HTHT H World Group Ltd

China Lodging Group, Limited (NASDAQ:HTHT) (“China Lodging Group”, “Huazhu”, or the “Company”), a leading and fast-growing multi-brand hotel group in China, today announced its preliminary results for the hotel operation in the third quarter ended September 30, 2016.

Operating Metrics

	For the quarter ended
	September 30,			June 30,			September 30,
	2015			2016			2016
Occupancy rate (as a percentage)
Leased and owned hotels		91	%		87	%		90	%
Manachised hotels		89	%		85	%		89	%
Franchised hotels		73	%		71	%		74	%
Blended		89	%		85	%		89	%
Average daily room rate (1) (in RMB)
Leased and owned hotels		207			210			217
Manachised hotels		179			175			186
Franchised hotels		187			181			194
Blended		188			184			194
RevPAR (1) (in RMB)
Leased and owned hotels		188			182			195
Manachised hotels		159			150			166
Franchised hotels		137			128			144
Blended		167			157			173
(1) Value-added tax ("VAT") has been implemented for hospitality industry to replace business tax in China, effective May 1, 2016. The Company's room rates quoted and received from customers are tax-inclusive (business tax or VAT) before and after the implementation of VAT. For comparison purposes, the ADR and RevPAR disclosed in this release are based on the tax-inclusive rates.

Like-for-like performance for leased and manachised hotels opened for at least 18 months during the current quarter
	As of and for the quarter ended
	September 30,						yoy
	2015			2016			change
Total		2,050			2,050
Leased hotels		588			588
Manachised and franchised hotels		1,462			1,462
Occupancy rate (as a percentage)		91	%		91	%		0.2	%
Average daily room rate (in RMB)		188			189			0.4	%
RevPAR (in RMB)		171			172			0.5	%

Hotel Development

	Number of hotels in operation									Number of rooms in operation
	Opened	Closed (2)			Net added			As of		Net added	As of
	in Q3 2016	in Q3 2016			in Q3 2016			September 30, 2016		in Q3 2016	September 30, 2016
Leased and owned hotels	8		(10	)		(2	)	625		35	77,158
Manachised and franchised hotels	163		(77	)		86		2,573		7,939	245,627
Total	171		(87	)		84		3,198		7,974	322,785
(2) The hotel closure in Q3 2016 was higher than the previous quarters because:a) In order to increase the product qualities, Huazhu removed 44 of the manachised and franchised hotels related to HanTing, Hi Inn, Elan and Starway from Huazhu’s network for incompliances with the brand and operating standards.
b) Huazhu removed 15 franchised and 1 manachised hotels under ibis and ibis Styles brands after completion of legal procedures for termination. The financial impact from such removal is not significant because these hotels have not been integrated into Huazhu's operating platform for operation and management fee purposes.
Other common reasons for hotel closure including contract expiration, rezoning and others.

	Number of hotels in pipeline as of September 30, 2016
Leased hotels	23
Manachised and franchised hotels	482
Total(3)	505
(3) Including 38 hotels under brands of ibis, ibis Styles and Mercure.

Business Update by Segment

Hotel breakdown by segment
	Number of hotels in operation
	Net added			As of
	in Q3 2016			September 30, 2016
Economy hotels		45		2,771
HanTing Hotel		44		2,149
Leased hotels		-		492
Manachised hotels		43		1,656
Franchised hotels		1		1
Hi Inn		15		373
Leased hotels		(1	)	36
Manachised hotels		8		293
Franchised hotels		8		44
Elan Hotel		(1	)	179
Manachised hotels		(3	)	146
Franchised hotels		2		33
ibis Hotel		(13	)	70
Leased hotels		-		13
Manachised hotels		1		14
Franchised hotels		(14	)	43
Midscale and upscale hotels		39		427
JI Hotel		27		256
Leased hotels		-		78
Manachised hotels		27		176
Franchised hotels		-		2
Starway Hotel		5		141
Leased hotels		(1	)	2
Manachised hotels		10		94
Franchised hotels		(4	)	45
Joya Hotel		-		5
Leased hotels		-		2
Manachised hotels		-		3
Manxin Hotels & Resorts		1		3
Leased hotels		(1	)	-
Manachised hotels		2		3
ibis Styles Hotel		2		8
Manachised hotels		3		5
Franchised hotels		(1	)	3
Mercure Hotel		3		11
Leased hotels		1		2
Manachised hotels		2		8
Franchised hotels		-		1
Novotel Hotel		1		2
Manachised hotels		-		1
Franchised hotels		1		1
Grand Mercure		-		1
Franchised hotels		-		1
Total		84		3,198

Same-hotel operational data by segment
	Number of hotels in operation		Same-hotel RevPAR					Same-hotel ADR					Same-hotel Occupancy
	As of		For the quarter ended					For the quarter ended					For the quarter ended
	September 30,		September 30,		yoychange			September 30,		yoychange			September 30,						yoychange
	2015	2016	2015	2016				2015	2016					2015			2016
Economy hotels	1,868	1,868	161	160		-0.8	%	177	175		-0.8	%		91	%		91	%		0.0	%
Leased hotels	518	518	167	165		-0.9	%	184	183		-0.5	%		91	%		90	%		-0.3	%
Manachised and franchised hotels	1,350	1,350	159	157		-0.8	%	173	171		-0.9	%		92	%		92	%		0.1	%
Midscale and upscale hotels	182	182	245	263		7.5	%	284	299		5.5	%		86	%		88	%		1.6	%
Leased hotels	70	70	285	311		8.9	%	317	339		6.9	%		90	%		92	%		1.6	%
Manachised and franchised hotels	112	112	207	218		5.7	%	250	259		3.7	%		83	%		84	%		1.6	%
Total	2,050	2,050	171	172		0.5	%	188	189		0.4	%		91	%		91	%		0.2	%

About China Lodging Group, Limited

China Lodging Group, Limited is a leading hotel operator and franchisor in China under 12 brand names. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had 3,198 hotels or 322,785 rooms in operation in 365 cities. With a primary focus on economy and midscale hotel segments, China Lodging Group’s brands include Hi Inn, HanTing Hotel, Elan Hotel, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Joya Hotel, and Manxin Hotels & Resorts. The Company also has the rights as master franchisee for Mercure, Ibis and Ibis Styles, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in Pan-China region.

The Company’s business includes leased, manachised and franchised models. Under the lease model, the Company directly operates hotels typically located on leased properties. Under the manachise model, the Company manages manachised hotels through the on-site hotel managers it appoints and collects fees from franchisees. Under the franchise model, the Company provides training, reservation and support services to the franchised hotels and collects fees from franchisees but does not appoint on-site hotel managers. The Company applies a consistent standard and platform across all of its hotels. As of September 30, 2016, China Lodging Group operates 24 percent of its hotel rooms under lease model, 76 percent under manachise and franchise models.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website: http://ir.huazhu.com.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the 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 customers and leverage our brand; trends and competition in the lodging industry; the expected growth of the lodging market in China; and other factors and risks detailed in our filings with the 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.

The Company 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
Ida Yu
Sr. Manager of Investor Relations
Tel: 86 (21) 6195 9561
Email: ir@huazhu.com
http://ir.huazhu.com