Ma Yingyao’s biography

Proposing to build a hotel brand in third-tier cities for the first time

Ma Yingyao often went to the county on business trips. What surprised him was that the hotels here were in poor condition, the service was not good, and the prices were different from those in big cities. Business hotels in the city are comparable, but business is very good. He determined that this was a blue ocean market for hotel chains, so he set his sights on the hotel chain industry in the county. At that time, Home Inn and other fast hotel chains were already developing rapidly across the country, but most of them focused on first- and second-tier cities, and Ma Yingyao's positioning of hotels was just out of line with these "strong rivals".

Ma Yingyao spent a whole year personally driving to do market research and visited more than 200 county-level cities across the country. In 2009, he founded Thank Inn Express Hotel and formulated the market positioning of specializing in small and medium-sized cities and small and medium-sized hotels (about 60 rooms), so the first Thank Inn Express Hotel was born.

The franchise model that has been questioned

In 2011, ThankYou had opened 268 chain stores across the country, becoming the fastest growing chain brand in the hotel industry. However, The Thankyou model has been questioned. Before 2010, except for Super 8 and GreenTree Inn, other hotel chain brands basically did not pay attention to the development of franchise business, because according to the preferences of the capital market, the directly operated stores of the chain system can bring a large amount of cash flow, even if the profitability is average. High multiple PE values ??can also be obtained in the capital market, but brand venture capital focusing on franchise stores is basically not interested, and the valuation is also very low. Ma Yingyao visited more than 20 domestic and foreign investment institutions in 2010 and 2011, but was rejected by all of them.

In 2012, the hotel chain market situation underwent drastic changes. The investment and operating costs of hotels in first- and second-tier cities have increased significantly, and the profitability of directly-operated stores of major brands has dropped significantly. They have to reduce the proportion of directly-operated stores and gradually focus on the development of franchise stores. On May 15, 2012, Thankyou signed an investment agreement with Singapore's ACA Investment Group and France's FM Investment Group, successfully introducing strategic investment. Its unique "Thankyou model" has been sought after by institutions. Since 2013, major domestic hotel chain brands have completely changed their strategies, comprehensively tightening investment in directly-operated stores and turning to franchise store development. Most hotel chain brands contribute more than 70% of their profit to franchise business. The Thankyou model has led the industry for 4 years and has become the most predictable development model.

Unexpected cross-border innovation

2009-2012 was the budding period of hotel chain reform. Several major hotel chain brands have achieved great success in the industry, such as Home Inns and Hanting Hotels. , the number of 7-day stores has doubled every year. With the unprecedented prosperity of the chain hotel market, everyone has begun to explore new markets besides budget hotels. The launch of Orange Hotel has been praised by the industry. Subsequently, major brands have proposed innovative positioning of high-end, mid-range and low-end hotels. Home Inn's Yiyi, Jinjiang Star's Magnolia, Hanting's All Seasons, Hi Inn, etc. have fully blossomed. For a time, the hotel industry has become a star-studded brand, with a hundred flowers blooming. momentum.

Ma Yingyao unexpectedly crossed the border and launched Baoledi mass-selling KTV in the KTV industry, which surprised everyone. The industry is surprised and is not optimistic about this traditional industry among traditional industries. However, Ma Yingyao shattered all doubts with the achievement of 180 stores in 3 years.

After getting used to being tormented by this "spoiler", when Ma Yingyao launched Thank You Pin Chinese fast food in 2013, there was almost no criticism in the industry. When Thank You Pin fast food opened one year ago, When we opened 70 stores, everyone became accustomed to it. The media in Qingdao even called these innovations the "customer-friendly model." The emergence of the Thank-You model has given Qingdao, a beautiful city with industry, trade and tourism as its main economy, several chain brands to imitate. The industry commented that this is called the "Thank You phenomenon".

The company’s goals have been revised four times: from entrepreneur to leader to entrepreneur

When the company was founded in 2009, the industry questioned the possibility of opening chain hotels in the county. Ma Yingyao Market-oriented, the company's goal is set as "to be a real economic hotel in China's second- and third-tier cities."

This goal was achieved in 2010. Thankyou has more than 100 hotels in the county, and the industry gradually began to recognize the existence of chain hotels in the county. In 2010, Ma Yingyao upgraded the company's goal to "become the largest hotel chain brand in China's third-tier cities". Thankyou achieved this goal in 2011 with 268 hotels. In 2011, the company's goal was once again upgraded to: becoming the largest comprehensive chain service operator in China's third-tier cities. In 2013, the four chain service brands of Thankyou Group have become leading brands in the industry, with a total number of branches exceeding 1,000.

"What is management? Management is to define the mission of the enterprise, and to motivate and organize human resources to achieve this mission. Defining the mission is the task of entrepreneurs, and motivating and organizing human resources is the category of leadership. The two The combination of the two is management. What is the mission? The mission is the reason for the existence of the organization. It stipulates what results the organization regards as meaningful and indicates what the organization believes it should do for the entire economy and society. No matter how much wealth you create, only a company that can change the lives of ordinary people can be called a great company. After repeated discussions with the management, we decided to revise the company’s mission this year to: become a great company. Change the company's focus from project development to employee growth, to making more contributions to the industry and society. "This is a passage from Ma Yingyao's speech at the 2013 annual meeting. Ma Yingyao once again changed the company's goal to "become. A great company.”

With the development of the brand and the growth of the enterprise, through the adjustment of these goals, Ma Yingyao also used his own experience to blaze a path of spiritual sublimation from entrepreneur to leader to entrepreneur.

Proposed the concept of "big chain" and prepared to establish a big chain empire

In 2013, at the "Hotel Development in Second and Third Tier Cities" forum hosted by the local tourism bureau and hosted by Thankyou , Ma Yingyao proposed the concept of "big chain".

The so-called large chain stores focus on the common needs of specific consumer groups, and through an authoritative organization, unite merchants within the consumption range of specific consumer groups to provide more favorable and guaranteed products or services. The essence of a large chain is to remove the form of the chain, that is, decoration and service standardization, and pursue the core of the chain, which is safe and guaranteed services.

Ma Yingyao used the hotel industry he is familiar with as an analogy of "a large supermarket chain that combines food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment." Imagine that a foreign customer comes to the hotel to check in. , the hotel gives him a warm home-like experience, and he can feel the charm of the hotel's corporate culture anytime and anywhere. When the customer wants to taste local food, the hotel has selected the best local food stores for him, and he can have a full meal. When Dun wants to have some entertainment, the hotel has selected the most outstanding local entertainment venues for him. When the customer has had an unforgettable experience here and wants to return, the hotel can help the customer book all the return procedures, and On this basis, you can enjoy member discounts..."

The large chain system is a bit like a supermarket, where consumers can solve all purchases in one stop. In this supermarket, the shopping environment is elegant, the goods are clearly priced, and the shopping quality is high Guaranteed. The big chain stores are a bit like Ctrip, providing travel booking services across the country, but compared to Ctrip, they not only have better prices, but also have better service quality and after-sales service, and they also cover more complete categories.

To become China's largest comprehensive chain service operator, ThankYou needs to continuously build more brands in a short period of time, but its long-term strategy will be to alliance more merchants and establish a line through the "big chain" development model. Download "Taobao" and become a chain empire