(Yicai Global) Feb. 26 -- Some nine out of 10 of Huazhu Group's directly managed assets are now open as the Chinese firm behind Grand Mercure and Hanting hotels has found new ways to keep afloat during the Covid-19 outbreak.

More than 98 percent of Huazhu's hotel managers are back to work in its portfolio of about 6,000 hospitality assets, Securities Times reported today.

The new coronavirus epidemic that started spreading rapidly during the Chinese New Year holiday has been devastating for the tourism sector as many canceled flights and hotel bookings to stay safe.

But the Shanghai-based hospitality giant has proven resourceful in the face of difficulties. Since Feb. 5, the company started offering its rooms for quarantine purposes. In a bit more than two weeks, over 4,200 of the group's domestic hotels provided the isolation service with a peak of more than 50,000 stays in one day.

After the early-2000s severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, travel and consumption rebounded in an unforeseen way, and a similar phenomenon is quite likely to occur after Covid-19 is contained, a staff member told the same news source.

Founded in 2005, Huazhu operates hotels under brands such as Joya and Crystal Orange in more than 400 Chinese cities with over 80,000 employees.

Huazhu's share price [NASDAQ: HTHT] fell 4.44 percent to UDS33.11 yesterday. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.77 percent.

Editor: Emmi Laine