中國連鎖酒店進軍高端市場

For Wang Xin, fulfilling a life-long dream of creating a Chinese luxury brand means starting in the basement, quite literally. He begins a tour of his pilot hotel with a trip to the boiler room, where he proudly shows off the clean floor and shiny imported equipment.

創造一支中國奢侈品牌是王新的畢生夢想。對於他來說，實現這一夢想意味着從地下室開始（不是比喻，而是字面意思的地下室）。對於自己參與打造的第一家高端酒店，他把參觀行程的第一站安排到鍋爐房，自豪地展示乾淨的地板和閃亮的進口設備。

“This is our core!” he effuses. “When I show this hotel, I don’t show the outside. I want to show our quality from the inside.”

他滿懷激情地說：“這是我們的核心！當我展示這家酒店時，我不會去展示外部。我想從內部展示我們的品質。”

Mr Wang has been given free rein by Capital Tourism Group, the listed arm of Beijing Tourism, China’s largest state-owned tourism conglomerate, to set up a luxury chain of hotels. He is taking an engineer’s approach to a business that is known for its difficult mix of art and science.

王新是中國最大的國有旅遊集團北京首旅(Beijing Tourism Group)旗下上市公司首旅酒店集團(Capital Tourism Group)打造的高端酒店諾金(Nuo)的總經理，他受命打造一支豪華連鎖酒店，並在這個項目上獲得自由決定權。他正以一個工程師的方式來管理以藝術與科學的困難組合聞名的酒店業務。

Guests may see serenity, but the international luxury hotel business is fiercely competitive. Executives obsess over the minutiae of ad placement and traveller spending as much as the cut of the bellman’s cape. Chinese chains are the latest to wade into the fray, as the nation’s travellers become wealthier and more demanding.

客人們眼裏看到的可能是從容寧靜，但國際豪華酒店業的競爭其實很激烈。高管們糾結於各種細節，從廣告投放、旅行者開銷，乃至服務生斗篷的剪裁。隨着中國旅客越來越富有，要求越來越高，中國連鎖酒店是加入這場競爭的最新經營者。

The country is expected to become the world’s second-largest source of outbound tourism by 2020. Chinese tourists, particularly those born in the 1980s, are now growing into their spending power. They collect Gucci bags, drink French wines and frequent hotel chains such as the Four Seasons or the Ritz-Carlton.

預計到2020年中國將成爲全球第二大出境旅遊客源國。中國遊客，特別是20世紀80年代出生的遊客，現在正進入具有較大購買力的年齡段。他們收集古馳(Gucci)手袋，喝法國葡萄酒，還經常下榻四季酒店(Four Seasons)和麗思卡爾頓酒店(Ritz-Carlton)等連鎖酒店。

But Chinese hotel conglomerates have so far proven unable to capture the top end of the market, at home or abroad. Mr Wang hopes that will change with Nuo, a brand developed in partnership with the Kempinski chain. It self-consciously draws on China’s Ming Dynasty heritage to appeal to Chinese and foreign travellers.

但無論是在國內還是國外，中國酒店集團迄今被證明無法搶佔高端市場。王新希望諾金可以帶來改變；諾金是首旅與凱賓斯基(Kempinski)連鎖酒店合作開發的品牌，它刻意借鑑了中國明代文化遺產，以吸引中外遊客。

Nuo’s pilot property in Beijing is Mr Wang’s pride and joy. The cavernous lobby features Chinese contemporary artists (“No fakes! It’s all real!”); the restaurants serve tea grown on the company’s own plantations. Even the air filtration has been designed to soothe Beijingers’ obsession with air pollution: “You need to have the details and systems right,” he says. “That’s hard.”

首家北京諾金酒店是王新的驕傲和喜悅。空曠的大廳裏擺置着中國當代藝術家的作品（“沒有贗品！全都是真的！”）；餐廳供應的茶的茶葉來自該公司自己的種植園。就連空氣都經過淨化，以緩解北京人對空氣污染的擔心。王新說：“你得在細節和系統上都做對。這很難。”

Capital Tourism has opened a second Nuo in a portion of its venerable Beijing Hotel. A third is planned for the Universal Studios theme park, under construction east of Beijing.

首旅酒店集團將歷史悠久的北京飯店(Beijing Hotel)的一部分改爲第二家諾金。第三家諾金包含在北京東部在建的環球影城(Universal Studios)主題公園規劃中。

The business of hotels is roughly split between property owners and brand managers (some brands also own the properties they manage). Beijing Tourism, a state-owned conglomerate, is for the most part an owner, letting other brands manage its properties. It controls about 3,000 properties around China, including Home Inn, the ubiquitous budget chain, and Quanjude, the Shanghai-listed Peking Duck restaurant. The group was spun off from the China Tourism Administration, the organisation that regulates the Chinese hotel business and grants stars to top hotels.

酒店業務大致分爲業主和品牌管理者兩大類（有些品牌擁有自己管理的物業）。作爲國有綜合企業，北京首旅的大部分業務是業主，其物業交由其他品牌管理。該集團在國內控制着約3000處物業，包括無處不在的經濟連鎖酒店如家(Home Inn)，以及在上海上市的北京烤鴨餐館全聚德。該集團是從國家旅遊局拆分出來的，該局負責監管中國酒店業，並向頂級酒店授予星級。

Beijing Tourism’s powerful connections have helped it expand as a property owner. But those benefits have worked against it in developing the market discipline needed to build a brand. This is why Mr Wang and his bosses worked with Kempinski, an early joint-venture partner, for advice on how to move up the value chain. “I am very conscious of German quality. You have to understand their attitude of construction that will last 100 years.”

北京首旅的強大關係幫助它擴大旗下物業，但這些“好處”不利於該集團培養市場紀律，而這是打造品牌所需要的。這就是爲什麼王新和他的上司們要與早期合資夥伴凱賓斯基合作，以獲取如何向價值鏈上方移動的建議。“我非常清楚德國品質。你得理解他們那種房子要屹立百年的建築態度。”

“Chinese want everything fast. We don’t pay attention to detail. That’s why China doesn’t have any brands,” he says. By contrast, Nuo “won’t expand at random” and will defer any international launch for five years at least.

他說：“中國人一切都想要快。我們不注重細節。這就是爲什麼中國沒有任何品牌。”相比之下，諾金“不會隨便擴張”，至少五年內不會進軍國際市場。

Creating Nuo may be Mr Wang’s dream but it dovetails nicely with Chinese state policy. Chinese technocrats have pushed companies to develop “national champion” brands and capture premium margins in fields ranging from autos to cosmetics. Indeed, Mr Wang has some internal competition in his brand-building endeavour. Beijing Tourism is simultaneously developing Ahn Luh, a line of boutique hotels that also draws inspiration from Chinese traditional architecture. Other state tourism companies are launching their own brands.

打造諾金可能是王新的夢想，但此舉也符合中國的國家政策。中國的技術官僚們鼓勵企業發展“國家冠軍”品牌，並在汽車、化妝品等多個領域捕捉到高端利潤。的確，王新的品牌建設努力還有一些內部競爭。北京首旅集團同時還在開發安麓(Ahn Luh)精品酒店項目，該品牌也從中國傳統建築汲取靈感。其他國有旅遊公司也在推出自己的品牌。

But the bigger test is yet to come. It is one thing establishing a brand in your own property, quite another persuading other hotel owners to confide their properties to your brand. For now, Mr Wang expects the Nuo chain to expand within hotels already owned by his parent group.

但更大的考驗還在後面。用自己的物業創建一個品牌是一回事，說服其他酒店業主把物業委託給你的品牌則是另一回事。就目前而言，王新期望諾金能在母公司旗下的現有酒店內實現擴張。

The day that changes and an unrelated property group contracts a Nuo-branded hotel, Mr Wang will have finally achieved his vision.

在這種局面發生變化、一家不相關的房地產集團簽約推出一家諾金品牌酒店的那一天，王新將真正實現自己的願景。