From asset expansion to customer value, Zheng Nanyan of Delong aims to reconstruct the hotel industry using AI.

Ask AI · How can AI technology help Deylong expand into the European market?

Jiemian News Reporter | Wang Tingting

2026 is regarded as the AI Year of hotel industry’s intelligent transformation. From internal management collaboration to front-end service optimization, from leading domestic hotel groups to international chains, many top companies are rapidly deploying AI products.

On January 22, Jinjiang Hotels (China region) partnered with Feishu to jointly launch the AI collaborative office platform “JinKun”; in March, Hongkun Hotel Group completed technical integration based on DeepSeek large model and launched the AI tool “HongXiaoKun”; in the same month, Shangmei Digital Group also announced the official integration of virtual digital person “ShangXiaoMei” into DeepSeek large model, while Hilton Hotels Group launched the beta version of “Hilton AI Planner” for testing.

On March 30, Deylong Group announced at its 2026 strategic release that the super employee “ShenDeng AI” was launched in the Pidawoo app, along with the “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches” customer experience evolution model.

Undoubtedly, AI applications in the hotel industry have shifted from isolated experiments to a full-scale outbreak. Wang Wei, CEO of Jinjiang Hotels (China), once said that 2026 is widely regarded by the industry as a watershed for whether AI can truly create value.

Recently, Zheng Nanyan, Chairman of Deylong Group, told media outlets including Jiemian News that today’s market consumption has entered a new cycle, a rapid iteration period led by technology that is reshaping the industry. The hotel industry faces unprecedented structural adjustments. “The traditional model overly reliant on asset scale faces dual challenges in the era of consumer sovereignty: homogenized experiences caused by standardization; financial pressure intensified by heavy asset operations.”

In Zheng Nanyan’s view, the development focus of the hotel industry is shifting from supply-side asset layout to demand-side customer value excavation. “It can be foreseen that, ten years ago, we built physical space empires with steel and concrete to shelter consumers; in the next decade, we must rebuild emotional connections and service resonance with consumers through digital neural networks.”

Image source: Photographed by Jiemian News Reporter

Breaking Through Industry Temperature Limits with AI

“The previous growth logic of the hotel industry was simple: build more hotels. Now, the complexity of the hotel industry is increasing exponentially, and the question has become: who understands customers better?” Zheng Nanyan told Jiemian News.

The hotel industry is undergoing a fundamental shift from “scale expansion” to “deepening customer value,” with AI becoming a core tool to respond to industry changes.

In March 2026, the “2026 China Hotel Industry Digital Transformation Trends Report” pointed out that since 2024, consumer expectations for “digital services” in the hotel industry have been gradually rising. In the “Future Forecast: Hotel Technology Predictions 2026” published in 2025, IDeaS also mentioned that “up to 89% of hotel operators plan to adopt new AI technologies in their hotels.”

Zheng Nanyan believes that, unlike common AI application scenarios, the “ShenDeng AI” released by Deylong Group is backed by fundamental infrastructure-level innovation in the hotel industry.

According to him, after reorganizing and optimizing the entire chain from guest demand generation to service delivery, “ShenDeng AI” solves the issues of “information loss” and “inefficient dispatching” at the demand side through technology.

“Traditional hotel service logic relies on ‘people dispatching people,’ with response efficiency constrained by organizational hierarchy. Customer needs are often not responded to or valued in a timely manner,” Zheng Nanyan pointed out. As the core of Deylong’s ‘Wormhole System,’ ShenDeng AI is deeply embedded in the Pidawoo app. Guests can directly initiate service requests via mobile, with AI matching the optimal staff in real-time, tracking service progress throughout, and automatically generating work order records, forming a complete digital service closed loop from demand perception, intelligent dispatch, on-site execution, to data feedback.

Zheng Nanyan told Jiemian News that the core competitiveness of ShenDeng AI lies in transforming vague service requests into traceable, decision-making, and optimizable data tasks instantly. This “solution” fundamentally reconstructs humanized service, increasing the interaction points between hotels and guests, raising the service temperature ceiling, while continuously reducing errors caused by key node variables, addressing long-tail service demands.

Image source: Photographed by Jiemian News Reporter

It is worth noting that Deylong Group also launched the “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches” customer experience evolution model, targeting the structural pain point of “renovation every five years” in the hotel industry.

Zheng Nanyan explained that traditional hotels typically undergo large-scale renovations every 5-8 years, with long cycles and high costs, often leading to aging facilities and declining experiences.

The “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches” model adopts a dual flywheel iteration mode: on the “Heavenly Stems” dimension, the group releases a unified annual experience theme and modular design standards each year to maintain brand innovation and content freshness; on the “Earthly Branches” dimension, hotels can be renovated in batches at low cost and quickly, using modular assembly construction, reducing construction time to 30–60 days without affecting normal operations.

As a result, consumers can directly perceive continuous iteration of hotel services and room types during their stays, satisfying their needs for novelty, quality, and delight. Investors can also create new experiences and value for customers through lightweight investments.

“Although AI is challenging, its trend is unstoppable.”

AI Supporting Hotel Industry’s Overseas Expansion

“Our initial entry into the Asia-Pacific market was mainly driven by the need to expand overseas. Now that AI technology has matured, we see cooperation opportunities in the European market too.”

Zheng Nanyan told Jiemian News that the biggest challenge in entering the European market is the underdeveloped local communication and electronic service systems, but AI can continuously optimize service systems based on local rules. “The core of hotel service is human-to-human communication, and AI can judge whether services are reasonable according to local consumption habits.”

“In my opinion, AI significantly supports the company’s internationalization process,” Zheng Nanyan said. The company faces fierce competition from brands like Huazhu and Atour in the domestic market, and its overall expansion speed still cannot surpass these top players. Coupled with hotel operations and property assets, market pressure is high.

Considering these factors, Deylong Group has decided to invest more resources in AI. Zheng Nanyan believes that AI greatly assists hotel operations management, especially in the high-cost European market, where the effect is even more pronounced.

It is understood that since its deployment, ShenDeng AI has received positive market feedback, effectively reducing hotel labor costs while supporting the enhancement of product value and pricing space.

Taking Shenzhen Kaiyuan Mingting Hotel as an example, after introducing ShenDeng AI, the operational staff was reduced from 18 to 12, streamlining staffing. Meanwhile, the average room rate increased from over 300 yuan to nearly 400 yuan, a nearly 15% rise, and the price increase was still accepted by the market.

Zheng Nanyan said that most consumers tend to develop a habit of continuous use after experiencing AI systems, enabling direct renewal of stays without relying on OTA channels. The convenient in-hotel operation experience effectively boosts private domain repurchase rates, bringing sustainable and substantial business returns to hotels.

According to Deylong Group’s official website, as of now, the Pidawoo membership has exceeded 30 million. Zheng Nanyan hopes that Deylong can achieve “overtaking on curves” through AI-driven development.

Deylong Group was formerly Kaiyuan Hotels & Resorts. In 2021, Zheng Nanyan, together with Sequoia China, Atlantic Investment, and Ctrip Group, completed the privatization of Kaiyuan Hotels, integrating its high-end hotel system and Pidawoo’s innovative business model, and officially established Deylong Group at the end of that year, with Zheng Nanyan serving as Executive Chairman.

Before privatization, Kaiyuan Hotels had laid out eight major hotel brands including Kaiyuan Mingdu, Kaiyuan Mingting, Manju, Model Fangwai, Guantang, and Fangcaodi Resorts. After integration, Deylong Group now manages 15 brands including Kaiyuan Mingdu, Fangwai, Ruby Treasures, and MORA SPACE.

As competition in the cultural tourism market intensifies, the legacy issues of the original Kaiyuan hotel system—such as dispersed brand matrix, inconsistent service standards, and fragmented internal information systems—have become increasingly prominent. Meanwhile, valuation of leading hotel groups like Huazhu, Jinjiang, and Atour continues to rise.

Faced with industry competition, Zheng Nanyan has launched Deylong’s global expansion, seeking overseas growth markets. In 2023, Deylong strategically invested in Indonesia’s largest hotel management platform IHI, indirectly controlling Artotel Group and Swiss-Belhotel International Indonesia, becoming the second-largest hotel group in the region after Accor.

In September 2024, Deylong announced its strategic layout in Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, becoming the first Chinese-funded hotel group to enter the area. By the end of that year, Deylong’s Mangu Model J brand’s first overseas store officially opened in Jakarta.

In the same year, Deylong also completed a strategic investment in Japan’s boutique hotel chain hotel MONday through Ocean Link, further deepening its layout in Asia-Pacific after Indonesia and continuing to expand its global business footprint. As of now, Deylong’s overseas operating and managed hotels exceed 250.

Now, with the proven success of ShenDeng AI, Deylong’s expansion into the European market is also becoming possible. This will be a key step for Deylong to leverage AI for overtaking on curves and breaking through domestic market bottlenecks.