Chapter 1729 Orient Express

Being hacked really annoyed Yang Cheng, but there was nothing he could do. After all, this was not his specialty, so he could only watch and worry.

However, when he put forward the idea of ​​'self-directed and self-acted', he got Eddie's approval, "Boss, I also doubted your idea, because it is such a coincidence that HBO just happens to launch Game of Thrones. When the hacking incident broke out, several other episodes also seemed to be important, but in fact they had no impact, instead they played the role of publicity, and they were not seriously hurt like they exaggerated."

Yang Cheng couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when he heard that Eddie had the same opinion as himself. Two people had the same opinion on the same thing, which basically proved the reliability of their opinion.

"If this is HBO's propaganda, what is the hack we have?"

Eddie smiled wryly, "Then it can only be true, after all, the other party also asked for a ransom of 10 million dollars."

Yang Cheng sneered, "The lion really opened his mouth, didn't he ever think about exposing himself?"

"Hackers are all conceited. If you don't have absolute confidence in your own technology, you may not be able to do this job~"

"You're right. In short, this matter can't just be let go, and the most severe counterattack must be given! Otherwise, our server will be the hacker's back garden in the future, and there is nothing to talk about~"

"I understand~"

Eddie turned to ask, "By the way, I heard that Mr. Schuberg is buying the Orient Express Group?"

"Yes, it's Belmond, it's reorganized, what? Do you have an idea?"

"No, no, I just want to remind you. Recently, I met a new friend at a reception. The other party is from the Accor Group. After drinking, he confided that the Accor Group is going to revive the brand "Orient Express"~"

Yang Cheng was taken aback, "What? Accor Group? Revival of the Orient Express? Do they have this right?"

"As far as I know, AccorHotels will rebrand and relaunch a series of hotels under the name 'Orient Express'.

The first Orient Express hotel will open in Bangkok next summer, and 10 will open by 2030. "

Yang Cheng was really confused, "What's the situation? Their plan has been made?"

“In fact, they are all ready to open~”

Eddie took out his mobile phone and flipped through it, and handed it to Yang Cheng, "The person who revealed the news is the vice president of Accor Group, who will also be the executive director of the Orient Express Hotel in the future. He showed me the renderings of the Orient Express Hotel in Bangkok. I think Just took a copy if it was useful, boss, look, the hotel will be opened in the second tallest building in Bangkok, the 78-storey King Power Genting Metropolis. This building is famous for its pixelated Lego style, and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Apartment is also there in.

Although the Orient Express has never been to Bangkok, the designers wanted to recreate the history of the Orient Express at the new attraction by combining Thai and French art styles.

The hotel will have 154 rooms, a rooftop pool overlooking the luxurious city, two restaurants, a spa and two bars. "

Yang Cheng flipped through it roughly, and pondered, "Could it be that the Accor Group also has the right to use the brand?"

This was something he never expected, and he hadn't heard Schuberg mention it.

Eddie put away his mobile phone and said, "I specifically checked, the French ZF railway group SNCF has owned the Orient Express brand since the 1970s, and it earlier allowed the British Orient Express Hotel Group, which was established in 1976, to use the name , the group has a total of 45 luxury hotels, six luxury trains, three river cruise ships and a restaurant."

Yang Cheng suddenly realized, "Is this the Belmond we want to acquire?"

Eddie affirmed, "That's right, but in fact, Belmond only owns the right to use the brand 'Orient Express' and owns 50% of it.

The other 50% is in the hands of SNCF. Accor Group has launched a strategic cooperation with SNCF and is also preparing to develop the Orient Express brand, so yes! It is not illegal for Accor to do so.

"

Yang Cheng couldn't help but frowned. It's really a blessing but a misfortune never comes singly. Bad news comes one after another.

AccorHotels is not only luxurious, but more connected to historical themes than previous Belmond hotels, AccorHotels has also tried to capitalize on the mysterious nature of the name by injecting the story of the original train into the new hotel chain, so look, In the future, Belmond and Accor Hotel Group will compete fiercely on the brand of 'Orient Express'.

If the current status quo is maintained, Yang Cheng is not afraid of anything. One base is in Europe and the other is in Asia. Although the positioning is the same, the markets are different, and they can also play a role in mutual drainage.

But what about the future? Yang Cheng doesn't believe that Accor Group will be huddled in the Asian market. It is expected to return to Europe in the future, and Belmond will not stick to its development in Europe. With Yang Cheng's intervention, it will be a matter of time before entering Asia.

In other words, sooner or later the two sides will meet in the same market and start a face-to-face competition. At that time, it will definitely be a bloody battle for the manager. Burning money is a must, just like fighting a war is fighting for food reserves.

Yang Cheng is not afraid of burning money, but thinks it is meaningless. The hotel itself is not a high-net-profit industry. If all the money is spent on competition, how many years will it take to recover the cost?

Thinking of this, he suddenly wondered whether he should use the brand "Orient Express" to cooperate with Accor Group?

In his opinion, cooperation is a win-win situation, and competition only hurts both sides. The plate is big enough, and cooperation is more profitable than eating alone.

Moreover, the two sides have a basis for cooperation, so they hooked their fingers at Eddie, "Give me your phone, I haven't finished watching it just now~"

He was referring to the interior part. Just now he only looked at the renderings of the exterior part. Looking at the interior now, it is exactly as he thought. The interior designer of the Bangkok hotel used the sleeper train as a source of inspiration and integrated a colorful Elements such as glass and leather-panelled oval windows.

In the guest rooms, custom banquet chairs and leather headboards with pockets for storing items such as phones, books and glasses were installed, and old photographs are displayed on the walls, documenting each room The history of trains.

Renderings also show the bar's entertainment, with its inlaid-edged counter surrounded by champagne bottles and woven lantern stands that appear to be used in all future Orient Express hotels, as well as the lettering of the bar's name, which matches that of the original train carriages of the same name.

It can be said that the elements of "Orient Express" filled every corner of the hotel. Yang Cheng put down her phone and sighed, "The style is almost the same~"

Eddie couldn't help but said, "Isn't it 'bumping your shirt'?"

Yang Cheng nodded, "There are only two ways, either cooperate or compete, I personally prefer to cooperate~"

Eddie echoed, "Me too, I just don't know what the Accor Group thinks~"

Yang Cheng shook his head, "The Accor Group is now dominated by people from the Middle East, and these local tyrants are not short of money!"

"The world of Middle Easterners?"

Eddie has always been in the media field. Even now that he is the CEO of an Internet giant company, he usually has little time to pay attention to the news of the hotel industry.

"You don't know? At the end of last year, Accor Group acquired the parent company of Fairmont and Swissotel, and used part of the cash to issue additional shares. After the additional issuance, Qatar Investment Authority and Arabian Kingdom Holdings held 10.5% and 5.8% respectively, basically controlling The board of directors, terrible Middle Eastern local tyrants."

As soon as the Arabian local tyrant was mentioned, Yang Cheng immediately turned into lemon essence, and almost killed himself with sour~

Eddie sighed, "Middle Eastern people are really pervasive~"

Yang Cheng joked, "If there is oil under your house, you can penetrate it everywhere~"

Eddie touched the curly hair that was getting washed more and more, and said with a smile, "It's a pity that I didn't have such a good life~"

After laughing, Eddie said, "Actually, there is nothing to lose if we talk about it, and in recent years, people from the Middle East have been trying to break into the mainstream of Western society, so they don't hesitate to spend a lot of money on this, and they are willing to share the benefits. It's just recognition."

Yang Cheng said with a smile, "You're right, let's talk about it, you go tell Schulberger, I'd better not see his dead face a few times, because if I see too much, my life will be shortened~"

After a few jokes, Eddie withdrew the topic to the hacking incident, "Boss, this is the second time that the CW TV station has been hacked. Do you think we need to rectify the TV station?"

Yang Cheng was puzzled, "Huh? How do you want to rectify?"

Eddie said tactfully, "I think Mark should work in a position that suits him better~"

Yang Cheng's face sank, "You want to remove Mark?"

Eddie spread his hands, "I don't think he's capable enough to continue as the CEO of the TV station~"

Yang Cheng leaned back on the back of the chair, turning the pen in his hand, "Then who do you think is suitable?"

"Richard Plepler~" Eddie spat out a name lightly.

"CEO of HBO?"

"Yes, he's been with HBO for over 20 years~"

"Then why did he leave? We can't dig it out~"

"No, the parent company Warner has always wanted to directly control HBO, but because of Richard's existence, HBO has been in a state of being released. Warner is very dissatisfied. I heard a lot of rumors that they are going to do something to Richard. ~"

Yang Cheng straightened her body, "Really? If that's the case, you can definitely consider it~"

During the tenure of Richard Plepler, HBO can be said to have undergone earth-shaking changes. It cannot be said that it is all due to him as the CEO, but his credit cannot be ignored.

Eddie said with admiration, "Among the CEOs of media groups in the United States, there are not many people I admire, and Richard is definitely one of them. Although Netflix has become a mess recently, in my eyes, HBO is the real conscience." , and under the huge pressure of Netflix, only HBO in the United States can compete head-on. Others, including our CW TV station, are not rivals in the field of drama series. We must admit this disadvantage~”

Yang Cheng also nodded and admitted, "Netflix's biggest problem is that all the hit dramas they release are not their own originals~"

Netflix has a lot of support for original productions, and it can be said that it invests at any cost. However, Netflix has always kept secrets about the number of viewers, duration, and ratings. The market can only provide feedback through third-party research and monitoring data.

This is exactly the problem, as internal professionals know that external programming accounts for 72% of the viewing time on the Netflix platform, which means that the vast majority of traffic on Netflix is ​​brought by competitors.