voco Marks 3rd Anniversary in China with 'Reimagined Fun' – Shaping a New Direction for Sustainable Hotel Development

Rapid growth over three years in China, riding the wave of the hotel stock market, interpreting green environmental protection through art, and enjoying a sustainable journey with fun.

October 30, 2023, Xi'an – Recently, the high-end hotel brand voco under InterContinental Hotels Group celebrated its third anniversary of entering the Greater China market. An anniversary celebration was held at voco Xi'an Jingkai Hotel, witnessed by more than 160 hotel owners' representatives, industry experts, and authoritative media. During the event, InterContinental Hotels Group also hosted an owners' appreciation meeting and a Xi'an characteristic city wall cycling tour, offering guests an immersive experience through voco's brand story, philosophy, investment model, and solutions.

Daniel Aylmer, Managing Director, IHG Greater China (second from right); Hu Yingchun, Chief Marketing Officer, IHG Greater China (second from left); Sun Jian, Chief Development Officer, IHG Greater China (first from right); Chen Changqun, Vice President of Hotel Opening Division, IHG Greater China (first from left).

Meanwhile, the voco brand also successfully held the "Reimagined Fun" limited-time art exhibition, marking the successful conclusion of the 4-month "Young Artists Residency Program". This creative campaign continues the brand's philosophy of organically integrating sustainability with art crossover. It recruited five pioneering young artists from different fields in Greater China, who used discarded materials to create artworks, jointly presenting an aesthetic feast of environmental protection and art, encouraging consumers to embrace a green and low-carbon lifestyle. The art exhibition has recently been launched at voco Xi'an Jingkai Hotel and is open to the public.

Reimagined Fun: Speaking for the Environment through Art Aesthetics

In recent years, the implementation of sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies has gained increasing attention in the hospitality industry. Since its inception, voco has always advocated and practiced a sustainable lifestyle. The "Reimagined Fun" series of artistic creative events held for three consecutive years is a manifestation of the brand's green DNA, and in a fun-filled way, it encourages more guests to engage in eco-friendly travel lifestyles. At the same time, it responds with concrete actions to the group's "Journey to Tomorrow" sustainable development commitment, actively creating "responsible travel."

voco brand "Reimagined Fun" limited-time art exhibition

Ms. Hu Yingchun, Chief Marketing Officer of IHG Greater China, said: "The voco Young Artists Residency Program is one of the brand's most creative and visionary initiatives. It brings together artistic creativity and the environmental concept of sustainable development, transforming waste items into artworks, blending art and life, raising public awareness of environmental issues, and deepening IHG's commitment to practicing and actively promoting sustainability. In this process, we not only incorporate fun and delightful experiences into every journey, but also strive to provide guests with high-quality, signature brand stays and attentive care. This also demonstrates IHG's determination to drive innovation and sustainability, and its vision to continuously lead the hotel industry towards green and sustainable development."

The "Reimagined Fun" Young Artists Residency Program was co-initiated by voco, the Donghua Think Tank Cultural and Creative Industry Research Institute, and WeArt. The five collaborating artists are: Yu Wenjie, Ye Fan, Ouyang Sulong, Zhang Yihan, and E5 Wenbin. With the creative theme of "Future, Rebirth, Space, Time, Fragments," they used everyday discarded objects—old woven items, leftover acrylic production materials, recycled old newspapers, reclaimed natural rubber balloon materials, and empty plastic bottles—deconstructing and reassembling them into artworks to interpret environmental concepts, encouraging and guiding the public to focus on sustainability. Through the multi-sensory experience and eco-art aesthetics presented in this exhibition, guests can be inspired to take an interest in a green lifestyle.

As a practitioner of green travel, voco starts with the details. Whether it's using 100% recycled plastic bottles through a unique spinning and blowing method to make hotel room bedding, adopting large packaging for bathroom amenities to reduce plastic waste, choosing "green ingredient" toiletries that do not negatively impact the ecosystem, using pressure-increasing showerheads that ensure a quality bathing experience while reducing water consumption and hot water energy use, or replacing traditional cups with biodegradable takeaway coffee cups, these diverse fun experiences and practical actions encourage guests to actively embrace an eco-friendly lifestyle.

Three begets all things: Three years in China, demonstrating the sharp edge of sustainable rapid development.

The voco brand was founded in 2018. By renovating high-quality independent hotels or developing new-build projects, with the goal of improving owner returns and guest experiences, it has rapidly grown through flexible and diverse cooperation models and green environmental concepts, becoming one of the fastest-expanding brands within InterContinental Hotels Group. In 2020, the brand successfully entered the Chinese hotel market. Recently, it also opened up its franchise model, becoming the fifth brand of IHG in China to offer this model, providing partners with more diversified investment options.

Low-carbon cycling at voco's 3rd anniversary celebration in China

In the "Opinions on Further Activating Existing Assets and Expanding Effective Investment" issued by the General Office of the State Council last year, it explicitly mentioned focusing on key areas and enterprises to properly activate existing assets, with aging hotel and catering assets being highlighted. For China's hotel stock market, a new stage with greater development and investment potential has emerged.

voco's flexible, efficient, and easy-to-transform characteristics have provided IHG with an early-mover advantage in exploring the blue ocean of the hotel stock market, leveraging the chain's strengths in risk management, scaled cost reduction, market analysis and forecasting, targeted hotel support, member systems, and distribution channels.

For consumers, when choosing a hotel, they value convenient check-in processes, comfortable environments, integration of local cultural experiences, as well as user-friendly facilities and warm service. In project renovations, voco hotels incorporate design elements with strong brand characteristics in hardware, including artworks, linens, furniture, mascots, etc. In terms of service, around the three stages of a guest's stay: "Welcome with Joy," "Solitude Time," and "Enjoy Life," distinctive and memorable signature features are added. At check-in, there is a locally inspired welcome amenity; during the stay, a premium and comfortable room experience is ensured; and dining offers diverse options that combine leisure and fun, while retaining the hotel's original food and beverage offerings that cater to local consumption needs.

Mr. Sun Jian, Chief Development Officer of IHG Greater China, stated: "voco has made impressive strides in the three years since entering China. With its distinct brand personality and sustainable development philosophy, it is loved by both guests and owners. It is an emerging force within the group, further enriching the brand portfolio to better meet the needs of guests in niche tourism segments. As the domestic hotel stock renovation market develops rapidly, voco's flexible and efficient stock conversion process and solutions are highly recognized by investment partners, enabling high-quality independent hotels to quickly join the IHG enterprise platform and rapidly upgrade and develop the properties. Three begets all things; we believe the brand will see even stronger growth in China in the future."

From left to right: voco Guangzhou Shifu, voco Xi'an Jingkai, voco Hefei Binhu, voco Xiong'an Langyue

As of the end of October 2023, voco has 10 operational hotels and 10 under construction in Greater China. Recently opened hotels include voco Guangzhou Shifu and voco Xiong'an Langyue. Hotels under planning cover major gateway cities and popular tourist destinations such as Shanghai, Changzhou, Jincheng, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Qingdao.

InterContinental Hotels Group brand family includes:

●Luxury & Boutique: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Vignette Collection, Hotel Indigo

●Premium: voco hotels, HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, EVEN Hotels

●Upper Midscale: Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Garner hotels, avid hotels

●Extended Stay: Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Candlewood Suites

●Exclusive Partners: Iberostar Beachfront Resorts