Jin Jiang’s recent acquisition of 21 Smart Hotels in China will help jump-start MetroPolo, which within three years is expected to expand to 100 hotels in key first tier cities and provincial capitals

　　In late July, Chinese hotel giant Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotel Group Co., Shanghai, announced plans to develop a new midscale brand called Jinjiang MetroPolo. The first hotel will open later this year with another 28 planned for 2014.

　　Jin Jiang’s recent acquisition of 21 Smart Hotels in China will help jump-start MetroPolo, which within three years is expected to expand to 100 hotels in key first tier cities and provincial capitals.

　　On Monday, Christopher Sheldon, executive vice president of Jinjiang MetroPolo Hotel Management Co., gave  more details on the plans for MetroPolo.

　　“This new brand is aimed at providing an exceptional value lodging experience to the well-educated, more travel savvy and experience-seeking professionals in China today,” Sheldon said. “As the brand’s first few hotels are all to be designed into historic buildings in Shanghai, a MetroPolo Classiq group will also be developed.”

　　Sheldon added that there is already a surfeit of both economy and star-rated hotels provided by domestic and international brands in Shanghai. “And since the government here has joined with the European governments’ frugality programs, revenues have been declining at the top tier of hotels,” he said. “MetroPolo’s sassy, urban chic is designed to fit in to this economic scenario quite well.”

　　For the most part, Sheldon said the MetroPolo brand will be owner-operated to iron out any early stage kinks before being offered up to the Jinjiang Inn franchise community. Development costs will be kept low through practical design efficiencies. However, Sheldon noted that controlling the development cost of the first six hotels in historic Shanghai buildings will be more difficult.