(Yicai) Oct. 24 -- China’s Jinjiang Hotel and Singapore’s Ascott are linking arms to spur the growth of their two apartment hotel chains, which are serviced apartments with hotel-like booking systems and supporting facilities for long-term stays, in China through a joint venture, the two hotel giants said yesterday.

Jinjiang Hotel and Ascott will promote Tulip Lodj, which is Jinjiang Hotel’s apartment hotel brand, and Ascott’s Quest, which is a mid-to-high-end apartment hotel chain for business travelers, in the Chinese market using a franchise model, they said.

The tie-up will enable the Quest brand to enter the Chinese market by making full use of Jinjiang Hotel’s supply chain and franchise expansion capabilities, Wei Changren, founder of travel news portal Btiii, told Yicai. Jinjiang Hotel's nearly 200 million members will be direct customers of the joint venture, he added.

The partnership will also leverage Ascott's nearly 40 years of experience in China’s high-end serviced apartment and apartment hotel markets to help Shanghai-based Jinjiang Hotel transform the Tulip Lodj chain into a world-class hospitality brand, Wei said.

Although the apartment hotel sector has existed for many years, it does not account for a large part of the hotel market, so there is still room for development, especially as the boundaries between business and leisure travel are blurring.

The number of cross-border business travelers from Jan. 1 to mid-October surged 72 percent from the same period last year to a historical high, according to the latest data from travel platform Ctrip. As such, it is significantly more than during the same period in 2019 just before the pandemic.

As China extends its visa waiver program to more countries and the number of international flights increases, the demand for accommodation for business travelers is set to rise.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor