UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 6-K

 

REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the month of April 2023

 

Commission File Number: 001-34656

 

H World Group Limited

(Registrant’s name)

 

No. 1299 Fenghua Road

Jiading District

Shanghai
People’s Republic of China
(86) 21 6195-2011
(Address of principal executive office)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F. Form 20-F x Form 40-F ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b) (1): ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b) (7): ¨

 

 

 

EXHIBIT INDEX

 

Exhibit Number		Description
Exhibit 99.1		H World Group Limited Announces Preliminary Results for Hotel Operations in the First Quarter of 2023

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

		H World Group Limited
		(Registrant)
Date: April 25, 2023	By:	/s/ Qi Ji
	Name:	Qi Ji
	Title:	Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors

 

 

 

Exhibit 99.1

 

 

 

Contact Information

Investor Relations

Tel: +86 (21) 6195 9561

Email: ir@hworld.com

https://ir.hworld.com

 

H World Group Limited Announces Preliminary Results for Hotel Operations in the First Quarter of 2023

 

Singapore/Shanghai, China, April 25, 2023 – H World Group Limited (NASDAQ: HTHT and HKEX: 1179) (“H World”, “we” or “our”), a key player in the global hotel industry, today announced preliminary results for hotel operations in the first quarter (“Q1 2023”) ended March 31, 2023.

 

Business update

 

For our Legacy-Huazhu business, our RevPAR in Q1 2023 recovered to 118% of the 2019 level. Breaking down into monthly numbers, our RevPAR in January, February and March 2023 recovered to 96%, 140% and 120% of the 2019 levels, respectively. The strong recovery was primarily due to the pent-up demand in Q1 2023, and largely driven by ADR growth. During the quarter, a large part of our hotel closures were carried over from last year due to the impact of COVID-19. In line with our ‘Sustainable High Quality Growth’ strategy, we also conducted a round of thorough review of our existing pipeline and eliminated lower-quality pipeline hotels. This resulted in a quarter-over-quarter decline in the number of unopened hotels in pipeline. Our new hotel signings gained momentum quickly, reaching over 670 new hotels during the quarter, in tandem with the market recovery.

 

Steigenberger Hotels GmbH and its subsidiaries (“DH”, or “Legacy-DH”) continued with promising business recovery. Q1 2023 Blended RevPAR recovered to 94% of the 2019 levels mainly driven by ADR recovery.

 

 

 

 

Operating Results: Legacy-Huazhu⁽¹⁾

 

		Number of hotels																Number of rooms
		Opened in Q1 2023				Closed(2) in Q1 2023				Net added in Q1 2023				As of March 31, 2023				As of March 31, 2023
Leased and owned hotels			2				(5	)			(3	)			620				88,416
Manachised and franchised hotels			260				(204	)			56				7,844				705,511
Total			262				(209	)			53				8,464				793,927

 

(1)       Legacy-Huazhu refers to H World and its subsidiaries, excluding DH.

(2)       The reasons for hotel closures mainly included non-compliance with our brand standards, operating losses, and property-related issues. In Q1 2023, we temporarily closed 7 hotels for brand upgrade and business model change purposes.

 

		As of March 31, 2023
		Number of hotels				Unopened hotels in pipeline
Economy hotels			4,880				903
Leased and owned hotels			348				1
Manachised and franchised hotels			4,532				902
Midscale and upscale hotels			3,584				1,401
Leased and owned hotels			272				12
Manachised and franchised hotels			3,312				1,389
Total			8,464				2,304

 

 

 

 

		For the quarter ended
		March 31,				December 31,				March 31,				yoy
		2022				2022				2023				change
Average daily room rate (in RMB)
Leased and owned hotels			263				279				337				28.4	%
Manachised and franchised hotels			218				236				269				23.4	%
Blended			224				240				277				23.9	%
Occupancy Rate (as a percentage)
Leased and owned hotels			56.7	%			63.1	%			76.3	%			+19.6 p.p.
Manachised and franchised hotels			59.6	%			66.6	%			75.5	%			+16.0 p.p.
Blended			59.2	%			66.2	%			75.6	%			+16.4 p.p.
RevPAR (in RMB)
Leased and owned hotels			149				176				257				72.9	%
Manachised and franchised hotels			130				157				203				56.4	%
Blended			132				159				210				58.3	%

 

		For the quarter ended
		March 31,				March 31,				yoy
		2019				2023				change
Average daily room rate (in RMB)
Leased and owned hotels			258				337				30.8	%
Manachised and franchised hotels			211				269				27.4	%
Blended			221				277				25.4	%
Occupancy Rate (as a percentage)
Leased and owned hotels			83.6	%			76.3	%			-7.3p.p.
Manachised and franchised hotels			79.8	%			75.5	%			-4.3p.p.
Blended			80.6	%			75.6	%			-5.0p.p.
RevPAR (in RMB)
Leased and owned hotels			216				257				19.4	%
Manachised and franchised hotels			169				203				20.5	%
Blended			178				210				17.6	%

 

 

 

 

Same-hotel operational data by class

 

Mature hotels in operation for more than 18 months

 

		Number of hotels							Same-hotel RevPAR									Same-hotel ADR									Same-hotel Occupancy
									For the quarter									For the quarter									For the quarter
		As of March 31,							ended March 31,						yoy change			ended March 31,						yoy change			ended March 31,						yoy change
		2022				2023			2022			2023						2022			2023						2022			2023			(p.p.)
Economy hotels			3,427			3,427			111			160			44.6	%		171			208			21.3	%		64.7	%		77.1	%		+12.4
Leased and owned hotels			332			332			116			190			63.2	%		188			241			28.5	%		62.0	%		78.7	%		+16.7
Manachised and franchised hotels			3,095			3,095			110			155			41.4	%		168			202			19.8	%		65.2	%		76.9	%		+11.7
Midscale and upscale hotels			2,433			2,433			167			263			57.1	%		292			344			18.0	%		57.3	%		76.3	%		+19.0
Leased and owned hotels			250			250			187			319			71.1	%		355			426			20.2	%		52.7	%		75.0	%		+22.3
Manachised and franchised hotels			2,183			2,183			164			253			54.4	%		282			330			17.3	%		58.1	%		76.5	%		+18.4
Total			5,860			5,860			138			210			51.8	%		227			274			20.8	%		61.1	%		76.7	%		+15.7

 

 

 

 

Operating Results: Legacy-DH⁽³⁾

 

		Number of hotels																Number of rooms				Unopened hotels in pipeline
		Opened in Q1 2023				Closed in Q1 2023				Net added in Q1 2023				As of March 31, 2023(4)				As of March 31, 2023				As of March 31, 2023
Leased hotels			1				(2	)			(1	)			80				15,497				25
Manachised and franchised hotels			1				(4	)			(3	)			48				10,675				10
Total			2				(6	)			(4	)			128				26,172				35

 

(3)

Legacy-DH refers to DH.

(4)

As of March 31, 2023, a total of 2 hotels were temporarily closed. 1 hotel was closed due to flood damage, and 1 hotel was closed due to repair work.

 

 

 

 

		For the quarter ended
		March 31,				December 31,				March 31,				yoy
		2022				2022				2023				change
Average daily room rate (in EUR)
Leased hotels			90				114				108				19.9	%
Manachised and franchised hotels			85				134				97				13.9	%
Blended			88				122				104				17.7	%
Occupancy rate (as a percentage)
Leased hotels			34.1	%			60.0	%			53.0	%			+18.9 p.p.
Manachised and franchised hotels			44.0	%			58.3	%			54.1	%			+10.2 p.p.
Blended			38.0	%			59.3	%			53.5	%			+15.5 p.p.
RevPAR  (in EUR)
Leased hotels			31				68				57				86.2	%
Manachised and franchised hotels			38				78				53				40.1	%
Blended			33				72				55				65.8	%

 

 

 

 

Hotel Portfolio by Brand

 

		As of March 31, 2023
		Hotels				Rooms				Unopened hotels
		in operation								in pipeline
Economy hotels			4,896				387,694				916
HanTing Hotel			3,285				291,489				596
Hi Inn			445				23,193				129
Ni Hao Hotel			184				13,553				153
Elan Hotel			747				35,255				1
Ibis Hotel			219				22,308				24
Zleep Hotels			16				1,896				13
Midscale hotels			2,956				322,093				1,103
Ibis Styles Hotel			87				9,114				34
Starway Hotel			563				47,691				206
JI Hotel			1,758				206,410				639
Orange Hotel			548				58,878				224
Upper midscale hotels			590				84,317				250
CitiGO Hotel			34				5,337				5
Crystal Orange Hotel			164				21,239				60
Manxin Hotel			114				10,903				57
Madison Hotel			56				7,369				41
Mercure Hotel			139				22,532				47
Novotel Hotel			19				4,734				12
IntercityHotel(5)			56				10,742				23
MAXX (6)			8				1,461				5
Upscale hotels			126				20,494				59
Jaz in the City			3				587				1
Joya Hotel			8				1,368				-
Blossom House			53				2,470				46
Grand Mercure Hotel			8				1,674				4
Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts(7)			54				14,395				8
Luxury hotels			15				2,318				5
Steigenberger Icon(8)			9				1,847				1
Song Hotels			6				471				4
Others			9				3,183				6
Other hotels(9)			9				3,183				6
Total			8,592				820,099				2,339

 

(5)

As of March 31, 2023, 5 operational hotels and 10 pipeline hotels of IntercityHotel were in China.

 

(6)

As of March 31, 2023, 3 operational hotels and 5 pipeline hotels of MAXX were in China.

 

(7)

As of March 31, 2023, 11 operational hotels and 3 pipeline hotels of Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts were in China.

 

(8)

As of March 31, 2023, 3 operational hotels of Steigenberger Icon were in China.

 

(9)

Other hotels include other partner hotels and other hotel brands in Yongle Huazhu Hotel & Resort Group (excluding Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and Blossom House).

 

 

 

 

About H World Group Limited

 

Originated in China, H World Group Limited is a key player in the global hotel industry. As of March 31, 2023, H World operated 8,592 hotels with 820,099 rooms in operation in 18 countries. H World’s brands include Hi Inn, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Orange Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, Manxin Hotel, Madison Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Ni Hao Hotel, CitiGO Hotel, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, MAXX, Jaz in the City, IntercityHotel, Zleep Hotels, Steigenberger Icon and Song Hotels. In addition, H World also has the rights as master franchisee for Mercure, Ibis and Ibis Styles, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in the pan-China region.

 

H World’s business includes leased and owned, manachised and franchised models. Under the lease and ownership model, H World directly operates hotels typically located on leased or owned properties. Under the manachise model, H World manages manachised hotels through the on-site hotel managers that H World appoints, and H World collects fees from franchisees. Under the franchise model, H World provides training, reservations and support services to the franchised hotels, and collects fees from franchisees but does not appoint on-site hotel managers. H World applies a consistent standard and platform across all of its hotels. As of March 31, 2023, H World operates 13 percent of its hotel rooms under lease and ownership model, and 87 percent under manachise and franchise models.

 

For more information, please visit H World’s website: https://ir.hworld.com.

 

Safe Harbor Statement Under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The information in this release contains forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. Such factors and risks include our anticipated growth strategies; our future results of operations and financial condition; economic conditions; the regulatory environment; our ability to attract and retain customers and leverage our brands; trends and competition in the lodging industry; the expected growth of demand for lodging; and other factors and risks detailed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, which may be identified by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “forecast,” “project” or “continue,” the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Readers should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events or results.

 

H World undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.