Since the opening of its first hotel in Shanghai, the group has opened 14 hotels in cities in the vicinity of Shanghai, including Suzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo, Yangzhou and Nanjing, with the occupancy rate surpassing 95 percent.

Preparations are well under way for the opening of six additional hotels.

The group is striving to bring the number of hotels in the Jinjiang Inn chain to 40 by 2005. The group will focus on opening hotels in cities along the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line and in western China, said Shen Maoxing, board president of the Jinjiang group.

The Shanghai Branch of the National Tourism Administration and the Shanghai Jinjiang Inn Investment and Management Co. ltd. have pledged to reinvest in the expansion of the Jinjiang Inn.

The hotel chain is seeking franchise operations, accelerating the implementation of an information network and standardizing its management structure, Shen said.

(People's Daily February 13, 2003)