AI in - stay services can also integrate responses based on different intentions. When a guest requests "a bottle of water" in the room, the system can automatically generate a work order and dispatch a robot for delivery within 5 seconds without manual transfer.

This end - to - end automated closed - loop not only compresses the customer service response time from the traditional ten - plus minutes to seconds but also liberates customer service staff from mechanical roles, allowing them to focus on handling complex problems that machines cannot solve.

This "human - machine collaboration" model is most vividly demonstrated in economy - class hotels. Take the Haiyou fully self - service hotel as an example. The processes of check - in, item delivery, and laundry are all completed by intelligent devices. For example, through the self - check - in device, guests can complete the check - in procedures in as fast as 10 seconds, solving the problem of reception efficiency at the hotel front - desk during peak check - in periods, and reducing the staff - to - room ratio to 0.1. For front - desk employees who have more free time, they no longer need to sit behind the service desk and operate the computer mechanically. They can hold a Pad and patrol in the lobby, actively carry luggage for families with children or provide guidance for the elderly. This extreme efficiency enables the hotel to ensure guest services within the economy - class price range while leaving sufficient profit margins for franchisees, providing the possibility for large - scale growth in a broader market.

Through such digital exploration and implementation, Huazhu has transformed the hotel industry, which was traditionally regarded as a labor - intensive industry, into a modern service industry.

Digital Solutions Crack the "Cost Black Box"

If technological innovation eases the balance between service quality and human efficiency, then the digital product for GOP cost management, which Huazhu developed and pioneered specifically for refined "hotel management", is like installing a "smart brain" in the hotel, making invisible costs visible and uncontrollable profits controllable.

In 2025, while the domestic hotel industry was in the warm current of consumption recovery, it also faced profound internal pressure. The industry's profit is often diluted in invisible places, such as energy waste, inflated laundry costs, and material losses. Every link represents a real loss of money.

The digital GOP cost management system, which has been put into use in 7,763 hotel stores under Huazhu Group, achieves automatic data synchronization and visualization by connecting the seven major operating cost modules of the hotel. For example, the system can automatically compare the energy - consumption benchmarks of similar hotels. Once it finds that the electricity consumption per room - night in a certain store is abnormally high, it will immediately issue a warning, prompting an investigation into whether there are problems such as shared public - area electricity meters or aging equipment.

This refined management helps franchisees bid farewell to the extensive management mode of "managing by feeling" and shift to scientific decision - making based on data, effectively filling the profit black hole in traditional management.

In the construction link where capital use is more intensive, the digital - model construction mode promoted by Huazhu Group is more like an efficiency revolution.

The traditional hotel decoration has a long cycle and complex construction processes. Huazhu Group disassembles the guest - room space into standardized modules from the design source. The size specifications and material requirements of each set of furniture are stored in the "smart brain", making room arrangement and drawing production more efficient. From the standardized production of main - material furniture to the integrated shower room, a large number of processes are pre - fabricated in the factory, with a short inventory cycle and high delivery accuracy, eliminating the need for a second on - site measurement. The automotive - grade "optical - electrical cable" system is pre - integrated in the factory, and there is no need to slot and bury cables at the construction site. It can be easily assembled like building Lego blocks, and furniture can be instantly transformed into household appliances. Take the 5.0 version of the All Seasons Hotel as an example. It only takes 2 people 3 hours at the fastest to install one room. It has zero waste, low loss, high efficiency, and can also save labor costs.

This "building hotels like building cars" model significantly compresses the construction cycle, not only shortening the capital precipitation cycle of franchisees and providing efficiency guarantees but also reducing construction costs and environmental pollution.

Technological Innovation is the Core Engine Driving the High - Quality Development of the Industry

It is worth mentioning that in the past year, the domestic hotel industry as a whole faced the structural pressure of "excess supply and weak demand". Against this background, the value of Huazhu Group's investment in technological innovation is not limited to improving the return on investment of individual stores. Its deeper significance lies in helping to break through the efficiency boundary of the traditional hotel industry.

By reducing construction costs through the digital - model approach, and lowering daily operating costs through the digital GOP management product and AI in - stay services, Huazhu Group packages its technological capabilities into a complete solution, significantly lowering the threshold for non - professional investors to enter the hotel industry. The extreme standardization and automation empowerment also improve the certainty of investors' returns, which is expected to attract more diversified capital and partners.

Huazhu Group uses AI intelligence to hand over repetitive work to machines, allowing employees to focus on more warm - hearted services. With the high occupancy rate supported by the brand effect, the hotels under its banner have stronger risk - resistance capabilities and cash - flow stability, and also bring new valuation imagination space to the industry.

Looking back at the present, the operating performance in 2025 can be regarded as a comprehensive test of Huazhu Group's technological innovation achievements. Behind this is the core ability of an enterprise to transform technological innovation from a "story" into "performance".

By integrating artificial intelligence and digital technologies into every aspect of hotel operation, Huazhu Group has created high - quality products and services for customers, real value for franchisees, and provided a replicable path for the high - quality development of the domestic hotel industry. In the first year of the 15th Five - Year Plan, Huazhu Group's practice may prove that technology is not only a tool for cost reduction and efficiency improvement but also the core engine for enhancing service experience, promoting industrial upgrading, and achieving high - quality development.