Expansion Helps China’s H World Hotels Post 15% Jump in Q3 Profit

H World Group Limited posted a 15.4 percent year-on-year jump in net profit for the third quarter of 2025, after China’s largest operator of budget inns added 564 hotels to its portfolio in the country during the three-month period.

Net income attributable to the group that operates Hanting, JI and Orange hotels in China and Steigenberger hotels in Europe was RMB 1.5 billion ($206 million) in the July to September period, compared with RMB 1.3 billion in the third quarter of 2024, the dual Nasdaq and HKEX listed firm said in its third-quarter financial results Monday.

Hotel gross merchandise value (GMV) reached RMB 30.6 billion, up 17.5 percent from a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.1 percent year-on-year to RMB 7 billion, surpassing the company’s previous forecast of a 2 to 6 percent increase.

“In the third quarter, our asset-light strategy and strong network expansion helped drive revenue above the high end of our guidance and support healthy operating profit growth. With more than 2,000 hotels opened year-to-date, we remain firmly on track to reach our target of 2,300 gross openings in 2025,” said H World Group chief executive Jin Hui.

Asset-Light Expansion

Continuing to expand its business of managing hotels owned by third parties, H World Group saw its revenue from “manachised” (both franchised and managed) and franchised hotels jump 27.2 percent year-on-year in the July-September period to RMB 3.3 billion. 

Revenue from leased and owned hotels in the July-September period shrank 5.5 percent year-on-year to RMB 3.5 billion as H World continued to reduce the real estate element of its business. Leased and owned hotels accounted for about 5 percent of H World’s all locations as of September.

H World added a net 1,873 hotels in China over the 12 months ended September helping to boost its revenue from the country by 10.8 percent year-on-year to RMB 5.7 billion. Blended RevPAR (revenue per available room) for the company’s domestic business stayed flat at RMB 256.

H World’s international business, which it acquired from Deutsche Hospitality in 2019, saw revenue slip 3 percent year-on-year to RMB 1.2 billion as the hotel operator downsized to 122 locations as of September 2025 from 138 a year prior. Improved occupancy during the period boosted blended RevPAR in H World’s international segment by 6.1 percent year-on-year to €87 ($101).

Stable Growth Expected

Anticipating its results for the fourth quarter of this year, H World expects revenue to grow by 2 to 6 percent compared to the same period in 2024, with the group predicting that its “manachised” and franchised revenue will grow between 17 and 21 percent year-on-year.

“Moving forward, we will continue to focus building on our core competencies, pursuing high-quality network growth and market share gain, and strengthening our brand positioning and service excellence. Our confidence in China’s hospitality future remains unwavering,” said Jin. “We will continue to enhance our hotel operations, focus on cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and continue developing our asset-light portfolio.”

With a total of 12,702 hotels in operation as of 30 September, the company had 2,748 unopened hotels in the pipeline, including 2,727 locations in China and 21 properties overseas.