By Francis Chan

ALL-AMERICAN hotel chain Days Inn is making it big in China, thanks to three brothers from Singapore.

Twins Harry and David Tan, and younger half brother Ted Fang, have transformed the brand into the fastest growing hospitality name in China.

From just one hotel in 2003, Days Inn China now runs 72 building projects across 38 cities in China, of which 27 are operating hotels.

Not a bad result considering the brothers bought the Days Inn master franchise rights for Greater China - through their Singapore-based investment firm Tera Capital - only six years ago.

Mr Fang, 42, Tera Capital's chief executive and president of Days Inn China, said there was more to come for the chain after the firm paid 'less than a million' for the franchise rights.

China-based Mr Fang and his two elder brothers, both 53, were speaking to The Straits Times when they were back in Singapore for last month's Budget & Economy Hotels Asia conference.

Mr Fang said that despite the global hotel industry taking a beating from the financial crisis, Days Inn China managed to launch 17 hotel projects this year, in addition to 19 similar deals signed last year.

Ranked eighth in Hotels Magazine's top 50 brands this year, Days Inn is owned by United States-based Wyndham Hotel Group, part of Wyndham Worldwide.

However, success in the US did not immediately translate to success in China.

Days Inn China chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Harry Tan said the previous master franchisee of the brand managed to launch only two hotels in five years.

'When we got the rights for China in 2003, there was only one Days Inn hotel left,' recounted Mr Tan, who has more than 20 years of experience in the Chinese and Hong Kong hospitality sectors.

Twin brother David, who is Days Inn's China deputy CEO, was also a heavyweight in the resorts and hospitality sector before joining his brothers at Tera Capital.

Under its master franchise rights, Tera Capital now operates a wide range of 'star-rated' hotels under the Days Inn China brand.

They include the five-star Days Hotels & Suites, the four-star Days Hotel, Days Inn Business Place and Days Suites, and the three-star Days Inn.

Latest figures show that the number of budget hotels in China surged by 125 per cent between 2006 and last year. From about 160 such hotels in 2004, there were about 2,000 by the end of last year.

Today, 90 per cent of Days Inn China hotels are newly built. The firm employs a team of 50 at its corporate offices in Shanghai and Beijing, but about 5,000 staff help run the 27 hotels it currently operates.

Mr Harry Tan believes that with the emergence of a booming middle class and the rise of domestic tourism in China, the demand for quality mid-tier hotels like Days Inn China will increase.

'We are still growing and expect to close the year with 22 deals for new hotels, and next year we aim to sign at least another 25 deals under the Days Inn China brand name,' he said.

'The market is huge, there are about 1,000 economic zones in China alone and 100 cities with more than one million in population,' said Mr Fang. 'So it's the sheer mass of it that makes it worthwhile for us.'

He also revealed that one of their main objectives is to take the company public 'when the time is right' to fuel further growth. 'Our next stage of growth is to acquire or lease more hotels to expand the brand,' he said.

'We do see very good value in the market right now. We want to move in very quickly because we are coming out of a global crisis, so valuations on leases are good, so we feel now is a good time.'

The three brothers shuttle between Beijing and Shanghai. In the short term, as the Days Inn network increases, Mr Fang said they hoped to add more offices in other Chinese cities.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.