Home Inns: Earthquake Has Little Influence, Olympics Won't Bring Gold In China

Chinese budget hotel operator and franchiser Home Inns & Hotels has announced an update on the impact from the recent earthquake in western China and says the upcoming Olympics in Beijing won't bring the company any significant amount of new revenue.

The company says that despite some operations being affected by the earthquake, it anticipates only a slight impact to the second quarter's financial performance. Despite this event the company continues to see strong growth and expects to complete a total of 100 new hotels in the first half of the year. Although the second quarter has not yet closed, Home Inns believes that the earthquake has both directly impacted the affected region and indirectly reduced overall travel activities.

Home Inns says it has incurred no serious property damage during the recent earthquake. Despite the current impact on operations, the company expects the recent earthquake to only have a short-term impact on its operational and financial performance and believes demand for its product and services remains strong as a result of the resilient domestic business travel activities.

Separately, based on the current bookings, Home Inns said in a statement that it estimates that the upcoming Olympic Games will not have a significant impact on its operational and financial performance. It believes that the high interest for attending the Beijing Olympic Games and visiting other cities in China will be offset by reduced business activities, as well as traffic and entry restrictions during the Olympic Games period.