China Lodging Group (NASDAQ:HTHT)

First Quarter 2012 Operational Highlights

• During the first quarter of 2012, the Company opened 36 net new hotels, including nine net new leased hotels (or "leased-and-operated hotels") and 27 net new managed hotels (or "franchised-and-managed hotels"). As of March 31, 2012, the Company had 675 hotels in operation, consisting of 353 leased hotels and 322 managed hotels. Hotels in operation covered 111 cities in China as of March 31, 2012. The Company had 24 Seasons Hotels and 29 Hi Inns in operation as of March 31, 2012.
• As of March 31, 2012, the Company had a total pipeline of 336 hotels under development, including 107 leased hotels and 229 managed hotels.
• The occupancy rate for all hotels in operation was 91% in the first quarter of 2012, compared with 82% in the first quarter of 2011, and 93% in the previous quarter. Occupancy improved 19 percentage points for the Company's hotels in Shanghai and seven percentage points for the Company's hotels outside of Shanghai year-over-year, mainly attributable to robust travel demand, the Company's successful seasonal promotions, a more mature hotel mix, and the rebound of the Shanghai market from post-Expo weakness experienced in the first quarter of 2011. The sequential decrease resulted mainly from seasonality.
• The ADR, or average daily rate, for all hotels, was RMB172 in the first quarter of 2012, compared withRMB175 in the first quarter of 2011 and RMB179 in the previous quarter. The year-over-year decrease was mainly attributable to the city mix shift of the Company's hotels towards lower tier cities and the Company's seasonal promotions, partially offset by the same-hotel ADR appreciation. The sequential decrease resulted mainly from the Company's seasonal price adjustment and promotions.
• RevPAR, defined as revenue per available room, was RMB156 in the first quarter of 2012, compared withRMB143 in the first quarter of 2011 and RMB167 in the previous quarter. The year-over-year improvement in RevPAR was a result of a higher occupancy slightly offset by a lower ADR. The sequential decrease was mainly due to seasonality.
• For all the hotels which had been in operation for at least 18 months, the same-hotel RevPAR was RMB172for the first quarter of 2012, a 10% increase from RMB157 for the first quarter of 2011. Outside of Shanghai, the same-hotel RevPAR increased by 8%, with a 3% increase in ADR and a 5% increase in occupancy.
• As of March 31, 2012, HanTing Club had more than 5.0 million individual members, a 65% increase from a year ago. These individual members contributed 66% of room nights sold during the first quarter of 2012, remaining stable as in the first quarter of 2011. The Company's corporate members contributed an additional 8% of room nights sold. In addition to the HanTing Club program, the Company introduced the e-member program in 2010 to enhance brand awareness and to expand coverage of its customer loyalty program. E-members can register on the Company's website free of charge and can enjoy discounts on room rates for their on-line booking. As of March 31, 2012, the Company had approximately 0.8 million e-members, who contributed 2% of room nights sold during the first quarter. In the first quarter of 2012, 96% of room nights sold were sold through the Company's own channels.

"We are pleased with our robust results in the first quarter of 2012, with 9% year-over-year increase in RevPAR across the whole chain and solid growth in hotel count. Our leading and high-quality brand has been well recognized in the market, which continuously attracts a growing number of customers and franchisees," said Mr. Qi Ji, founder, executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Lodging Group. "We remain confident in our rapid and high-quality expansion with focus on customer experience, which is sustainable and profitable in the long run."

Business Outlook and Guidance for Second Quarter of 2012

"The continuous urbanization in China not only stimulates growing travel demand but also provides more opportunities of various properties for multiple-brand hotel chain operators like us. Our attractive brand positioning and solid performance lead to fast and quality expansion and a strong pipeline." commented Mr. Ji. "We started 2012 with record number of managed hotels under development. Thus, we increase our full year new openings to 260 to 270 hotels, with 120 leased hotels and 140 to 150 managed hotels."

The Company expects to achieve net revenues in the range of RMB740 to 755 million in the second quarter of 2012, representing a 35% to 38% growth year-over-year.

Fourth Quarter 2011 Operational Highlights

• During the fourth quarter of 2011, the Company opened 59 new hotels, including 30 leased-and-operated hotels and 29 franchised-and-managed hotels.
• The ADR, or average daily rate, for all hotels, was RMB179 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared withRMB194 in the fourth quarter of 2010 and RMB183 in the previous quarter. The year-over-year decrease was mainly attributable to the absence of one-time favorable impact from the Shanghai Expo. In Shanghai, the ADR was RMB181 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with RMB242 in the fourth quarter of 2010. The sequential decrease resulted mainly from the Company's seasonal price adjustment.
• The occupancy rate for all hotels in operation was 93% in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 87% in the fourth quarter of 2010, and 97% in the previous quarter. The year-over-year improvement was mainly attributable to a 22% occupancy increase in Shanghai, which experienced a low occupancy in November and December of 2010 after the Shanghai Expo. The sequential decrease resulted mainly from seasonality.
• RevPAR, defined as revenue per available room, was RMB167 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared withRMB168 in the fourth quarter of 2010 and RMB177 in the previous quarter. The stable year-over-year RevPAR performance was a mixed result of a higher occupancy offset by a lower ADR mainly due to price increase during, and occupancy drop after, the Shanghai Expo. Outside of Shanghai, RevPAR increased 1% year-over-year.
• For all the hotels which had been in operation for at least 18 months, the same-hotel RevPAR was RMB184for the fourth quarter of 2011, a 5% increase from RMB175 for the fourth quarter of 2010. Outside ofShanghai, the same-hotel RevPAR increased by 7%, with a 3% increase in ADR and a 4% increase in occupancy.

"We are delighted that we made solid progress in 2011, growing our hotel count by 46% and city coverage by 54%. Our proven brand strength and well-established hotel management platform continued to attract a growing number of franchisees. We remain committed to optimizing our products and hotel service procedures to maintain outstanding operational and financial performance," said Mr. Qi Ji, founder, executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Lodging Group. "Our rapid and high-quality expansion leads to a fast-growing customer base and a robust pipeline of hotels under development, which will support our future growth."

Business Outlook and Guidance for 2012

"We remain optimistic on the growing trend of travelling demand in China. Leading hotel chains are expanding market share through consolidating existing stand-alone hotels and converting non-hotel properties into hotels. We continued to see tremendous growth opportunities in future years. Hanting's wide brand recognition and strong performance record made Hanting an attractive choice for franchisees, who in turn helped us accelerate our network expansion." commented Mr. Ji.

"We envision, in the next five years, Hanting to grow into a large-scale, multi-brand hotel group and to become an undisputed market leader across the mid-scale, economy and budget hotel segments." added Mr. Ji.

The Company expects to achieve net revenues in the range of RMB605 to 620 million in the first quarter of 2012, representing a 43% to 46% growth year-over-year. For the full year 2012, the Company expects net revenues to grow 34.5% to 37.5%.

Third quarter ended September 30, 2011

Second Quarter of 2011 Financial Results

Total revenues for the quarter were RMB580.8 million (US$89.9 million), representing a 25.2% year-over-year increase and a 29.0% increase sequentially. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to our increased number of hotels, partially offset by the absence of one-time benefit from the Shanghai Expo. The sequential increase was mainly due to seasonality

Basic and diluted net income per share/ADS. For the second quarter of 2011, basic net income per share was RMB0.17 (US$0.03) and diluted net income per share was RMB0.16 (US$0.03); basic net income per ADS was RMB0.67 (US$0.10) and diluted net income per ADS was RMB0.65 (US$0.10). Excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted basic net income per share (non-GAAP) and adjusted diluted net income per share (non-GAAP) for the second quarter of 2011 were both RMB0.18 (US$0.03), adjusted basic net income per ADS (non-GAAP) was RMB0.74 (US$0.11) and adjusted diluted net income per ADS (non-GAAP) was RMB0.72 (US$0.11).

Guidance for Full Year and Third Quarter of 2011 and Outlook for 2012

"We are pleased to achieve 78 net new hotel openings in the first half of 2011, and remain confident in achieving our full year target of 200 new openings," commented CEO Mr. Zhang. "At the same time, we also recognize that the Shanghai market weakness after the Expo and China's macroeconomic situation slowed down our same-hotel RevPAR appreciation in 2011. Our revenue was also reduced by the delay in new hotel opening mainly caused by lengthened business licenses application process. As a result, we adjusted our expectation of net revenue growth to 28% to 32% for the full year of 2011."

The Company expects to achieve net revenues in the range of RMB605 to RMB625 million in the third quarter of 2011.

"We continue to see significant growth and consolidation opportunities in the China lodging market. With the progress of nationwide transportation infrastructure, our business will further expand as a result of the population's increased mobility and the surge in domestic traffic. During the year of 2012, we plan to open 240 to 250 new hotels, with approximately half being leased-and-operated hotels. The new openings in 2012 will include 40 to 50 Seasons Hotels and Hi Inns combined. Our multi-brand strategy will enable us to enjoy a large base of customers and will accelerate our growth in the future years." added Mr. Zhang, "In the long run, we expect our same-hotel RevPAR to increase, through strengthening our brand and increasing customer satisfaction. We believe that our popularity among franchisees will continue to enhance as our reputation as a capable and credible hotel operator spreads. We expect that those trends will have a positive impact on our long-term margin."

First Quarter Results:

• Net Revenues increased 24.5% year-over-year for the first quarter to RMB424.4 million (US$64.8 million)(1), within the guidance previously announced
• - EBITDA from operating hotels (non-GAAP) increased 6.2% year-over-year for the first quarter to RMB70.2 million (US$10.7 million)
• - Net loss attributable to China Lodging Group, Limited was RMB14.0 million (US$2.1 million)
• - Diluted loss per ADS(2) for the first quarter was RMB0.23 (US$0.04); excluding share-based compensation expenses, adjusted diluted loss per ADS (non-GAAP) for the quarter was RMB0.18 (US$0.03).
• - 35 net new hotels were opened in the first quarter of 2011, increasing hotel count to 473

"We continued our solid expansion in the first quarter of 2011 as we opened 35 net new hotels and entered into 6 new cities. Our yield management enabled us to achieve 4.7% ADR increase among mature hotels on a like-for-like basis," said Mr. Matthew Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of China Lodging Group. "We are pleased to see the improved contribution from our loyalty program as a result of our effort to acquire new customers and a higher level of customer satisfaction, which will support our further penetration into new markets."

"We are on track to open around 200 new hotels this year and to grow our revenue at a fast pace. As we progress into the second quarter, certain factors that affected our first quarter performance, such as prolonged low season and post-Expo impact in Shanghai, are now behind us," commented CEO Mr. Zhang. "We are confident that the outlook of the domestic travel market will continue to grow fast. Our investment in leased-and-operated hotels will position us advantageously to capture the growth opportunity. Despite of the near-term margin pressure, we remain confident that our investment in 2011 will enable us to a strong revenue and profit growth in 2012 and forward."

The Company expects to achieve net revenues in the range of RMB530 to RMB550 million in the second quarter of 2011.