Home Inns Lowers Expectation For Fourth Quarter

According to foreign media, Home Inn has published an updated report on its results for the fourth quarter of 2008 and as a result of global financial crisis, it has lowered its expectations for both total revenue and RevPAR in that period.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, Home Inn's average room occupancy was 84% and the daily average room rate was CNY167. The company's RevPAR in the quarter was CNY141, which is 9% less than the same period of 2007. The RevPAR for its properties that have been operating for more than 18 months has declined by 3.9%. Based on these facts, Home Inns predicts that its revenue for the fourth quarter will perhaps reach the bottom of the CNY535 million to CNY555 million range that had been previously estimated.

In 2008, Home Inns opened 205 new hotels with a total of 471 hotels in operation in 94 cities in China. Of these 471 hotels, 326 were rent-to-operate hotels, and 145 were franchised hotels.

Home Inns declares that in the fourth quarter of 2008, it purchased back and wrote off convertible bond valued at CNY219 million, paying a total of USD16.59 million. The company says it owns a total of CNY895.7 million in convertible bonds following the purchase.