The booming domestic and inbound travel scene in China has created an ever increasing demand for hotel accommodation. In particular, the budget hotel sector is growing rapidly, with more brands entering the China market.

Andreas Obrist is the General Manager of IHMC. Hailing from Switzerland, he was with the Intercontinental Group for 24 years. He worked in many countries in Europe, Asia, and around the world, prior to joining IHMC two years ago.

City Inn is firmly established in Shenzhen, so how will you develop your business in the future and what is your main objective in the next 5 years?
Firstly, we need to build up a base in Shenzhen, then extend our business in Guangdong Province, followed by Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian and the northern cities of China , even the whole of China. Shanghai, which is growing rapidly in China, will be another base for City Inn. Our objective is to increase the number of City Inns by 50 in the next five years.

What is your understanding of hot investment in B&B hotels? How much room is left for developing B&B hotels?
With the development of China's economy, I believe that we are seeing a booming growth of domestic tourism in China; over 60% of China's population will travel. Transportation in China is growing very fast as well, the development of highways, airlines, and other transport is convenient for connection and travel among cities. The development of B&B hotels is required by market demand: which is a principle of the market economy. Therefore, we think the future of China's hotel industry is positive and worth investing in.

China will be the biggest tourism destination in the world by 2020, many travelers will visit China, and we plan to grab not only the domestic market but also the foreign market. Why do we establish higher standards of City Inn than our key competitors? Now, the answer is clear!

The City Inn brand is expanding and attracting more attention and recognition from media and hotel industry professionals. As it is budget hotel, how are you positioning your brand? Compared with other brands, what is your competitive advantage?
I believe brand positioning is an extremely important aspect for a successful brand. We position City Inn brand as the leading "Up Market" budget hotel brand; ie. slightly above our competitors by offering our customers a better room product and better service at a slightly higher room rate.

Comfortable and convenient is the type of service we want to offer. The standard of our facilities and our equipment is slightly above our competitors; we use well-known brands. Every guest room has free high-speed Internet, CATV and so on. Every hotel we have is in an excellent location and has convenient transportation. Our employees are well trained professionals. Customers will enjoy five-star hotel service in our budget hotel.

What is the major source for City Inn customers and what about City Inn's loyalty program?
The major source for our customers depends on where the hotel is located. Mostly it separates into two parts, business and leisure. For instance, most of customers in City Inn Happy Valley are leisure tourists. If a City Inn is surrounded with office buildings, our customers are mainly business travelers.

Currently, we are looking for a suitable software system and professional management terms for our loyalty program. Hopefully we can implement this program in the first half of this year.

OCT has a unique company culture, what was your impression and experience when you joined OCT IHMC?
The OCT group is a steady, original, inspiring team. No matter whether in the OCT Real Estate or in OCT Tourism, every division shows that it is a professional and excellent group.

The OCT group is a state-owned enterprise. My past experience was different to the culture in a state-owned enterprise. At the beginning when I start working at this company, we were always debating. As the owner OCT gave us a proposal, as the management company we had another proposal. The discussion between us was like cultures debating. As time passed, we found a good way to cooperate with each other. Two proposals are better than one; when two cultures interact, and finally manage to have common ideas, the solution is better. Working with them, makes me see things that I have never seen before.