Store Proportion and Revenue Contribution Inverted! Huazhu's New CFO Faces Structural Challenges Upon Taking Office

On March 18, Huazhu Group announced that Chen Hui will step down as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, and Executive Vice President Arthur Yu (Yu Junrui) will succeed him, effective from March 18.

According to the details of the personnel change, the new CFO has experience in financial management at companies such as Baozun E-commerce and Jaguar Land Rover. This appointment will help Huazhu Group improve its global financial control and operational governance system.

While the management adjustment was implemented, Huazhu Group also released its full-year financial performance report for 2025 on the same day, fully disclosing data on operational scale, revenue structure, and profitability over the past year.

The financial report shows that as of the end of 2025, Huazhu Group had 12,858 hotels worldwide, with 1.264 million hotel rooms.

In 2025, revenue increased by 16.4% year-over-year to 108.1 billion yuan (RMB), with overall transaction volume maintaining steady growth.

During the same period, revenue grew by 5.9% year-over-year to 25.3 billion yuan. Of this, revenue from Legacy-Huazhu (Huazhu China) was 20.5 billion yuan, up 7.9%; revenue from Legacy-DH (Huazhu International) was 4.8 billion yuan, down 1.8%.

Regionally, Huazhu China remains the main revenue base, while European operations are still in the recovery and adjustment phase.

The performance of the split businesses indicates that Huazhu Group’s asset-light transformation has been highly effective. During the period, revenue from leased and owned hotels was 12.9 billion yuan, down 6.5% year-over-year; revenue from managed, franchised, and licensed hotels was 11.7 billion yuan, up 23.1%.

Notably, as of the end of 2025, Huazhu Group’s leased and owned hotels totaled 573, accounting for about 4%; managed, franchised, and licensed hotels totaled 12,285, making up 96%.

However, in terms of revenue contribution, the self-owned heavy-asset segment accounts for over 50% of total revenue, which contrasts sharply with the proportion of hotel numbers. This reflects that while the group is rapidly expanding its asset-light scale, it still heavily relies on the heavy-asset segment for operations.

In profitability, in 2025, net profit attributable to Huazhu Group was 5.1 billion yuan, up 66.7% year-over-year, mainly supported by a 39.4% increase in Huazhu China and positive contributions from Huazhu International. Adjusted net profit was 4.9 billion yuan, up 32.9%.

As a core indicator in the hotel industry, the operational performance of Huazhu Group’s two main segments shows divergent trends.

The financial report indicates that Huazhu China’s average daily rate (ADR) in 2025 was 290 yuan, up 0.2%; occupancy rate was 80.0%, down 1.2 percentage points; average revenue per available room (RevPAR) was 232 yuan, down 1.3%. Overall, the domestic market remained stable.

In contrast, Huazhu International demonstrated stronger recovery resilience. During the period, ADR was 116 euros, up 1.4%; occupancy rate was 70.5%, up 4.4 percentage points; RevPAR was 82 euros, up 8.2%.

“Legacy-DH segment’s average RevPAR in 2025 increased by 8.2% year-over-year. Looking ahead to 2026, we will continue to improve hotel operations, focus on cost reduction and efficiency, optimize asset structure, and further enhance the positioning and value proposition of our core brands,” said Huazhu CEO Jin Hui.

For 2026, Huazhu Group has provided clear guidance on performance and expansion.

The company expects full-year revenue to grow by 2% to 6% compared to 2025, or 5% to 9% excluding DH. Revenue from managed, franchised, and licensed hotels is expected to increase by 12% to 16%. In terms of store expansion, the company plans to open 2,200 to 2,300 hotels and close 600 to 700 hotels.

Market analysts believe that, amid an imbalance between light and heavy asset structures and divergent recovery paces of domestic and international businesses, the new CFO will focus on optimizing revenue structure and improving financial efficiency to help enhance operational quality.

As of the close on the evening of March 20, Huazhu Group-S was trading at HKD 40.6 per share, up 0.35%, with a total market capitalization of HKD 126.1 billion.