Why does local state-owned capital, which holds trillions of assets, still need to invite hotel groups to "help out"?
This article is from the WeChat public account Space Secret Investigator, author: Wu Shuang, published with authorization from 36Kr.
Four months ago, Huazhu just reached a cooperation with Guangzhou state-owned assets, planning to build 300 hotels in the next few years; four months later, Chengdu followed suit. On September 11, three municipal state-owned enterprises in Chengdu signed contracts with Huazhu, and Huazhu will strive to invest in and build 200 hotels in Chengdu in the next 3 to 5 years. A thought-provoking change is taking place: local state-owned assets hold land, property and hotel assets, but are increasingly willing to let leading hotel management groups operate hotels. Why do state-owned assets no longer build their own brands? What exactly has changed in this business?
Chengdu ranks first in China in the scale of hotel preparation, why does it still plan to introduce 200 hotels?
The hotel market in Chengdu is already highly competitive. By the end of the second quarter of 2026, there were 127 hotel projects under construction or preparation in Chengdu, with about 22,800 rooms, and the preparation scale ranked first among all cities in China. In the first half of this year alone, Chengdu opened about 11,000 new mid-range and above hotel rooms, second only to Beijing.
However, in such a market environment, Chengdu state-owned assets still invited Huazhu to cooperate. On September 11, Chengdu Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Huazhu. In the next 3 to 5 years, Huazhu will strive to invest in and build 200 hotels in Chengdu, with a total investment of more than 60 billion yuan. At the same time, three municipal state-owned enterprises including Chengdu Communications Investment Asset Management Co., Ltd., Rongcheng Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Chengdu Jiaoz Capital also signed contracts with Huazhu respectively.
Why does a city that already ranks first in the country in the scale of hotel preparation continue to add new hotels? Where will these 200 hotels come from?
A close look at the cooperation content shows that it is not just a simple increase in hotel supply. The cooperation between Chengdu state-owned assets and Huazhu this time combines hotel management, revitalization of existing assets, cultural tourism and asset securitization. Huazhu also clearly stated that it will cooperate with Chengdu state-owned enterprises to revitalize existing assets through models such as lease, joint development, entrusted operation and cooperative operation, introduce self-owned and investor funds, supply chain and technical capabilities, and explore asset securitization.
This means that Chengdu state-owned assets may no longer simply consider "how many more hotels to build", but whether the existing spaces in hand can continue to generate value in another way.
This is closely connected with the direction of state-owned assets reform after the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. In the past few years, the state-owned assets system has continuously carried out resource integration and asset expansion, but after entering the stock era, the problem has changed from "what do we have in hand" to "how to make money from the assets we hold".
Chengdu state-owned assets have a strong asset base. As of July 2026, the total assets of Chengdu state-owned enterprises reached 9.6 trillion yuan, of which the total assets of municipal state-owned enterprises were 4.4 trillion yuan, and 17 group companies had a total of 1137 market entities. The Chengdu Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission also disclosed that the book value of existing assets of municipal state-owned enterprises is nearly 600 billion yuan, with about 25,000 mu of existing land and more than 13 million square meters of existing real estate.
These assets are not only traditional residential and commercial buildings, but also different types of existing spaces such as science and innovation spaces, stadiums and cultural tourism projects. Jiang Ming, director of Chengdu Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, clearly stated that revitalizing existing state-owned assets to improve efficiency will be taken as the "top priority project" for the reform and development of state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises, and it is expected that about 100,000 square meters of existing assets will be revitalized in advance before the end of the year.
Zhuang Songcheng, development official of Huazhu Group, also said that a large number of historical buildings, commercial and office existing assets under Chengdu state-owned assets can achieve efficiency improvement through professional hotel transformation. Huazhu will introduce self-owned and investor funds, export supply chain and technical capabilities, and help state-owned assets securitization relying on relevant experience in hotel REITs.
Therefore, what is really worth paying attention to in this cooperation may not be how many more hotels Chengdu will have in the future. Instead, a number of spaces that originally existed on the books of state-owned assets will be transformed into assets that can be operated, profitable, and continuously generate cash flow. From this perspective, "200 hotels" is just a number, and the real big business actually lies beyond the hotel itself.
Local state-owned assets are becoming the new "big property owner" of leading hotel management groups
The 200 hotels in Chengdu are not an isolated case. If we expand our vision to the whole country, we will find that the cooperation between local state-owned assets and leading hotel groups is increasing, and the cooperation content has changed from the single "entrusted operation of one hotel" in the past to larger-scale revitalization around existing assets. Local state-owned assets are becoming an increasingly important cooperation partner for leading hotel groups, and hotel groups have also begun to provide a complete set of operation solutions around the assets held by state-owned assets.
Take Huazhu as an example. Outside Chengdu, Guangzhou is an earlier sample. In May 2026, Guangzhou Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Huazhu. In the next 3 years, Huazhu will strive to invest in about 300 hotels in Guangzhou, with a total investment of about 100 billion yuan, covering many municipal state-owned enterprises such as Lingnan Group, Zhushi Group, Guangzhou Chengshi Investment Group and Guangdu Anju Group. The entry point in Foshan is more specific: a historical building built in the 1980s at No. 74 Zumiao Road has been transformed into a Ji Hotel; Foshan Jianfa Building has introduced the Intercity Hotel flagship store, becoming a new landmark of commercial office. From municipal strategic projects to single properties, Huazhu's cooperation granularity is getting finer.
Another change of Huazhu is that its capital capability has begun to enter its asset cooperation system. In August 2026, Huazhu Anzhu REIT was officially approved, becoming the first hotel-type commercial real estate REIT on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and also the first public offering hotel REIT in China led by a private hotel group. The underlying assets are the Mercure and Ji Hotel projects at Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Center, and the Orange Crystal Hotel project at Shanghai Jiangqiao Wanda. The three hotels raised more than 1.2 billion yuan. This means that in addition to traditional brand and operation capabilities, Huazhu has added another asset capitalization tool. For local state-owned assets that hold a large number of existing properties, this means that from "transforming buildings into hotels" to further exploring hotel asset securitization, the industrial chain that Huazhu can participate in is getting longer.
Jinjiang's path emphasizes "scene integration". In May 2026, Jinjiang International Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Liaoning Cultural, Sports and Tourism Industry Development Group, to build a "sports + hotel" integrated development model around the "Northeast Super" event, and promote cooperation in areas such as the introduction of well-known international and domestic hotel brands, incubation of characteristic cultural tourism accommodation IP, scenic spot operation and destination management. This is no longer a simple export of hotel management, but embedding hotels into the local cultural, sports and tourism industrial chain. Earlier, Jinjiang also reached strategic cooperation with Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Lu'an Chengtou, Jiangsu Changlu and other institutions, and explored the integrated ecology of "rail transit + hotel + cultural tourism" with Qingdao Metro Group.
Moreover, Jinjiang's actions in the capital market are no slower than Huazhu. The Hua'an Jinjiang Commercial REIT approved in June has underlying assets of 21 mid-to-high-end Jinjiang Hotels distributed in 18 cities, with more than 3,000 rooms, and most of the hotels have been in stable operation for more than 10 years. Zhang Yuchong, general manager of Jinjiang Asset Management Co., Ltd., publicly stated that Jinjiang is committed to opening up the capital cycle path from quasi-REITs to public offering REITs, and building a complete business closed loop of "investment, construction, management and exit".
BTG Homeinns adopts a strategy of "ecological binding". Not long ago, BTG Homeinns reached a strategic cooperation with Changzhi Cultural and Tourism Bureau of Shanxi Province, which will transform the Caiyuan Hotel invested by Taihang Cultural Tourism Group under Changzhi Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission into the "Jianguo Puyin Hotel", with 130 planned rooms, which is expected to open at the end of 2026. But the real highlight of this cooperation is not the hotel itself, but that BTG Homeinns deeply connects the "Homeinns LIFE Club" membership system with Changzhi cultural tourism resources. Five core scenic spots launch exclusive discounts and ticket checking channels for members, local agricultural products such as Codonopsis pilosula and millet from Changzhi are launched on BTG Homeinns' new retail platform, and the local catering brand "Luzhou Banquet" is included in the membership rights and interests. The traffic platform with 210 million members has become the most competitive bargaining chip for BTG Homeinns when negotiating with local state-owned assets.
Du Chenghui's approach is more pragmatic. This year, it signed a strategic framework agreement with Zhanjiang Tourism Investment Group to revitalize the existing cultural tourism accommodation assets in Zhanjiang with the model of "state-owned enterprise platform + professional operation", and the first two landing brands are City Comfort Hotel and Bardon Century Apartment. In Zhongshan, Du Chenghui's Bardon brand has cooperated twice with Zhongshan Cuiheng Group - the first project transforms the idle state-owned assets in the core area of Cuiheng New District into Bardon Century Apartment, introducing the integrated operation mode of long and short rent that "can stay for one day or one year", some floors serve enterprise employees in the park, and the rest meet the needs of business travelers. After the first store performed well in operation, the two sides quickly launched the second project on Baiyuan Road, East District.
The most realistic part of this kind of cooperation is that it does not force all existing assets to be transformed into "high-end hotels". Whether a building should be transformed into a hotel, an apartment, or a product combining long and short rent, the operation mode is determined according to the asset conditions first. This is exactly the capability that local state-owned assets increasingly need now, because the assets held by state-owned assets are not produced in the same mold. There are historical buildings, commercial office buildings, industrial parks, supporting facilities for scenic spots, and hotels that originally operated poorly. The real difficulty is not "whether there is a hotel brand", but what kind of product a specific asset should be built into. From this perspective, the hotel management groups represented by Du Chenghui no longer provide simple brand authorization, but a lighter and more flexible asset operation solution.
In addition, some hotel groups even "integrate" into local state-owned assets and become their "subsidiaries". At the end of 2025, Hubei Cultural Tourism planned to acquire 29.99% of the shares of Junting Hotel for about 1.5 billion yuan, and obtain control through subsequent arrangements such as tender offers. The transaction plan also proposed to gradually inject high-quality accommodation assets under Hubei Cultural Tourism into listed companies. However, this transaction was finally terminated in July 2026.
Although this case was not implemented, it just illustrates another trend: local state-owned assets have begun to look for mature hotel operation platforms in turn, trying to directly integrate their assets into a larger industrial platform.
It seems that the actions of various parties are completely different, but the underlying logic is getting closer and closer. Local state-owned assets have assets, but lack the professional ability to continuously operate different types of assets. Leading hotel management groups have brands, operation capabilities, member systems, supply chains and even capital tools, but they need more and more assets and projects.
Therefore, the two sides are getting closer to each other. This is why today's leading hotel groups are increasingly "working for local state-owned assets". However, this is no longer the traditional mode of "collecting management fees and operating one hotel", but participating in brand selection, property transformation, hotel operation, cultural tourism consumption, and even further extending to asset capitalization around the asset pool held by local state-owned assets.
Do local state-owned assets still need to build their own hotels?
Local state-owned assets hold a large number of assets and funds, and many places have even established their own hotel groups. For example, in 2021, Sichuan integrated its provincial hotel resources to establish Anyi Hotel Group, which now manages more than 167 hotels with more than 30,000 beds, and has formed business segments such as hotel management, asset operation and centralized procurement. In other words, Sichuan is not without its own hotel platform, nor does it have no hotel management capability. So why do they still look for leading hotel groups such as Huazhu, Jinjiang, BTG Homeinns and Du Chenghui?
First, owning hotels does not mean having a competitive brand. As mentioned earlier when talking about Lingnan Hotel, many local state-owned assets have many brands under their banner, but most of them lack a truly competitive chain brand in the market. For example, Lingnan Hotel has 28 brands covering multiple fields from platinum five-star to urban business, but few of them have real market recognition and brand appeal, and the more influential ones are mostly derived from historical accumulation. When Nanjing Lvyou Hotel Management was established, most of its hotel assets were local old-fashioned single hotel products, and it had not yet formed its own brand matrix, so it was expected that it would be difficult to realize external brand output in the short term.
It can be said that the foundation of local state-owned hotels largely comes from the integration of local hotel assets, and their advantages are resources and assets. But if they want to further expand across the country, they have to face a more realistic problem: why do consumers choose this brand specifically? Why are franchisees willing to hand over their properties to this brand? Why should a new asset use this brand instead of the brands under Huazhu, Jinjiang and BTG Homeinns that have been verified by the market? This is also a common problem faced by local state-owned hotel platforms.
Hotel brands are not as simple as unifying the names of several hotels. A truly valuable brand requires long-term accumulation of consumer awareness, product standards, member systems, franchise networks and price systems, and more importantly, a large amount of hotel operation data for continuous iteration. Therefore, local state-owned assets can quickly expand the number of hotels through asset integration, but it is difficult to replicate a national brand network in a short time.
This is the most direct value of leading hotel management groups to local state-owned assets. After large-scale franchise and chain expansion, leading hotel management groups have formed a set of replicable, iterable and market-oriented systems that can be verified by operation results, which can greatly reduce the trial and error cost of existing assets re-entering the market.
Second, having an operation team does not mean having real market-oriented operation capabilities. Hotel operation is a typical market-oriented business. Hotel prices need to change with supply and demand, products need to change with consumers, personnel need to be adjusted according to operation efficiency, and decisions such as whether a project should be invested, how much to invest and when to stop losses need to be made quickly. However, when local state-owned assets operate hotels, they often have to meet multiple requirements such as state-owned assets management, investment decision-making and asset safety at the same time.
Especially in the stock era, hotels are no longer businesses that "can be opened as long as there are buildings and can be sold as long as there are brands". Local state-owned hotel platforms certainly have their own operation teams, but the advantage of leading hotel management groups is that they have formed a set of operation systems that can be scaled up and continuously iterated after years of market competition of thousands or even tens of thousands of hotels, which is exactly the part that local state-owned assets find most difficult to fully marketize.
Third, the capability of asset exit and value preservation and appreciation. In the past, when state-owned assets operated hotels, they mostly considered "running the hotel well". But in the stock era, it is not enough to just open the hotel. More importantly, has this state-owned asset become more valuable after a few years? Is there any loss of state-owned assets?
This means that when state-owned assets choose hotel partners today, they can no longer only consider "whether this company can manage hotels well", but also see whether it can make assets form stable cash flow, sustainable operation and capitalizable conditions.
The fact that Huazhu and Jinjiang have successively promoted hotel REITs recently is, in a sense, the embodiment of this capability. This is also where the value of leading hotel management groups has changed. They are no longer just partners in the operation end, but begin to participate in the whole life cycle of assets. They help assets find suitable formats and brands in the front end, are responsible for generating cash flow through operation in the middle end, and have the opportunity to send mature operating assets back to the capital market through methods such as asset securitization in the back end.
Therefore