"The four essentials of Chinese-style aesthetics: dragons and tigers, auspicious clouds and cranes, ancient calligraphy, and the iconic Chinese red."

These visual symbols have become synonymous with Chinese-style branding. By simply assembling these elements, businesses can raise prices and easily attract consumers. However, this trend has left some premium brands, especially those focused on Chinese aesthetics and luxury, wondering: Is it still worthwhile to invest in service excellence? Is there value in staying true to deeper Chinese aesthetics?

1. A New Player Rises, Avoiding the "Template Solution"

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world’s largest hotel chains, has continuously brought new surprises to the Chinese market since entering in 1984. Among its most iconic ventures is the launch of its new brand—HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts. As the first high-end hotel brand designed by and for Chinese consumers, HUALUXE was launched at the historic Tai Miao, symbolizing IHG's sincere commitment to localizing its offerings.

Over a decade of development alongside the rise of Chinese aesthetics, HUALUXE has gained a deep understanding of new-generation consumers, rooted in cultural confidence. By the end of 2022, the brand introduced a refreshed vision—“Chinese Aesthetics Lifestyle”—upgrading both its brand philosophy and service experience.

Rather than using popular visual symbols like dragons, clouds, and the iconic Chinese red, HUALUXE opted for a modern ink-wash aesthetic, subtly integrating it into guest experiences. While this approach is undoubtedly engaging, it presents challenges in developing a consistent service experience that aligns with this lifestyle-driven, abstract aesthetic brand positioning.

2. Effective Brand Renewal—What Should Be Refreshed?

Unlike the superficial aesthetics of "pseudo-Chinese" brands, HUALUXE, as a high-end hotel, excels in hardware aesthetics. Collaborating with artists, designers, and cultural inheritors, HUALUXE elevates its offerings, from hotel designs to staff uniforms and brand visuals, achieving a contemporary and refined aesthetic.

In partnership with Chinese haute couture brand GRACE CHEN, HUALUXE refreshed its staff uniforms to reflect the essence of Chinese aesthetics. Additionally, the collaboration with ink artist Mr. Chen Jiu has brought the brand's visuals to life on room keys, umbrellas, and packaging.

But does this vision of “Chinese Aesthetics Lifestyle” stop at visual beauty in touchpoints? What value can a Chinese aesthetic experience truly bring to guests? How should the service be interpreted and delivered with Chinese cultural depth? What are the contemporary expressions, and how can they be concretely applied and made actionable within hotel settings?

IHG, renowned for selecting the "Right Partners," invited CBi China Bridge to collaborate, leveraging its expertise in user-centered, insight-driven innovation. CBi China Bridge believes that positioning aesthetics is a high-level challenge in system design. While an individual experience of beauty is emotional, crafting a collective experience requires a structured, rational approach.

To build a long-term, high-end Chinese-style brand, HUALUXE needed to go beyond visual elements and create a cohesive experience that connects high-end aesthetics ("points"), emotional value through service style ("lines"), and a comprehensive lifestyle service system ("surfaces"). The goal was to create a brand with a genuine cultural core that could be sustained over time.

CBi China Bridge aims to design a service framework that starts with aesthetics and ends with insights. The intention is to reshape the guest journey and craft a service system that supports HUALUXE’s long-term vision of a Chinese-style luxury hotel experience, ensuring the brand remains relevant and impactful.

3. Sentiment or Emotion—Which Matters More?

When people think of Chinese-style brands, many immediately associate them with patriotism. For example, despite technological limitations, many consumers still buy Huawei products out of national pride. But does this macro-level appeal work in the hospitality industry? If not, what other market opportunities exist behind the concept of Chinese aesthetics?

Through extensive research and expert interviews, CBi China Bridge's team discovered that while individual interpretations of Chinese aesthetics may vary, there are shared societal values driving this trend. Chinese aesthetics offer a peaceful refuge through traditional lifestyle practices, providing not only aesthetic value but also a sense of spiritual order and emotional fulfillment.

Evidence of this trend is visible across various social media platforms, where discussions about ancient aesthetics and seasonal practices are gaining traction, drawing a growing number of people’s attention and admiration.

The interplay of contemporary societal emotions and cultural confidence is causing a ripple effect, engaging a broader audience in the appeal of Chinese aesthetics.

In the post-pandemic era, where many face increasing stress, Chinese aesthetics offer a timeless, serene escape. The classical, tranquil imagery activates deep cultural instincts, providing both aesthetic pleasure and therapeutic relief.

Using consumer insights, CBi China Bridge assisted HUALUXE in identifying the shift in perception among the new generation of consumers:

On one hand, there is a shift from "cultural confidence" to "cultural perspective." Young people are increasingly focusing on small, meaningful narratives and personal histories, embracing simple rituals.

On the other, people are looking for internal fulfillment through Chinese aesthetics, seeking genuine connections and reducing unnecessary social interactions.

These insights into the emotional dynamics of society are crucial for transforming them into innovative service values for the HUALUXE brand.

"Hotels are inclusive spaces for emotions and aesthetics, where customers pay for the emotional and aesthetic value they perceive."

This principle extends beyond the hotel industry; for many service providers of Chinese aesthetics across various sectors, it’s crucial to take a long-term perspective. Brand experiences should not only focus on appealing to “confident” consumers but also consider how to provide emotional value to the wider public, ensuring sustainable growth.

This understanding led the HUALUXE and CBi China Bridge teams to quickly reach a consensus, establishing the direction of their service style:

HUALUXE positions itself as a "Cultural Aesthetic Guide," carefully addressing guests' emotional and aesthetic needs, both in their personal space and in public areas. The brand actively shares and showcases the cultural stories behind Chinese aesthetics, enhancing guest engagement and participation.

By integrating Chinese aesthetics into its service style, HUALUXE aims to provide guests with emotional value. Embracing the role of a "Cultural Aesthetic Guide," with the graceful demeanor of a Confucian gentleman—courteous and action-oriented—HUALUXE connects core aspects of life, such as "living and resting" and "dining and gathering," offering guests a transformative journey where life becomes art and spiritual healing.

Connecting dots into lines and lines into surfaces, how can the aesthetic living experience in hotel spaces—through service perception, guest experience, and signature service highlights—be interconnected and fully realized?

4. What Does a Service Design "Brand House" Look Like? 

The concept of a “Brand House” in service design is a strategic tool that connects the guest experience to back-end operations, ensuring coherence in internal training and external promotion. CBi China Bridge collaborated with HUALUXE’s brand, operations, and HR teams, as well as external experts, to build a cohesive service framework that integrates Chinese hospitality into every touchpoint—from guest reception to room experiences.

CBi China Bridge integrated its insights into each department’s service approach and led internal workshops to ensure that every staff member understood and embraced the brand's values. By thoroughly understanding Chinese hospitality, staff are trained to embody and deliver these values consistently in daily interactions.

This effort led to a comprehensive brand service system, and HUALUXE is now using this framework to continuously train and align staff across its various properties. With a unified approach, the brand ensures that its service reflects its vision and values, offering a consistent and elevated guest experience.

At the same time, the HUALUXE team, empowered by the service design co-creation methodology, continues to conduct workshops during the standardization and implementation phase. These sessions ensure that knowledge is effectively transferred to team members across HUALUXE’s regional hotels.

Through the service design renewal, HUALUXE integrates Chinese aesthetics into the guest journey, refining every touchpoint: 

For example, the essence of Chinese hospitality is reflected through core touchpoints such as welcome rituals, room ceremonies, and farewell experiences.

Public space cultural experiences, the HUALUXE Gathering IP, and specialty night tea rituals at Miànjiā serve as key touchpoints, creating opportunities for guests to engage and appreciate the aesthetics together.

Customized business or family gatherings, alongside personalized dining concierge services, further enhance the guest experience, meeting both personal and professional needs.

Although many of these service innovations are still in the pilot phase, HUALUXE is already gaining momentum, setting a fast pace in the high-end hotel operations sector.

We are confident that HUALUXE’s comprehensive approach, rooted in the emotional insights of the modern era, will set a new benchmark for the refined Chinese-style market and inject fresh vitality into the ecosystem of Chinese aesthetics.

HUALUXE’s boldness lies in its understanding that discerning consumers are not the enemy of luxury. Exceptional experiences remain a rare and valuable offering in any era. Achieving high-end hospitality with a sense of ease requires not only vision and courage but also wisdom and determination.

When people think of exceptional service, their first thought is often five-star hotels. Historically, the most advanced and attentive service measures in various industries have been inspired by the hospitality standards of five-star hotels. Even the luxury Emirates airline proudly claims to have brought five-star hotel service onboard.

Now, leading global hotel groups are revisiting service design methodologies to further emphasize their commitment to being customer-centric. They strive to be a sincere and authentic presence in the evolving Chinese-style market, using a comprehensive and interconnected approach to craft a deeply immersive and multi-dimensional journey rooted in Chinese aesthetics. This process aims to reshape the hotel experience with high-quality and distinctive values, resonating with guests on an emotional level.

Are you still waiting for second-hand experiences while aiming to drive business transformation through service innovation?