(Yicai Global) April 21 -- Chinese accommodation chain BTG Hotels Group expects it lost between CNY510 million (USD71 million) and CNY540 million in the first quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic crimped bookings.

The Beijing-based group made CNY885 million in profit last year, up 3.26 percent thanks to an expansion into mid- and high-end hotels, it said in its 2019 earnings report published yesterday. Revenue slipped 2.67 percent to CYN8.3 billion (USD1.2 billion), falling because of hotel closures.

Shares in the company [SHA:600258] closed unchanged today at CYN14.48 (USD2.05) after opening 1 percent lower. The Shanghai benchmark fell 0.9 percent.

The chain has resumed 90 percent of its usual operations now the Covid-19 pandemic is subsiding in China, it added, saying its Home Inn hotels have got their occupancy rate back up to 65 percent.

BTG was running a total of 4,450 hotels with nearly 415,000 rooms in over 400 cities in China and overseas as of the end of last year, according to the report. It operates 851 of the hotels directly and the remainder are franchises. The company has a broad portfolio of hotels, including Home Inn, Four Seasons Cloud, Home Inn Selected and Puyin Hotel, with over 118 million members.

Editor: James Boynton