Ctrip.com bets on budget hotel growth

  A Home Inns hotel

The Chinese Internet travel service provider Ctrip.com is betting on more offline revenue growth as it is raising its stake in China's economy hotel chain Home Inns & Hotels to 8.72% from the previous 7.55%.

The Wall Street Journal reports Ctrip.com will soon increase its holdings in Home Inns to 17.72% for investment purposes although this has been denied by Ctrip.com.

The company says it won't raise its stake in Home Inns to that percentage within the next 30 days. Which is an indication of the seriousness of its intent. We are not going to buy that much — for the next 30 days. Possibly this is affected by a legal need to report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for each substantial holding increase.

Ctrip.com reportedly purchased 7.55% of Home Inns' stake before December 9, 2008 and added another 1.17% more after that date.

There is a definite connection Ctrip.com was founded in 1999 by Liang Jianzhang, Shen Nanpeng, Ji Qi and Fan Min. hen Nanpeng and Ji Qi are also founders of Home Inns.
Source: China Tech News