Huazhu Group Limited Announces Preliminary Results for Hotel Operations in the Fourth Quarter and the Full Year of 2019

SHANGHAI, China, Jan. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huazhu Group Limited HTHT ("Huazhu" or "our"), a leading and fast-growing hotel group, today announced preliminary results for hotel operations in the fourth quarter and the full year ended December 31, 2019.

Hotel Development

Operating Metrics

(2) Excluding our soft brands (Hi Inn, Elan, Starway, Madison and Grand Madison), the blended RevPAR for 2019Q4 declined by 0.5% year-over-year.

(3) Excluding our soft brands (Hi Inn, Elan, Starway, Madison and Grand Madison), the blended RevPAR for 2019 grew by 0.8%.

Business Update by Segment

About Huazhu Group Limited
Huazhu Group Limited is a leading hotel operator and franchisor. As of December 31, 2019, Huazhu operated 5,618 hotels with 536,876 rooms in operation. Huazhu's brands include Hi Inn, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel, HanTing Premium Hotel, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Orange Hotel Select, Crystal Orange Hotel, Manxin Hotels & Resorts, Joya Hotel, and Blossom Hill Hotels & Resorts. Huazhu also has the rights as master franchisee for Mercure, Ibis and Ibis Styles, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in the pan-China region. Huazhu completed the acquisition of Deutsche Hospitality on January 2, 2020, further expanding our brands portfolio to include Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, Maxx by Steigenberger, Jaz Hotel, Intercity Hotel and Zleep Hotel.

Huazhu's business includes leased and owned, manachised and franchised models. Under the lease and ownership model, Huazhu directly operates hotels typically located on leased or owned properties. Under the manachise model, Huazhu manages manachised hotels through the on-site hotel managers Huazhu appoints and collects fees from franchisees. Under the franchise model, Huazhu provides training, reservations and support services to the franchised hotels, and collects fees from franchisees but does not appoint on-site hotel managers. Huazhu applies a consistent standard and platform across all of its hotels. As of December 31, 2019, Huazhu operates 16 percent of its hotel rooms under lease and ownership model, and 84 percent under manachise and franchise models.

For more information, please visit Huazhu's website: http://ir.huazhu.com.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The information in this release contains forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. Such factors and risks include our anticipated growth strategies; our future results of operations and financial condition; the economic conditions of China; the regulatory environment in China; our ability to attract and retain customers and leverage our brands; trends and competition in the lodging industry; the expected growth of demand for lodging in China; and other factors and risks detailed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, which may be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "will," "expect," "plan," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "forecast," "project" or "continue," the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Readers should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events or results.

Huazhu undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

Contact Information
Huazhu Investor Relations
Tel: 86 (21) 6195 9561
Email: ir@huazhu.com
http://ir.huazhu.com