GREENTREE HOSPITALITY GROUP LTD.

FORM 20-F ANNUAL REPORT

FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 20192021

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Conventions that Apply to this Annual Report on Form 20-F

In this annual report, unless otherwise indicated:

This annual report on Form 20-F includes our audited consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2017, 20182019, 2020 and 2019,2021, and as of December 31, 20182020 and 2019.2021.

Our ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “GHG.”

Not required.

Not required.

The selected consolidated financial data shown below should be read in conjunction with “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects,” and the financial statements and the notes to those statements included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, which are included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 2016, and the selected balance sheet data as of, December 31, 2015 and 2016 have been derived from our audited financial statements not included in this annual report on Form 20-F. Selected consolidated financial data as of and for the year ended December 31, 2014 have not been included, as such information is not available on a basis that is consistent with the consolidated financial data included in this annual report and cannot be provided on a U.S. GAAP basis without unreasonable effort or expense. The historical results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in any future period. On January 1, 2019, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606). The consolidated statement of operations data and consolidated balance sheet data are presented under the new accounting standards from 2017 to 2019, while the prior period consolidated financial data have not been restated and continue to be reported under accounting standards in effect for those periods. See note 2 of our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F for further discussion.

Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) is calculated as net income plus other operating expenses, income tax expense, share of losses in equity investees (net of tax), interest expense, share-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, losses on investments in equity securities, one-time fees and expenses, provision for bad debt and other expense net, but excludes other operating income, interest income and other, net, gains on investments in equity securities, share of gains in equity investees (net of tax) and other income net.

The presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by other charges and gains we consider to be outside the ordinary course of our business.

The use of Adjusted EBITDA has certain limitations because it does not reflect all items of income and expenses that affect our operations. Items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA are significant components in understanding and assessing our operating and financial performance. Depreciation and amortization expense for various long-term assets, income tax and share-based compensation have been and will be incurred and are not reflected in the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA. Each of these items should also be considered in the overall evaluation of our results. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA does not consider capital expenditures and other investing activities and should not be considered as a measure of our liquidity. We compensate for these limitations by providing the relevant disclosure of our other operating income/expense, depreciation and amortization, interest expense, gains(losses) from investments in equity securities, one-time fees and expenses, income tax expenses, share-based compensation, share of gains(losses) in equity investees (net of tax), other income/expense, net and other relevant items both in our reconciliations to the corresponding U.S. GAAP financial measures and in our consolidated financial statements, all of which should be considered when evaluating our performance.

The term Adjusted EBITDA is not defined under U.S. GAAP, and Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of net income, operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. When assessing our operating and financial performance, you should not consider this data in isolation or as a substitute for our net income, operating income or any other operating performance measure that is calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. In addition, our Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to Adjusted EBITDA or similarly titled measures utilized by other companies since such other companies may not calculate Adjusted EBITDA in the same manner as we do.

A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, which is the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure, is provided below:

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Currency Translations

This annual report on Form 20-F contains translations of Renminbi amounts into U.S. dollars at specific rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this annual report on Form 20-F were made at a rate of RMB6.9618RMB6.3726 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on December 31, 2019.30, 2021. We make no representation that the Renminbi or U.S. dollar amounts referred to in this annual report on Form 20-F could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or Renminbi, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

Not required.

Not required.

Risks Related to Our BusinessSpecial Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Our results of operations are subject to conditions typically affecting the hospitality industry.

Our results of operations are subject to conditions typically affecting the hospitality industry,This annual report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including the following:

Changes in any of these conditions could adversely affect our occupancy rates, average daily rates and RevPAR or otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to various operational risks inherent in the franchised-and-managed business model.

Our success could be adversely affected by the performance of our franchised-and-managed hotels. As of December 31, 2019, we franchised-and-managed approximately 99.1% of our hotels, and we derived 74.0%, 76.5% and 76.8% of our revenues from those hotels in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, which include revenues from membership fees of franchised-and-managed hotels. We plan to increase the number of franchised-and-managed hotels in operation to increase our national presence in China. Our franchisees may not be able to develop or construct hotel properties on a timely basis, which could adversely affect our growth strategy and may impact our ability to collect fees from them on a timely basis.

We oversee and manage the operations of our franchised-and-managed hotels pursuant to various franchise agreements. However, we are not able to control the actions of our franchisees. Under those franchise agreements, our franchisees are typically responsible for developing hotel properties on a timely basis, bearing the costs and expenses of developing and operating the hotels, including costs of constructing, decorating or renovating the hotels to our standards and recruiting and employing hotel staff. However, if our franchisees have difficulties in accessing capital or are reluctant to make investments for the construction, decoration, management or renovation of the hotels, we may not able to force them to secure the required capital and the quality of our franchised-and-managed hotels’ operations may be thereby diminished.

We normally require our franchisees to secure relevant governmental approvals and permits for operating the hotels in our standard franchise agreements and require that our franchisees provide us with some basic approvals and permits, including business license, special industry license and fire prevention safety inspection certificates. However, some of our franchisees may not be able to obtain such approvals or permits in a timely manner, or at all. See “— Failure to comply with government regulations relating to the franchise, hospitality industry, construction, fire prevention, food hygiene, safety and environmental protection could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.”

As many factors affecting the operations of those hotels are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that the quality of the services in our franchised-and-managed hotels are consistent with our standards and requirements. Although we send for routine inspection purposes regional managers and members of our quality control team to franchised-and-managed hotels on a regular basis, we may not be able to identify problems in their operations and make responses on a timely basis. As a result, our image and reputation may suffer, which may have a material adverse effectstatements based on our businesscurrent expectations, assumptions, estimates and results of operations.

In addition to quality standards, safety incidents such as fire accidents may occur at our franchised-and-managed hotels despite our supervision or entrusted management. Any such occurrence may result in substantial reputational harm toprojections about us and our brands. In addition, if such safety incidents occur at any of the franchised-and-managed hotels that do not possess the relevant licenses, permits or inspection certificate, there could be substantial negative publicity, thereby triggering large-scale government actions that could impact our entire hotel network, which in turn will have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Although our proprietary information system can collect operational and financial data of each hotel, we may not be able to avoid fraud or manipulation of such data by some franchisees, which may adversely affect the ability to effectively respond to potential issues. In addition, many of our franchisees do not own the hotel land or the property but typically lease the property from landlords whoindustry. The forward-looking statements are either a property owner or a sub-lessor. We cannot assure you that all landlords who lease the hotel property to our franchisees have good and marketable title, or have unencumbered rights to lease or sub-lease the property to our franchisees. If any third party such as the ultimate property owners or relevant governmental authorities successfully challenge the lease of our franchisees, or if our franchisees fail to renew the leases when they expire, or if the landlords early terminate the lease, or if the properties or lands owned or leased by our franchisees are demolished, acquired or otherwise reclaimed by the government, our franchisees may have to close their hotels and thus terminate the franchise agreements and as a result, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Moreover, the term of the leases for some of the property of our franchisees is shorter than the typical term of our franchise agreements. We cannot assure you that upon expiration, these franchisees will be able to renew their leases in order to perform their franchise agreements with us.

We may not be able to renew our existing franchise agreements or renegotiate new franchise agreements when they expire.

We franchise hotels to third parties pursuant to franchise agreements. These franchise agreements may be renegotiated or may expire. We completed acquisitions of Argyle Hotel Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Argyle” or “Argyle Hotel Group”), and Shandong Xinghui Urban Hotel Management Group Co., Ltd. (“Urban” or “Urban Hotel Group”), respectively in April 2019 and November 2019. The versions of franchise agreements we have used during recent years, including those for Argyle, typically have an initial term of 10 to 20 years except for the franchise agreements with our Shell franchisees and Urban franchisees. We plan to renew our existing franchise agreements upon expiration or renegotiate with our franchisees for new franchise agreements. However, we may be unable to retain our franchisees on satisfactory terms, or at all. If a significant number of our existing franchise agreements expire and new franchisees do not cover those expired franchises, our revenue and profit may decreasecontained principally in the future,sections entitled “Item 3. Key Information — D. Risk Factors,” “Item 5. Operating and our results of operations could be materiallyFinancial Review and adversely affected.

As the hospitality industry in China is highly competitive, the terms of our franchise agreements are influenced by contract terms offered by our competitors. We cannot assure you that the terms of franchise agreements for new franchised-and-managed hotels entered into or renewed in the future will be as favorable as the terms under our existing franchise agreements. If such agreements cannot be renewed on satisfactory terms upon expiration, our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Failure to comply with government regulations relating to the franchise business model, hospitality industry, construction, fire prevention, food hygiene, safety and environmental protection could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our business is subject to various compliance and operational requirements under PRC laws and regulations, which include public safety, construction, fire prevention, public area hygiene, health and sanitation and environmental protection, as well as requirements related to construction or decoration of hotel premises. The failure of any of our hotels to comply with applicable laws and regulations may incur substantial fines and penalties from the relevant PRC government authorities. Each hotel in our network must hold a basic business license and a special industry license issued by local government authorities and must conduct its hotel operations within the business scope of its business license. These hotels must also obtain various other licenses and permits. For example, if our hotels provide catering service, they are required to obtain a food operation permit. In addition, any project construction undertaken by our

hotels may be subject to governmental approvals or filings requirements, and our failure to comply with the aforementioned requirements may subject us to fines or the suspension or even the cessation of operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In any event, we may not be able to obtain all permits, licenses, certificates and other approvals required by government regulations, which could negatively impact our business and significantly harm our reputation.

As of December 31, 2019, we operate 34 leased-and-operated hotels, among which, five hotels are from Urban Hotel Group, including two hotels situated on properties owned by us. Out of our 34 leased-and-operated hotels, eight have not obtained any fire prevention safety inspection certificates, three have not obtained public area hygiene permits, two have not obtained special industry permits, and two which engage in catering business have not obtained the food operation permits. Given the significant discretion local government authorities have in the examination of our application as well as other factors beyond our control in certain areas, we may be unable to obtain our food operation permits at all.

In addition, we have only been provided with and reviewed the relevant governmental approvals and permits for the operation of 3,131 out of our 3,923 franchised-and-managed hotels in total, including Argyle and Urban, in operation as of December 31, 2019, and have found that:

For our leased-and-operated hotels that have not obtained the necessary licenses, and to the extent that the franchisees who did not provide us with the licenses had not obtained the licenses prior to the commencement of their operations, the legal consequences will be as follows:

If any franchisee is subject to the foregoing legal consequences, whether fines or orders to suspend or even cease operations, due to its failure to obtain necessary licenses and permits or to comply with other requirements, our image and reputation may suffer, and such franchisee may defer making or refuse to make payments in breach of its franchise agreement with us. As we hold equity interests in certain of our franchisees, any regulatory non-compliance by such franchisees may also decrease the value of our investments. In either case, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Furthermore, as to certain hotels that are being converted from the leased-and-operated model to the franchised-and-managed model, if any franchisee refuses to return and uses any of our hotels’ permits in breach of their supplementary agreements with us, our company as the registered permit holder could be held liable for any regulatory non-compliance by our franchisees. See “— Our hotels being converted into franchised-and-managed hotels may not be able to obtain their own operational licenses or fail to pay us the rent materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.”

In respect of our franchising business, we are subject to a comprehensive disclosure requirement when recruiting and managing our franchisees. In the past, we have not received penalties in relation to such requirements. However, our communication with our franchisees could be found in violation of these requirements in the future.

We began franchising our Gem, Gya and Vx brands in 2017. However, we may not satisfy all the prerequisites for franchising our Gem, Gya and Vx brands under relevant PRC laws and regulations. If the competent government authorities establish that we have no adequate qualification to franchise our Gem, Gya and Vx brands, we could be subject to penalties including confiscation of relevant gain and fines between RMB100,000 and RMB500,000 for each such brand.

Furthermore, holders of 70% of equity interest in Yibon Hotel Group Co., Ltd., or Yibon, have the right to exchange their equity interest in Yibon into our shares within a certain period after Yibon delivered a consolidated financial report for the year of 2019 audited by “big four” accounting firm in accordance with a formula using Yibon’s net profit achieved in the year of 2019 as calculation basis. We expect Yibon shall record a net loss in 2019, as such holders should be unable to exchange our shares based on Yibon’s financial results of 2019.

.We may terminate franchise agreements earlier under certain circumstances, and we may have disputes with our franchisees which may materially and adversely affect our business and result of operations.

Our franchisees may terminate our franchise agreements in the event that, among others, the franchised-and-managed hotels’ performance is worse than they expect. Although they are not permitted to do so by our franchise agreements, the franchisees may still attempt to unilaterally terminate their franchise agreements. In such instances, we may have disputes with them, and it will be difficult for us to force them to continue the performance of our franchise agreements until they expire. If the franchise agreements are eventually terminated either based on a settlement between us and the franchisees or with a judgment or arbitral award which requires the franchisees to compensate us for our losses and costs, such compensation may not cover our losses which we have suffered as a result of the early termination, and we may no longer receive the franchise fees and related management fees from the termination. Furthermore, if our franchisees breach or terminate their franchise agreements with us before the hotel commences operation, we might not be able to grow our hotel network as planned.

Due to our rapid expansion in recent years, we have added a large number of new franchised-and-managed hotels into our hotel network, some of which may not be able to provide consistent and high-quality service to meet our standards. To avoid potential damage to our brand name and to ensure the quality of services provided to our guests, we may terminate our franchise agreements with such franchisees. In addition, if any of our franchisees defaults or commits wrongdoing and fails to cure defaults or wrongdoings, we may also need to terminate our franchise agreements. Although our franchise agreements typically allow us to terminate the agreements under many circumstances, our franchisees may dispute our termination or our claim and in such cases we have to submit such disputes for the settlement by courts or arbitration. For example, as of December 31, 2019 we had 17 pending legal proceedings in connection with the franchised-and-managed hotels. Also, we have in the past closed and may close in the future certain franchised-and-managed hotels as a result of disputes with the franchisees for their failure to comply with our requirements on, among other things, the punctual payment of our franchise fees or management fees, the decoration or operation standard, use of our brand, maintenance of the hotel condition and appearance, the avoidance of competition between the franchisees, including keeping appropriate distances between the franchised-and-managed hotels. For example, in 2019, we terminated 75 franchised-and-managed hotels that did not comply with our brand and operating standards. If a significant number of our existing franchise agreements are terminated early, our revenue and profit may decrease in the future.

In case of a dispute with our franchisees, even if such disputes can be resolved in favor of us, the disputes could divert our management attention, affect our brand image, and incur cost for us. There could also be situations where the franchisee is not in a position to sufficiently compensate us for losses which we have suffered as a result of their defaults or wrongdoings. If we eventually terminate any franchisees, we will lose such franchisees and can no longer collect franchise fees and management fees from them. If new franchisees do not cover those terminated franchises, our results of operations and financial conditions could be materially and adversely affected.

Our hotels being converted into franchised-and-managed hotels may not be able to obtain their own operational licenses or fail to pay us the rent materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

During the past few years, we have sought to convert some hotels from the leased-and-operated model over to the franchised-and-managed model through selling relevant business assets and handed over the management of such hotels, in most of the cases pursuant to an asset, business and personnel transfer agreement, or Transfer Agreements, to certain individuals or entities that have subsequently entered into franchise agreements with us and have therefore become our new franchisees. According to the Transfer Agreements, such new franchisees shall take over and operate such hotels on their own account and shall take the risks and enjoy the benefit of operating such hotels from the completion of the transfer contemplated by such agreements. However, the Transfer Agreements typically allow our franchisees under such arrangements to continue to use the hotel’s permits that were previously obtained by us and remain in the name of our company for a transitional period. As of December 31, 2019, nine of the abovementioned new franchisees were still using our relevant hotels’ permits. All of these franchisees have executed a supplementary agreement which requires them to stop using and return to us our hotels’ permits upon execution of the supplementary agreements. Such supplementary agreements also require the franchisees to indemnify us against all losses, costs or liabilities incurred by us for their defaults under such agreements. However, if any franchisees refuse to return and continue to use any of our hotels’ permits, our company could be held liable as the registered permit holder for any regulatory non-compliance on the part of our franchisees. As a result, any breach by our franchisees of relevant regulations could cause us to incur relevant legal liability under PRC law, which may materially affect our brand image and our results of operations. In addition, in such instances, because the relevant leases have not been transferred to our new franchisees, we continued to be the tenants of the relevant hotel premises and we remain liable to pay the rent to our landlords, and may not thereafter be fully compensated by the new franchisees. As a result, our result of operations and financial conditions may be materially and adversely affected by the default of such franchisees. Furthermore, such arrangement between us and the new franchisees could be deemed as a sublease, and our landlords may claim that our subleasing arrangement without our landlords’ consent constitutes a default. In such cases, we may be required by our landlords to terminate sublease arrangements and compensate their losses, if any, which may further increase our costs and risks. Moreover, we may not be able to enforce our rights against the franchisees under the supplementary agreements, which would hinder our ability to prevent the franchisees from using our hotel permits and negatively impact our business and our reputation.

Our leased-and-operated hotels are subject to a number of operational risks.

For hotels under the leased-and-operated model, a significant portion of operating costs, including rent, is fixed. Accordingly, a decrease in revenues could result in a disproportionately larger decrease in earnings because the operating costs and expenses are unlikely to decrease proportionately. For example, the period during both the New Year and Chinese Spring Festival holidays generally accounts for a smaller portion of our annual revenues than the other periods, but the expenses do not vary in proportion to changes in occupancy rates and revenues. Major construction work near our hotel may also have a negative impact on the occupancy rate. We need to continue to pay rent and salaries, make regular repairs, perform maintenance and renovations and invest in other capital improvements for our leased-and-operated hotels throughout the year to maintain their attractiveness. Therefore, our leased-and-operated hotels’ costs and expenses may remain constant or increase even if their revenues decline. The operation of each leased-and-operated hotel goes through the stages of development, ramp-up and mature operation. Our involvement in the development of such properties presents a number of risks, including construction delays or cost overruns, which may result in increased project costs or forgone revenue. During the development stage, significant pre-opening expenses will be incurred, and at the ramp-up stage, which is usually six months, when the occupancy rate increases gradually, revenues generated by these hotels may be insufficient to cover their operating costs, which are relatively fixed in nature. As a result, most newly opened leased-and-operated hotels may not achieve profitability until they reach mature operations. We also may be unable to recover development costs we incur for projects that are not completed. Any expansion of our leased-and-operated hotel portfolio would incur significant pre-opening expenses during the development stage and relatively low revenues during the ramp-up stage of such newly opened leased-and-operated hotels, of which expenses may have a significant negative impact on our results of operations. Properties that we develop could become less attractive due to market saturation, oversupply or changes in market demand, with the result that we may not be able to recover development costs as we expect, or at all.

We also may acquire or develop owned-and-operated hotels on a limited, case-by-case basis to seize unusually attractive business opportunities. Any such owned-and-operated hotels will be subject to risks similar to those of our leased-and-operated hotels. Such owned-and-operated hotels will also be subject to depreciation in the value paid by us for the underlying hotel property, which usually is influenced by macroeconomic and local political and economic factors.

In certain circumstances, we have needed to liquidate certain of our PRC subsidiaries and branches which previously operated leased-and-operated hotels, upon the completion of conversion or closure of hotels. In liquidating such subsidiaries and branches, we need to complete various deregistration procedures, which may be time-consuming and therefore we cannot assure you that such subsidiaries and branches can be deregistered in a timely manner. In the future, we may need to liquidate more subsidiaries and branches which have ceased to operate leased-and-operated hotels.

The legal rights of our franchisees and us to use certain leased properties could be challenged by property owners or other third parties, which could prevent our franchisees or us from operating the affected hotels or increase the costs associated with operating these hotels.

For most of our franchised-and-managed hotels and all but two of our leased-and-operated hotels, we and our franchisees do not hold property ownership with respect to the premises under which those hotels are operated. Instead, we and our franchisees rely on leases or contracted management arrangements with third parties who either own the properties or lease the properties from the ultimate property owner. As of December 31, 2019, four of the ultimate owners of the properties of our leased-and-operated hotels failed to provide us with the relevant title certificates. As to these four ultimate owners, if they have not obtained and provided such title certificates because the relevant properties were constructed by such ultimate owners without having obtained or in violation of a construction project planning permit, our lease of such properties may be challenged or even invalidated by a government authority or relevant dispute resolution institution. Meanwhile, the property title certificates for the premises on which approximately half of our leased-and-managed hotels are located have a different designated use from the actual usage of those properties, and our lease of such properties may be challenged by relevant government authorities and subject us to cessation of operations or fines in an amount of up to RMB30,000 for each property or approximately RMB480,000 in aggregate. If the property owners’ title and the legal rights of our franchisees and us to the leases of such properties are successfully challenged by a government authority or dispute resolution institution as mentioned above, the development or operations of our hotels on such properties could be adversely affected.

In addition, we and our franchisees are subject to the risks of potential disputes with property owners or our immediate lessors and to forced closure of hotels by the government. Such disputes and forced closures, whether resolved in the favor of our franchisees and us, may divert management attention of our franchisees and us, harm our reputation or otherwise disrupt and adversely affect our business.

Where immediate lessors are not the ultimate owners of hotel properties operated by our franchisees and us, in some instances, no consent was obtained from the owners to sublease the hotel properties to our franchisees or us. A property owner’s failure to duly obtain the title to the property or a sub-lessor’s failure to receive any necessary approvals from the ultimate owner or the primary leaseholder, as applicable, could potentially invalidate the underlying lease or result in the renegotiation of such lease which may lead to less favorable terms. Some of the properties we or our franchisees lease from third parties were subject to mortgages at the time the leases were signed. In such circumstances and where consent to the lease was not obtained from the mortgage holder, the lease may not be binding on the transferee of the property if the mortgage holders foreclose on the mortgage and transfer the property, which could in turn materially and adversely affect the ability of our franchisees and us to operate the hotel facility located on such property. In the past, although our operations have not been disrupted simply due to the lack of title certificates or consent from the owners, such events could occur in the future.

We also sublease the property parts we do not use to third parties and in some instances where we have closed or converted our leased-and-operated hotels, we may also need to sublease the whole properties we leased for such hotels to third parties to save costs if our landlords do not agree to early terminate our lease. In some instances, no written consent was obtained from our landlords to sublease such property parts or the whole property to third parties. Our failure to receive any necessary approvals from our landlords could potentially invalidate the underlying lease or result in our default under such subleases, which may in turn affect our business. In addition, if our sub-lessees are not able to pay us rent in a timely manner or at all, we are obligated to pay the rent to our landlords on our own account. If we fail to pay such rent, we may be required by our landlords to terminate the sublease arrangements and compensate their losses, if any, which may adversely affect our result of operations and our financial condition.

If we are unable to compete successfully, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

The hospitality industry in China is highly competitive. Competition in the industry is primarily based on room rates, quality of accommodation, brand name recognition, convenience of location, geographic coverage, service quality, range of services and guest amenities. We compete primarily with branded and standalone hotels as well as regional and local economy hotels. We also compete with four- and five- star hotels, as we offer rooms with standards comparable to many of those hotels while maintaining competitive pricing. Furthermore, we compete with other hotels for guests in each market segment in which we operate, as our typical business and leisure traveler guests may change their travel, spending and consumption patterns and choose to stay in hotels in different markets. New and existing competitors may offer competitive rates, greater convenience, services or amenities or superior facilities, which could attract guests away from our hotels, resulting in a decrease in occupancy and average daily rates for our hotels. In addition, competition among franchised hotels is intense in attracting potential franchisees and retaining existing franchisees. We believe that hotel operators choose hospitality franchisors based on primarily the value and quality of a franchisor’s brand, reputation and service and the extent to which affiliation with that franchisor may increase the franchisee’s hotel occupancy rates and profitability. Any of these factors may have an adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not be able to successfully attract new franchisees and compete for franchise agreements and, as a result, we may not be able to achieve our planned growth.

Our growth strategy includes expanding through franchised-and-managed hotels by entering into franchise agreements with our franchisees. We believe that our ability to attract new franchisees and compete for franchise agreements with them depends primarily on our brand recognition and reputation, the results of our overall operations in general and the success of our current franchised-and-managed hotels. Other competitive factors for franchise agreements include marketing support, membership program, efficiency of our central reservation system, our ability to provide systems and support to assist franchisees to operate their hotels cost-effectively. The terms of any new franchise agreements that we obtain also depend on the terms that our competitors offer for those agreements. In addition, if the availability of suitable locations for new properties decreases, or governmental planning or other local regulations change, the supply of suitable properties for additional franchised-and-managed hotels could diminish. If the performance of our franchised-and-managed hotels is less successful than that of our competitors’ hotels or if we are unable to offer terms as favorable as those offered by our competitors, we may not be able to compete effectively for new franchise agreements and we may not be able to attract as many new franchisees as we expect. As a result, we may not be able to achieve our planned growth and our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

The leases of our franchisees and us could be terminated early, we and our franchisees may not be able to renew the existing leases on commercially reasonable terms and the rents paid by us or our franchisees could increase substantially, which could materially and adversely affect our operations.

The terms of leases for our franchised-and-managed hotels and leased-and-operated hotels typically provide, among other things, that the lease could be terminated under certain legal or factual conditions. If any such lease were terminated early, operations of the related hotel property may be interrupted or discontinued and costs may be incurred by us or our franchisees to relocate to another location. Furthermore, we may be liable to our lessors, guests, franchisees and other vendors and may be required to pay losses and damages due to our default under relevant contracts. As a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Although we intend to coordinate with our franchisees to renew existing leases of our franchised-and-managed hotels, and to renew existing leases of certain of our leased-and-operated hotels, there can be no assurance that we and our franchisees will be able to renew such leases and maintain current hotel operations on satisfactory terms, or at all. In particular, we and our franchisees may experience increased rent payments and increased operating cost in connection with renegotiating leases. If we and our franchisees fail to maintain current hotel operations on satisfactory terms upon expiration of the leases, the respective operating costs of our company and our franchisees may increase, the ability of our franchisees to pay their franchise fees may decline, and overall profits generated from hotel operations may decrease. If we and our franchisees are unable to pass on increased costs to our guests through room rate increases, the operating margins and earnings of our company and our franchisees could decrease and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may terminate our leases early for certain reasons and any failure by us to terminate a lease for cause may subject us to payment of liquidated damages.

Our leases typically allow us to terminate the lease early under limited circumstances, and in some instances, our leases contain a term which requires us to pay the contingent rent for our wrongful early termination of such agreements. In the past, we have early terminated some leases of hotel properties and closed our leased-and-operated hotels underlying such leased properties, and disputes arose between us and our landlords whereby we were demanded to pay the contingent rents and liquidated damages. If such disputes occur in the future, and resolved in favor of our landlords, we may need to pay losses and damages to the landlords and as a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Our growth depends on our ability to increase revenues generated by our existing hotels.

While sales growth will depend in part on our plans for new hotel openings, deeper penetration into existing and new geographic markets and increased sales at our existing hotels will also affect our sales growth and will continue to be critical factors affecting our revenue and profit. Our ability to increase the revenues generated by our hotels depends in part on our ability to successfully implement our growth strategy and related initiatives. Our ability to penetrate further into the existing geographic markets where we already have a presence depends in part on our ability to successfully market ourselves and to maintain and increase sales to our existing members, including individual members and corporate members and attract more members to our membership program. We may not be able to achieve our targeted sales growth at our existing hotels, and sales at existing hotels could decrease. In addition, we may not be able to achieve our targeted level of expansion within existing and new geographic markets. The occurrence of any of such events may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our growth depends on our ability to grow the number of hotels in operation.

Our growth depends on our ability to open and profitably operate new hotels under both franchised-and-managed model and leased-and-operated model. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, we opened 424, 550 and 605 new franchised-and-managed hotels. In each of 2017, 2018 and 2019, we opened one, four and two new leased-and-operated hotels respectively. We plan to increase the number of our hotels in the future. We may not be successful in identifying and leasing or franchising additional hotel properties at desirable locations and on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In more developed cities, it may be difficult to increase the number of hotels because we or our competitors may already have operations in such cities. In less developed cities, demand for our hotels may not increase as rapidly as we expect. We also may incur substantial costs in connection with evaluating hotel properties and negotiating with property owners, including ones that we are subsequently unable to lease or franchise.

The growth in the number of hotels is subject to numerous risks, many of which are beyond our control. Among other risks, the following factors affect our ability to open and operate additional hotels profitably and achieve growth in the number of our hotels:

We may not be able to manage our expected growth, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We have experienced substantial growth since our inception. We have increased the number of our total hotels in operation in China from eight as of December 31, 2005 to 3,957 as of December 31, 2019, and we intend to focus on developing additional franchised-and-managed hotels in different geographic locations in China and internationally, as well as growing through mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances. This expansion has placed, and will continue to place, substantial demands on our managerial, operational, technological, financial and other resources. There can be no assurance that we will be able to effectively manage our growth. If our growth initiatives fail, and if we fail to integrate new alliances, merged entities or acquired targets into our network, our businesses and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Our planned expansion will also require us to maintain the consistency of our brands and the quality of our services to ensure that our brands do not suffer as a result of any deviations, whether actual or perceived. In order to manage and support our growth, we must improve our existing operational, administrative and technological systems and our financial and management controls, and recruit, train and retain qualified hotel managerial personnel as well as other administrative and sales and marketing personnel, particularly as we expand into new markets.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively and efficiently manage the growth of our operations, recruit and retain qualified personnel and integrate new franchised-and-managed hotels into our operations, whether they are organically developed or strategically acquired. Any failure to effectively and efficiently manage our expansion may materially and adversely affect our ability to capitalize on new business opportunities, which in turn may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Acquisitions, financial investment or strategic investment may have an adverse effect on our ability to manage our business and harm our results of operations and financial condition.

If we are presented with appropriate opportunities, we may acquire or invest in businesses or assets. For example, in 2017 we acquired a 30% equity interest in Yibon Hotel Group Co., Ltd. and a 50% equity interest in Steigenberger (Beijing) Hotel Management Co., Ltd. In 2018, we acquired: (i) an additional 1% of the equity interest in Yancheng Zexin Hotel Management Co., Ltd., or Zexin, and our equity interest in Zexin increased to 51%; (ii) a 70% of the equity interests in Foshan Baiqinghui Hotel Co., Ltd.; (iii) all of the business assets and a 70% interest in Donghe Zhenxing Hotel, in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone; and (iv)

all of the business assets and equity interests in Deep Sleep Hotel, in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. In 2019, we acquired a 60% equity interest in Argyle, a 70% equity interest in Urban and properties for strategic development purpose.

The existing and future acquisitions or investments may expose us to potential risks, including risks associated with unforeseen or hidden liabilities, risks that acquired or invested companies will not achieve anticipated performance levels, diversion of management attention and resources from our existing business, difficulty in integrating the acquired businesses with our existing operational infrastructure, and inability to generate sufficient revenues to offset the costs and expenses of acquisitions or investments. In addition, following completion of an acquisition or investment, our management and resources may be diverted from their core business activities due to the integration process, which diversion may harm the effective management of our business. Furthermore, it may not be possible to achieve the expected level of benefits after integration and the actual cost of delivering such benefits may exceed the anticipated cost. Any difficulties encountered in the acquisition or investment and integration process may have an adverse effect on our ability to manage our business and harm our results of operations and financial condition. If a financial or strategic investment is unsuccessful, then in addition to the diversion of management attention and resources from our existing business, we may lose the value of our investment, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, we have made loans to third parties including our franchisees, and other entities with which we have a business relationship. Although our loans to such third parties are generally secured by collateral or a guarantee, some of these third parties may not repay us, we may not be able to recover the loaned amounts of principal and any interest due, and we may thereby incur losses which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our expansion into new markets may present increased risks.

We plan to open new hotels in markets in China as well as internationally where we have little or no operating experience. Those markets may have different regulatory requirements, competitive conditions, consumer preferences and discretionary spending patterns as compared to our existing markets. As a result, any new hotels we open in those markets may be less successful than hotels in our existing markets. Guests and franchisees in any new market may not be familiar with our brands and we may need more time to build brand awareness in that market through greater investments in advertising and promotional activities than we anticipated. We may find it more difficult in new markets to hire, motivate and keep qualified employees who share our vision, passion and culture. Hotels operated in new markets also may have lower average sales or higher operating costs than hotels in existing markets. Sales at hotels operated in new markets may take longer than expected to ramp up and reach expected sales and profit levels, and may never do so, thereby affecting our overall profitability.

Our financial condition and results of operations may be materially affected if our strategy to diversify our brand portfolio and mix of hospitality offerings is not successfully implemented.

We intend to diversify our brand portfolio and mix of hospitality offerings with existing brands, including GreenTree Eastern, Gem, Gya, Vx, Greentree Inns, Deep Sleep, GT Alliance, GreenTree Apartment, Vatica and Shell, as well as brands from Argyle and Urban, to cover market segments from economy to luxury markets. In April 2019, we acquired Argyle which focuses on mid-to-up-scale to luxury segments of the markets, most of which are four- and five- star hotels. In December 2019, we consolidated Urban which focuses on economy to mid-scale market segments. We may not possess sufficient knowledge or experience in expanding into the luxury market segment, hence we may face more competition in this new market segment or newly geographic markets where we operate. In addition, the strategy to diversify our mix of hospitality offerings may increase the cash needs of our operations and may distract our management's attention and energy. If such strategies are not successful, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain our relationships with our members and corporate members, our business and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Historically, we have derived a portion of our revenues from our members and from our cooperation arrangements with certain corporate members such as banks, airlines and other large companies. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, we sold approximately 95% of our room nights through our direct sales channels. We expect that these members and corporate members will contribute to the growth of our business in the near future.

We cannot assure you that our members will remain loyal patrons of our hotels and that our corporate members will agree to renew the relevant cooperation agreements upon their expiration, or enter into new agreements with us on substantially similar terms. Our negotiating position with corporate members also is limited given the competition in China’s hospitality industry. If we fail to enhance or maintain our relationships with our members, and the frequency of member stays at our hotels declines as a result, or if our corporate members decline to renew their cooperation agreements or propose new agreements with commercial terms less favorable to us, our business and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, our members are allowed to redeem their bonus points for various gifts or merchandises offered by 168mall, which is operated under https://www.168.com. The domain name is owned by a company we acquired in 2019 which holds the permit for offering value added telecommunication services and has been consolidated into our company.

If our franchisees are unable to maintain our hotels’ condition and appearance, our hotel occupancy rates may decline.

In order to maintain the condition and appearance of hotels in our network, our hotels require ongoing renovations and other leasehold improvements, including periodic replacement of broken or used furniture, fixtures and equipment. Such investments and expenditures require ongoing funding and, to the extent our franchisees cannot fund these expenditures from existing cash or cash flow generated from operations, our franchisees must borrow or raise capital through financing. Our franchisees may not be able to access capital and our franchisees may be unwilling to spend available capital when necessary, even if required by the terms of our franchise agreements. If our franchisees continue to operate hotels while they are under refurbishment or improvement, there may be instances where refurbishment or improvements would seriously disrupt hotel operations and adversely affect the revenues of the relevant hotels. If our franchisees do not make needed leasehold investments and improvements, our hotels could become less attractive to our potential guests, we could lose market share to our competitors and our hotel occupancy rates may decline. Moreover, disruptions and other risks associated with renovation and improvements could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If the value of our brand portfolio or image diminishes, it could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our continued success in maintaining and enhancing our brand portfolio and image depends, to a large extent, on the ability of our franchisees and us to satisfy customer needs by maintaining consistently high-quality services across our hotel network, as well as their and our ability to respond to competitive pressures. If we and our franchisees are unable to do so, our occupancy rates may decline, which could in turn adversely affect our results of operations. Our business may also be adversely affected if our brands, public image or reputation were to be diminished by the operations of any of our hotels, whether due to our franchisees failing to operate hotels according to our requirements, unsatisfactory service, accidents or otherwise. Our brand portfolio is integral to our sales and marketing efforts. In addition, the trademark “GreenTree Inn” in the U.S. was registered by a company owned by Mr. Alex S. Xu, our chairman and chief executive officer and currently used by a chain of 17 hotels in the U.S. owned by a company majority owned by Mr. Alex S. Xu. We cannot exert control over any of these hotels in the United States. If these hotels experience any quality issues or are involved in any incidents, despite the fact that our current operations are primarily in China, our reputation can be negatively affected, and the value and image of our brands can diminish. If the value of our brand image is diminished or if our brands do not continue to be attractive to guests and franchisees, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Our results of operations may fluctuate significantly due to seasonality and other factors.

The hospitality industry is subject to fluctuations in revenues due to seasonality. The seasonality of our business may cause fluctuations in our quarterly operating results. Generally, the first quarter, in which both the New Year and Spring Festival holidays fall, accounts for a lower percentage of our annual revenues than other quarters of the year. Furthermore, our overall results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period because of several factors, including the timing of new hotel openings, revenue loss associated with the temporary closure of existing hotels for refurbishment, and any losses incurred by our franchisees or us due to hotel closures. As a result, our results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period and comparison of different periods, or even the same periods during different years, may not be meaningful. Our results for a given fiscal period are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any other fiscal period.

Substantial defaults or delays in payment by our franchisees and corporate customers or the deterioration of the financial condition of our franchisees or corporate members may have an adverse effect on our cash flows, working capital, financial condition and results of operations.

Our accounts receivable mainly consist of amounts due from our franchisees and corporate members whose employees are guests in our leased-and-operated hotels. Our corporate members may choose to settle with us directly, and we typically require our franchisees to pay various fees pursuant to their franchise agreements with us on a monthly or annual basis. Our franchisees and corporate members may delay their payments beyond the time periods set forth in our agreed credit arrangements. Furthermore, in order to accelerate our expansion, we used our surplus cash to finance the opening of new franchised-and-managed hotels by franchisees who have a proven track record with us. There can be no assurance that our franchisees will always repay us timely once we begin the financing plan. Our liquidity and cash flows from operations may be adversely affected if our accounts receivable cycles or collection periods lengthen or if we encounter a material increase in defaults of payment of our accounts receivable or repayment of the amounts we have lent to our franchisees.

Our operating results are affected by the ability of our franchisees to pay our franchise management fees. An extended period of hotel room vacancy or decrease in room rates, which may be the result of a variety of factors such as unfavorable economic conditions in China and globally, may adversely affect the operating results and financial condition of our franchisees. These negative operating conditions could result in the financial failure of our franchisees and result in the delayed payment of franchise management fees or other revenues derived from our franchised-and-managed hotels or the termination of their franchise agreements. As a result, our business, prospects and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Failure to retain our senior management could harm our business.

We place substantial reliance on the hospitality and other consumer-service industry experience and the institutional knowledge of members of our senior management team. Mr. Alex S. Xu, our founder, chairman and chief executive officer, is particularly important to our future success due to his substantial experience in the property development, hospitality and other consumer service industries. We do not carry key person insurance on any members of our senior management team. The loss of the services of one or more of these members of our senior management team due to their departure or otherwise could hinder our ability to effectively manage our business and implement our growth strategies. Finding suitable replacements for Mr. Xu or other members of our senior management team could be difficult, and competition for such personnel of similar experience is intense. If we lose their services, our business may be adversely affected.

If we or our franchisees are not able to hire, train and retain qualified managerial and other employees, our brand and our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our managerial and other employees manage our hotels and interact with our guests on a daily basis. They are critical to maintaining the quality and consistency of our services as well as our established brand and reputation. It is important for our franchisees and us to attract qualified managerial and other employees who have experience in hospitality or other consumer-service industries and are committed to high levels of service. There may be a limited supply of such qualified individuals in the cities in China where we and our franchisees have operations or where we intend to expand. In addition, it is difficult to ascertain and evaluate intangible criteria of candidates, and whether they will share our vision, dedication, passion and culture, during the recruitment process. We and our franchisees must hire and train qualified managerial and other employees on a timely basis to keep pace with our rapid growth while maintaining consistently high-quality services across our hotels in various geographic locations. Regular training needs to be provided to our managerial and other employees so that they are equipped with up-to-date knowledge of various aspects of our hotel operations and can meet our demand for quality services. We and our franchisees also need to offer opportunities for development and career advancement in order to retain qualified managerial and other hotel staff. If we or our franchisees fail to do so, the quality of our services may decrease in one or more of the markets where the hotels in our network are located, which in turn, may have a material and adverse effect on our brand and our business.

Interruption or failure of our information and operational systems could impair our ability to effectively provide our services, which could damage our reputation.

Our ability to provide consistent quality services throughout our hotel network depends on the operation of our proprietary information and operational systems, including our central reservation, hotel management, data analysis and inter-department support systems. Any damage to or failure of our systems could interrupt our service. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption as a result of power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, fires, floods, earthquakes, interruptions in access to our toll-free numbers, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems, and similar events. Our servers, which are maintained in Shanghai, may also be vulnerable to break-ins, sabotage and vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully backed up, and our disaster recovery planning does not account for all possible scenarios. In addition, our systems and technologies may become outdated and we may not be able to replace or introduce upgraded systems as quickly as our competitors or within budgeted costs for such upgrades. If we experience frequent or persistent system failures, our quality of services and our reputation could be harmed. The steps we need to take to increase the reliability and safety of our systems may be costly, which could reduce our operating margins, and may not be successful in reducing the frequency or duration of system failures and service interruptions.

Failure to maintain the integrity of internal or customer data could result in harm to our reputation or subject us to costs, liabilities, fines or lawsuits.

Our business involves collecting and retaining a large volume of internal and customer data, including credit card numbers and other personal information as our various information technology systems enter, process, summarize and report such data. We also maintain information about various aspects of our operations as well as our employees. The integrity and protection of our customer, employee and company data is critical to our business. Our customers and employees expect that we will adequately protect their personal information. We are required by applicable laws to keep strictly confidential the personal information that we collect, and to

take adequate security measures to safeguard such information. Our security measures and those of our third-party service providers may not be adequate for the protection of our customer, employee or company data.

In addition, computer hackers, foreign governments or cyber terrorists may attempt to penetrate our network security and our website. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may be obtained through break-ins, sabotage, breach of our secure network by an unauthorized party, computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, employee theft or misuse, breach of the security of the networks of our third-party service providers, or other misconduct. Because the techniques used by computer programmers who may attempt to penetrate and sabotage our proprietary internal and customer data change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may also be obtained through inadequate use of security controls. The laws and regulations applicable to security and privacy are becoming increasingly important in China. The theft, loss, fraudulent or unlawful use of customer, employee or company data could harm our reputation or result in remedial and other costs, liabilities, fines or lawsuits.

The Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC, known as the general data protection regulation, or GDPR, has imposed certain requirements on the processing of personal data relating to natural persons. GDPR requirements will apply both to companies established in the EU and to companies, such as us, that are not established in the EU but process personal data of individuals who are in the EU (and in the European Economic Area subject to the enactment of implementation procedures), where the processing activities relate to: (a) the offering of goods or services, irrespective of whether a payment of the data subject is required, to such data subjects in the EU; or (b) the monitoring of their behavior as far as their behavior takes place within the EU. Compliance with the GDPR will be a rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of doing business, and the failure to comply with the GDPR could expose us to sanctions from both a financial and business operations perspective. In addition, in case of control, noncompliance with the GDPR may expose us to damage to our reputation.

On February 1, 2013, China’s initial personal data protection guidelines, the Guidelines for Personal Information Protection in Information Security Technology Public and Commercial Service Systems, became effective, which guidelines set forth detailed requirements as to the protection of personal information and data collection, data processing, data transfer and data creation. Although these guidelines are voluntary and non-binding, we are advised by our PRC counsel that, going forward, further regulatory oversight of data privacy in China is expected. In addition, Amendment 7 to the PRC Criminal Law prohibits institutions, companies and their employees in the telecommunications and other industries from selling or otherwise illegally disclosing a PRC citizen’s personal information obtained during the course of performing their duties or providing services, or obtaining such information through theft or other illegal means. On November 7, 2016, the Standing Committee of the PRC National People’s Congress issued the Cyber Security Law of the PRC, which became effective on June 1, 2017. Pursuant to the Cyber Security Law of the PRC, providers of network products and services shall maintain the security of their products and services and shall comply with provisions regarding the protection of personal information as stipulated under relevant laws and regulations. Moreover, the Provisions on Protection of Personal Information of Telecommunication and Internet Users specifically regulates the collection, use, disclosure and security of personal information. Complying with these PRC laws and regulations may cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices. See “Item 4. Information on the Company — B. Business Overview — Regulatory Matters — Regulations on Protection of Information on Networks.”

While we take various measures to comply with all applicable data privacyMatters” in this annual report. These statements involve known and protection laws and regulations of the PRC, our current security measures and those of our third-party service providers may not be adequate for the protection of our customer, employee or company data. In addition, hackers, foreign governments or cyber terrorists may attempt to penetrate our network security and our website. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may be obtained through break-ins, sabotage, breach of our secure network by an unauthorized party, computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, employee theft or misuse, breach of the secure networks of our third-party service providers, or other misconduct. Because the techniques used in any attempt to penetrate and sabotage our proprietary internal and customer data change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against us, we may be unable to anticipate or protect against these techniques. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may also be obtained through inadequate security measures. Laws and regulations in China relating to security and privacy are becoming increasingly important. Any theft, loss, fraudulent, unlawful use or disclosure of customer, employee or company data could harm our reputation and result in remedialunknown risks, uncertainties and other costs, liabilities, fines or lawsuits.

Any failure to protect our trademarks and other intellectual property rights could negatively impact our business.

Our brand, trade name, trademarks and other intellectual property are critical to our success. The success of our business depends in part upon our continued ability to use our brands, trade names and trademarks to increase brand awareness and to further develop our brands. As of December 31, 2019, we had a total of 422 trademarks, 52 software registration certificates, one copyright and 11 patents registered in China, among which, 82 trademarks are registered and held by Argyle and 23 trademarks are registered and held by Urban. The expiration dates of our trademarks fall between 2020 and 2029, including “GreenTree Inn.” Once the ten-year term of our registered

trademarks has expired, we will be able to renew our trademark registrations for another ten years upon paying a renewal fee. If we are unable to renew one or more trademark registrations, our ability to use such trademarks could be impaired, and our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, the unauthorized reproduction or infringement of our trade name or trademarks or other intellectual property could diminish the value of our brand and its market acceptance, competitive advantage or goodwill. For example, our proprietary operational IT system, which has not been patented, copyrighted or otherwise registered as our intellectual property, is a key component of our competitive advantage and our growth strategy. As of December 31, 2019, we have received 52 software registration certificates for certain of our proprietary information and operational systems including our Central Reservation System (CRS), Property Management System (PMS) and certain other quality control systems. Although we have been granted software registration certificates in respect of some of our proprietary information and operational systems, these systems could be infringed upon by third parties, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. As of December 31, 2019, we also have received 11 patent registrations, including ten design patents for furnishings used in our hotels and one utility patent for a proprietary door design. Because the protection of a company’s intellectual property provided under PRC laws and regulations is less thanfactors that afforded under United States laws and regulations, the measures we take to protect our brands, trade names, trademarks and other intellectual property rights may not be adequate to prevent their unauthorized use by third parties. Furthermore, the application of laws governing intellectual property rights in China and abroad is uncertain and evolving, and could involve substantial risks to us. If we are unable to adequately protect our brands, trade names, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, we may lose these rights and our business may suffer materially. For example, in order to protect our brands, in the past we have filed lawsuits against certain hotel operators which had alleged to be our franchised-and-managed hotels but have not entered into any agreements with us.

We could also be subject to claims for infringement, invalidity, or indemnification relating to third parties’ intellectual property rights. Such third-party claims may be time-consuming and costly to defend, divert management attention and resources, or require us to enter into licensing agreements, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

The restaurants operated by our hotels face risks related to instances of food-borne illnesses and other food safety accidents.

Some of our hotels directly operate the restaurant located in the hotels. The restaurant business is susceptible to food-borne illnesses and other food safety accidents. We cannot assure you that our internal controls and training will be fully effective in preventing all food-borne illnesses. Furthermore, our reliance on third-party food suppliers and distributors increases the risk that food-borne illness incidents could be caused by third-party food suppliers and distributors outside of our control and the risk of multiple locations being affected rather than a single restaurant. New illnesses resistant to any precautions may develop in the future, or diseases with long incubation periods could arise that could give rise to claims or allegations on a retroactive basis. Reports in the media of instances of food-borne illnesses could, if highly publicized, negatively impact restaurant sales, forcing the closure of some restaurants and affect our customers’ confidence in our hotel business. Furthermore, other illnesses, such as hand, foot and mouth disease or avian influenza, could adversely affect the supply of some of the restaurants’ food products and significantly increase such restaurants’ costs, which may also adversely affect the results of operations of the relevant hotels.

Accidents or injuries in our hotels may adversely affect our reputation and subject us to liability.

There are inherent risks of accidents or injuries in hotels. One or more accidents or injuries such as fire accident, slip and fall and accident during property renovation at any of our hotels could adversely affect our safety reputation among guests and potential guests, decrease our overall occupancy rates and increase our costs by requiring us to take additional measures to make our safety precautions even more visible and effective. If accidents or injuries occur at any of our hotels, we may be held liable for costs related to the injuries. Our property and liability insurance policies may not provide adequate coverage and we may be unable to renew our insurance policies or obtain new insurance policies without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels.

In addition, if any incidents, particularly fire accidents, occur in any of the leased-and-operated hotels that do not possess the relevant licenses, permits, title certificate or fire safety inspection certificate, or is located on properties where the actual use and the designated land or property use are inconsistent, there could be substantial negative publicity, thereby triggering large-scale government actions that impact our entire hotel network, which in turn will have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to risks related to litigation filed by or against us, and adverse litigation results may harm our business and financial condition.

We have been, and may in the future be, a party to litigation and other proceedings filed by or against us, including actions relating to among others property lease, franchise agreements with our franchisees, infringement of our brands, employment-related disputes, personal injury, property damage or other harm resulting from acts or omissions by individuals or entities outside of our control, including franchisees and third-party property owners. Various disputes in connection with the properties we lease or with the franchise agreements may occur from time to time, which may cause our hotel operationsactual results, performance or achievements to be affectedmaterially different from those expressed or inimplied by the worst-case scenario, toforward-looking statements. In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be ceased. For example,identified by words or phrases such as of December 31, 2019 we had two pending legal proceedings in connection with the leased hotel properties, one pending legal proceedings in connection with trademarks, two pending legal proceeding in connection with a negligence claim made by a hotel guest, and 17 pending legal proceedings in connection with franchised-and-managed hotels (including managed-and-entrusted hotels from Argyle), among which, four pending legal proceedings in connection with franchised-and-managed hotels “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,�� “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” “is/are from Argyle and six pending legal proceedings in connection with franchised-and-managed hotels are from Urban. In addition, the research and examinations that we conduct on both the hotel properties and the potential franchisees before entering into franchise agreements, may not be sufficient for us to identify all relevant information. As a result, we may be in dispute with our franchisees, which may result in litigation filed by or against us. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Legal Proceedings.”

The outcome of legal proceedings is uncertain, we cannot predict with certainty the cost of defense, the cost of prosecution or the ultimate outcome of thereof, including remedies or damage awards, and adverse results in such litigation and other proceedings may disrupt our business, materially and adversely affect our reputation, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. Moreover, if any claims against us were to prevail, we would be subject to monetarylikely to” or other liabilities,similar expressions. The forward-looking statements included in this annual report relate to, among others:

This annual report also contains market data relating to the hospitality industry in China, including market position, market size, and growth rates of the markets in which could strain our financial resources, consume the timewe participate, that are based on industry publications and attention of our managementreports. Statistical data in these publications and otherwise have an adverse effectreports also include projections based on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our lessors’ failure to comply with lease registration and other compliance requirements under PRC law may subject these lessors or us to fines or other penalties that may negatively affect our ability to operate our hotels.

As an operator and manager of our leased hotel properties, we are subject to a number of land- and property-related legal requirements. For instance, under PRC law, all lease agreements are required to be registered withassumptions. The hospitality industry in China may not grow at the local land and real estate administration bureau. Our standard lease agreement generally requires the lessor to make such registrations. However, as of December 31, 2019, because our lessors failedrates projected by market data, or reluctant to provide necessary documents for us to register the leases, 31 lessors of our leased-and-operated hotels had not obtained registrations of their leases from the relevant authorities as required despite our repeated requests to these lessors to obtain registrations, as required under our lease agreements with them. In addition, based on the specific land use right certificates and property ownership certificates held by some of our lessors of the leased-and-operated hotels, 16 out of 34 of hotel properties we own or lease and operate are restricted to industrial and other uses, rather than qualified for hotel operation use.at all. The failure of these 31 lessorsmarkets to register lease agreements as required by law or to ensure thatgrow at the hotel properties are operated in compliance with their designated useprojected rates may subject these lessors or us to fines or other penalties in the amount of up to RMB10,000 for each hotel property or approximately RMB310,000 in aggregate, which may negatively affect our ability to operate the hotels covered under those leases. Moreover, the failure to use the property in compliance with the intended usage designated by the land use right certificates or the property ownership certificates may subject the lessors or us to fines in the amount of up to RMB30,000 for each property, invalidate the lease agreements, confiscation of relevant gains or subject them or us to temporary suspension or termination of operations.

We are subject to various claims and disputes in the ordinary course of business, and increases in the amount or severity of these claims and disputes could adversely affect us.

We are exposed to various claims and disputes related to commercial operations, personal injury, property damage, labor disputes and other matters in the ordinary course of our business. Developments in regulatory, legislative or judicial standards, material changes to dispute resolution trends, or a catastrophic accident or series of accidents, including accidents that affect our franchisees or vendors, involving any or all of commercial operations, property damage, personal injury, and labor disputes could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and reputation.

For example, as of December 31, 2019, approximately 6.5 % of our room nights are booked through OTAs, to whom we pay agency fees for such services. If we were to have a dispute with an OTA, the volume of our room inventory booked through such OTA may decline, or the OTA may block reservations of our rooms or remove our hotels from their website entirely, pending resolution of the dispute. As a result, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

In addition, our franchisees may suspend or terminate their cooperation with us voluntarily or involuntarily due to various reasons, including disagreement or dispute with us, failure to maintain requisite approvals, licenses or permits or to comply with other governmental regulations, and events beyond our or their control, such as inclement weather, natural disasters, transportation interruptions or labor unrest or shortage. For example, franchisees of our brand may object to or decline to pay franchise fees charged by us. Due to intense competition in China’s hospitality industry, our existing franchisees may also discontinue their cooperation with us and work with our competitors instead. We may not be able to promptly replace our franchisees on a timely and cost-effective basis, or at all. As a result of any disruptions associated with our franchisees, our guest satisfaction, brands, reputation, operations and financial performance may be materially and adversely affected.

We may encounter disputes from time to time relating to our use of intellectual property of third parties.

We may encounter disputes from time to time over rights and obligations concerning intellectual property, and we may not prevail in those disputes. We cannot assure you that personnel in our leased-and-operated hotels will not use intellectual property of third parties without proper authorization. We may incur liability for such unauthorized or infringing use, and be subject to additional claims in the future. Any such claim of infringement or unauthorized use of intellectual property could result in costly litigations and divert the attention and resources of our management.

The growth of online and other hotel reservation intermediaries and travel consolidators may adversely affect our margins and profitability.

In 2017, 2018 and 2019, approximately 5% of our room nights were booked through OTAs to whom we pay commissions for such services. If these intermediaries and consolidators become the primary channel through which our guests make their bookings, they may be able to negotiate higher commissions, reduced room rates, or other significant concessions from us. The operations of these travel intermediaries and consolidators may adversely affect our ability to control the supply andmarket price of our room inventory, which would in turn adversely affect our margins and profitability.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaningADSs. If any one or more of the NYSE Listed Company Manual.

GTI beneficially owns 83.9%assumptions underlying the market data turns out to be incorrect, actual results may differ from the projections based on these assumptions. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our Class A ordinary shares

and 100% of our Class B ordinary shares and 93.7%the future performance of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital. The voting power of our company owned by GTIindustry in which we operate is indirectly owned by Mr. Alex S. Xu, our founder, chairman and chief executive officer, as he owns 83.9% of voting power of GTI, which entitles Mr. Xu to nominate or replace all directors of GTI, and determine how GTI exercises the voting power in our company. As long as GTI or Mr. Alex S. Xu owns at least 50% of the voting power of our company, we will be a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE Listed Company Manual. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors, although we have no current intention to rely on the controlled company exemption. As a result, you may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that arenecessarily subject to these corporate governance requirements.

Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by epidemics, natural disasters and other catastrophes.

Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by epidemics, natural disasters and other catastrophes, particularly in locations where we operate a large numberhigh degree of hotels. China has in the past experienced significant natural disasters, including earthquakes in Western and Southwestern China, extreme weather conditions, as well as health scares related to epidemic diseases, and any similar event could materially impact our business in the future. If a disaster or other disruption were to occur in the future that affects the regions where we have or are developing franchised-and-managed or leased-and-operated hotels, our operations could be materially and adversely affected due to loss of personnel and damages to property. Even if we are not directly affected, such a disaster or disruption could affect our guests, which could harm our results of operations.

In addition, our business could be affected by public health epidemics, such as the outbreak of avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, Zika virus, Ebola virus, COVID-19 or other disease. If any of our employees is suspected of having contracted a contagious disease, we may be required to apply quarantines or suspend our operations. Furthermore, any future outbreak may restrict economic activities in affected regions, resulting in reduced business volume, temporary closure or quarantine of hotels in operation or otherwise disrupt our operations and adversely affect our results of operations.

Losses caused by epidemics, natural disasters and other catastrophes, including SARS, H1N1, H7N9 influenza, COVID-19, earthquakes or floods, are either uninsurable or too expensive to justify insuring against in China. In the event an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occurs, we could lose all or a portion of the capital we have invested in a hotel, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the hotel. In that event, we might nevertheless remain obligated for any financial obligations related to the hotel. Similarly,

war (including the potential of war), terrorist activities (including the threat of terrorist activities), social unrest and heightened travel security measures, as well as geopolitical uncertainty and international conflict may affect travel and may in turn affect our business, financial conditions, and results of operations. If our franchised-and-managed hotels are affected by these incidents, we might lose our revenue stream from those hotels. In addition, we may not be adequately prepared in contingency planning or recovery capability in relation to a major incident or crisis, and as a result, our operational continuity may be adversely affected and our reputation may be harmed.

COVID-19 may cause economic losses and may adversely affect our financial and operating performances.

Although the COVID-19 outbreak has been controlled in some cities, the measures that had to be taken, including the lock-down of cities, business closures, restrictions on travel and quarantine led to a significant reduction in consumer demand and disrupted the operation of our hotels. Suspensions of operations or decreases in reservations will likely adversely affect our revenues and profits in 2020. As of March 31, 2020, 93% of our hotels are back in operation, and occupancy exceeded 50%, up substantially from the low of 21.5%.

On January 31, the Company expects a decline in total revenues in the first quarter of 2020 as well as a decline for the fiscal year 2020. However, estimates are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are not within our control. These are our current expectations based on information available to us at this time, and circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak are rapidly evolving. These estimates may not be indicative of our financial results for future interim periods or for the full year ending December 31, 2020.

We have limited insurance coverage.

We carry property insurance that covers the assets that we own at our leased-and-operated hotels, but such property insurance does not cover the buildings or any other assets owned by our lessors or the assets of the franchised-and-managed hotels. Although we generally require our lessors and our franchisees to purchase customary insurance policies, we cannot guarantee that they will adhere to such requirements. We do not have business disruption insurance coverage for our operations to cover losses that may be caused by natural disasters or catastrophic events, such as SARS or avian flu. Any business disruption or natural disaster may result in our incurring substantial costs and diversion of our resources. In addition, there are inherent risks of accidents or injuries in hotels. One or more accidents or injuries at any of our hotels could adversely affect our safety reputation among customers and potential customers, decrease our overall occupancy rates and increase our costs by requiring us to take additional measures to make our safety precautions even more visible and effective. In the future, we may be unable to renew our insurance policies or obtain new insurance policies without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels. We may also encounter disputes with insurance providers regarding payments of claims that we believe are covered under our policies. If we were held liable for amounts and claims exceeding the limits of our insurance coverage or outside the scope of our insurance coverage, our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We may require additional financing for our business, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all, or would increase our financial leverage and may be difficult to service.

We may require additional financial resources to support our growth, future development and any investments, including mergers or acquisitions that we may pursue. The amount and timing of such additional financing needs will vary depending on the timing of our new hotel openings, investments in converting new leased-and-operated hotels and searching and developing relationships with potential franchisees and the amount of cash flow from our operations. If our internal resources are insufficient to satisfy our financing requirements, we may seek additional financing by selling additional equity or debt securities or obtaining a credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that may, among other things, potentially restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends. Servicing such debt obligations could also be burdensome to our operations. If we fail to service our debt obligations or are unable to comply with the relevant debt covenants, we could be in default under the relevant debt obligations and our liquidity and financial conditions may be materially and adversely affected.

Our ability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms is subjectrisk due to a variety of uncertainties, including:

We cannot assure you that future financing will be available in amounts orthis annual report. You should not place undue reliance on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise additional funds, we may need to sell debt or additional equity securities, reduce our growth to a level that can be supported by our cash flow or defer planned expenditures.

We will continue to recognize a substantial amount of share-based compensation expenses, which will have a significant impact on our financial condition and liquidity position.

We adopted our 2018 share incentive plan in January 2018, pursuant to which we may grant options to purchase up to 9,000,000 of our Class A ordinary shares. Options granted to our employees generally vest either ratably over the following four years starting after the first/second/third anniversary of date of our initial public offering, or 50% on the date of our initial public offering and another 50% on December 31, 2018, as applicable; options granted to our directors vested 100% on the first anniversary of the date of our initial public offering. As of December 31, 2019, we had outstanding options with respect to 1,022,000 Class A ordinary shares that have been granted to our employees, directors and consultants under the 2018 share incentive plan. As a result of our grants of awards under the 2018 Plan, we incurred share-based compensation expenses of RMB27.7 million (USD$4.0 million) in 2019. We are required to account for share options granted to our employees, directors and consultants in accordance with Codification of Accounting Standards, or ASC 718, “Compensation — Stock Compensation” and ASC 505-50, “Equity, Equity-Based Payments to Non-Employees.” We will continue to incur and recognize additional share-based compensation expenses in the future as we continue to grant share-based incentives. We believe such incentives are necessary for us to be able attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based compensation to employees in the future. As a result, our expense associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and liquidity position.

Material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting has been identified, and if we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud.

We are required to assess the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in standards established by the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2019, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified material weaknesses as of December 31, 2019, in accordance with the standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the United States, or PCAOB.these forward-looking statements.

The material weaknesses that were identified relate to insufficient accounting expertise necessary to comply with U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting and compliance requirements, as well as implementation of internal controls on related party transactions.

We have implemented and are continuing to implement a number of measures to address the material weakness identified.For details, see “Item 15. Controls and Procedures —Internal Control over Financial Reporting.” We have implemented and are continuing to implement a number of measures to address the material weakness identified.However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address the material weaknessforward-looking statements made in our internal control over financial reporting, and our management concluded that the material weakness still existed as of December 31, 2019. We will continue to update and implement these measures.

Furthermore, had our independent registered public accounting firm conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, such firm might have identified additional material weaknesses and deficiencies. Upon the completion of initial public offering, we have become a public company in the United States subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, required that we include a report of management on our internal control over financial reporting in ourthis annual report on Form 20-F beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019. In addition, once we ceaserelate only to be an “emerging growth company”events or information as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, after we become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation. In addition, we may not be able to timely file our periodic reports as a public company under U.S. securities laws, which could limit the amount of information that investors receive about our company in the future and adversely affect the price of our ADSs, our business and our reputation.

In documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. If we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of our ADSs.

Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our financial statements from prior periods.

We are an “emerging growth company” and may not be subject to requirements that other public companies are subject to, which could harm investor confidence in us and our ADSs.

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or the JOBS Act, contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain requirements for qualifying public companies. We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the JOBS Act and, for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies, including an exemption from the requirement to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 and an exemption from the requirement to adopt and comply with new or revised accounting standards at the same time as other public companies. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of our fiscal year during which we have total annual gross revenues of at least US$1.07 billion; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering; (iii) the date on which the statements are made in this annual report. Except as required by law, we have, during the previous three year period, issued more than US$1.0 billion in non-convertible debt;undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or (d)circumstances after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this annual report and the documents that we are deemedhave referred to bein this annual report and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this annual report is a “large accelerated filer” under the Securities Exchange Act

The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We will take advantage of the extended transition period. As a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to other public companies that complypart, completely and with the public company effective dates for these new or revised accounting standards.

We also expectunderstanding that these new rules and regulations could make it more expensive for us to renew director and officer liability insurance, and weour actual future results may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficultmaterially different from what we expect.

C.Reasons for us to attractthe Offer and retain qualified membersUse of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee.Proceeds

We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and our ADS price may be more volatile.Not required.

D.Risk Factors

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Adverse changes in the Chinese economy could have a material adverse effect on the hospitality industry in China which could adversely affect our business.

We conduct all of our operations in China and all of our revenues are derived from our operations there. As the travel and hospitality industry is highly sensitive to business and personal discretionary spending levels, it tends to decline during general economic downturns. Accordingly, our results of operations, financial condition and prospects are subject to a significant degree to economic, political and legal developments in China. The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many aspects, including with respect to the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. While the China’s economy has experienced significant growth in the past 30 years, growth has been uneven across different regions and among various economic sectors of China. The growth rate of China’s GDP decreased in the past few years, and China’s GDP shrank by 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020.years. We cannot assure you that China’s economy will continue to grow, or that if there is growth, such growth will be steady and uniform. If there is a slowdown, such a slowdown could have a negative effect on our business. There is also a possibility that China’s economic growth rate may materially decline in the near future, which may have adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations. Risk of a material slowdown in China’s economic growth rate may be based on several current or emerging factors, including: (i) occurrence of unusual circumstances, for instance, the outbreak of COVID-19; (ii) overinvestment by the government and businesses and excessive credit offered by banks; (iii) a rudimentary monetary policy; (iv) excessive privileges to state-owned enterprises at the expense of private enterprises; (v) the dwindling supply of surplus labor; (vi) a decrease in exports due to weaker overseas demand; (vii) failure to boost domestic consumption; and (viii) challenges resulted from international situations.

We face various legal and operational risks and uncertainties as a company based in and primarily operating in China.

We face various legal and operational risks and uncertainties as a company based in and primarily operating in China. The PRC government has significant authority to exert influence on the ability of a China-based company, like us, to conduct its business, accept foreign investments or offer or continue to offer securities on a U.S. stock exchange. For example, we face risks associated with regulatory approvals of offshore offerings, anti-monopoly regulatory actions, cybersecurity and data privacy, as well as the lack of inspection from the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, on our auditors. The PRC government may also intervene with or influence our operations as the government deems appropriate to further regulatory, political and societal goals. The PRC government has published new policies that significantly affected certain industries such as the education and internet industries, and we cannot rule out the possibility that it will in the future release regulations or policies regarding our industry that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. See “— Uncertainties with respect to the Chinese legal system could adversely affect us.” Any such action, once taken by the PRC government, could cause the value of our securities, including our ADSs, to significantly decline or become worthless.

Changes in the political and economic policies of the PRC government may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may result in our inability to sustain our growth strategy.

The PRC economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the extent of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, and control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the PRC government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets, and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China is still owned by the government. In addition, the PRC government plays a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The PRC government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth by allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy, regulating financial services and institutions and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth in the past, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The PRC government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall PRC economy, but may also have a negative effect on us. Our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations that are applicable to us. The PRC government also has significant authority to exert influence on the ability of an issuer with substantial operations in China, such as our company, to conduct securities offerings overseas and/or allow any foreign investments in issuers with substantial operations in China, which could result in a material change in our operations and/or the value of our ADSs. In particular, there have been recent statements by the PRC government indicating an intent to exert more oversight and control over offerings that are conducted overseas and/or foreign investment in China-based issuers with substantial operations in China. Any such regulatory oversight or control could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of our securities, including our ADSs, to significantly decline or become worthless. See “— Uncertainties with respect to the Chinese legal system could adversely affect us.” In addition, the PRC government has implemented in the past certain measures to control the pace of economic growth. These measures may cause decreased economic activity, which in turn could lead to a reduction in demand for our services and consequently have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition and results of operations.

Uncertainties with respect to the Chinese legal system could adversely affect us.

We conduct our business primarily through our subsidiaries in China. Our operations in China are governed by PRC laws and regulations. Our subsidiaries are generally subject to laws and regulations applicable to foreign investments in China and, in particular, laws applicable to foreign-invested enterprises. The PRC legal system is based on written statutes and their interpretation by the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC. Unlike common law systems, prior court decisions may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. Since the 1970s, the PRC government began to

promulgate a comprehensive system of laws and regulations governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of legislation over the past three decades has significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in China. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system and recently-enacted laws and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China. In particular, because these laws and regulations are relatively new, and because of the limited volume of published court decisions and their nonbinding nature, the

interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations involve uncertainties and may not be as consistent and predictable as in other jurisdictions. In addition, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all, and which may have a retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of these policies and rules until after the violation occurs.

Furthermore, any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. Since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. These uncertainties may impede our ability to enforce the contracts we have entered into and could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The PRC government has significant oversight and discretion over the conduct of our business and may intervene with or influence our operations as the government deems appropriate to further regulatory, political and societal goals. The PRC government has published new policies that significantly affected certain industries such as the education and internet industries, and we cannot rule out the possibility that it will in the future release regulations or policies regarding our industry that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. See “— We face various legal and operational risks and uncertainties as a company based in and primarily operating in China.” Furthermore, the PRC government has also indicated an intent to exert more oversight and control over securities offerings and other capital markets activities that are conducted overseas and foreign investment in China-based companies like us. Any such action, once taken by the PRC government, could significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors and cause the value of our securities, including our ADSs, to significantly decline or become worthless.

We could be adversely affected by political tensions between the United States and China.

Political tensions between the United States and China have escalated in recent years due to, among other things, the trade war between the two countries since 2018, the COVID-19 outbreak, the PRC National People’s Congress’ passage of Hong Kong national security legislation, the imposition of U.S. sanctions on certain Chinese officials from China’s central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by the U.S. government, the imposition of sanctions on certain individuals from the U.S. by the Chinese government and various executive orders issued by former U.S. President Donald J. Trump. Rising political tensions between China and the U.S. could reduce levels of trades, investments, technological exchanges and other economic activities between the two major economies, which would have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets. The measures taken by the U.S. and Chinese governments may cause investors to lose confidence in Chinese companies and counterparties, including us.

Furthermore, there have been media reports on deliberations within the U.S. government regarding potentially limiting or restricting China-based companies from accessing U.S. capital markets, and in January 2021 the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, resolved to delist certain China-based companies in compliance with an executive order issued in November 2020. These delistings have introduced greater confusion and uncertainty about the status and prospects of Chinese companies listed on the U.S. stock exchanges. Any further such deliberations or delistings may have a material and adverse impact on the stock performance of China-based issuers listed in the United States such as us, and we cannot assure you that we will always be able to maintain the listing of our ADSs on a national stock exchange in the U.S., such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq Stock Market, or that you will always be allowed to trade our ADSs.

Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenues effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive all of our revenues in RMB. Under our current structure, our income will be primarily derived from dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries. Shortages in the availability of foreign currency may restrict the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to remit sufficient foreign currency to pay dividends or other payments to us, or otherwise satisfy their foreign currency dominated obligations. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and expenditures from trade-related transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE, by complying with certain procedural requirements. However, foreign exchange transactions under our capital account items are subject to significant foreign exchange controls and require approval from the SAFE or its local branches. The PRC government may also at its discretion restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions if foreign currencies reserve falls below a certain level. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currency to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could result in foreign currency exchange losses and could materially reduce the value of your investment.

The value of the RMB against the U.S. dollar and other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions and the foreign exchange policy adopted by the PRC and other governments. On July 21, 2005, the PRC government changed its policy of pegging the value of the RMB to the U.S. dollar. More recently, in 20182020 and 2019,2021, the RMB depreciatedappreciated approximately 5.7%6.3% and 1.3%2.3%, respectively, against the U.S. dollar. It remains unclear what further fluctuations may occur.

Substantially all of our revenues, costs and expenses are denominated in RMB. We are a holding company and we rely on dividends paid by our operating subsidiaries in China for our cash needs. Any significant revaluation of the RMB may materially reduce any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we received from our initial public offeringreceive into RMB for our operations, appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive. Conversely, if we decide to convert our RMB into U.S. dollars for business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the RMB would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount.

Limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert RMB into foreign currency. As a result, fluctuations in exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on your investment.

Rapid urbanization and changes in zoning and urban planning in China may cause our hotel properties to be demolished, expropriated or otherwise affected.

China is undergoing a rapid urbanization process, and zoning requirements and other governmental mandates with respect to urban planning of a particular area may change. When zoning requirements or other governmental mandates change with respect to the areas where our hotels are located, the affected hotels may need to be demolished or removed. As a result, we may have to relocate our hotels to other locations. We have experienced such demolition and relocation in the past and we may encounter additional demolition and relocation cases in the future. Our hotels could suffer from demolitions or interruptions due to zoning or other local regulations in the future. Any such demolition and relocation could cause us to lose primary locations for our hotels and cause the licenses and permits held by the hotels facing demolition to not be renewed or even be revoked, and we may not be able to achieve comparable operational results following the relocations. While we may be reimbursed for such demolition and relocation, we cannot assure you that

the

reimbursement, as determined by the relevant government authorities, will be sufficient to cover our direct and indirect losses. Accordingly, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

Furthermore, the PRC government has the statutory power to acquire or demolish any land in the PRC for reason of changes in urban planning or zoning or otherwise. In such events, we may be forced to relocate or close our hotels. Although we might be paid compensation for such forced acquisition, demolishment or closure, the amount of compensation to be awarded to us may not cover our losses and adversely affecting our operations.

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock ownership plans or share option plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

In December 2006, the People’s Bank of China promulgated the Administrative Measures of Foreign Exchange Matters for Individuals, which set forth the respective requirements for foreign exchange transactions by individuals (both PRC or non-PRC citizens) under either the current account or the capital account. In January 2007, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued implementing rules for the Administrative Measures of Foreign Exchange Matters for Individuals which, among other things, specified approval requirements for certain capital account transactions such as a PRC citizen’s participation in the employee stock ownership plans or stock option plans of an overseas publicly listed company. Pursuant to the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Issues concerning Foreign Exchange Administration of the Overseas Investment and Financing and the Round-trip Investment Made by Domestic Resident through Special-Purpose Companies, or Circular 37, issued on July 4, 2014, PRC residents who participate in share incentive plans in overseas non-publicly listed SPVs due to their position as director, senior management or employees of the PRC subsidiaries of the overseas SPVs may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for the foreign exchange registration with respect to such overseas SPVs.

On February 25, 2012, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange promulgated the Circulars on Issues concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Equity Incentive Plans of Overseas-Listed Company, or the Stock Option Rules. Under these rules, PRC citizens or foreigners who have lived within the PRC for at least one year or, collectively, the PRC optionees, who participate in an equity incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company are required to register to handle issues such as foreign exchange registration, account establishment, funds transfer and remittance, and entrust an overseas institution, or the “Overseas Trustee” to handle issues like exercise of options, purchase and sale of corresponding stocks or equity and transfer of corresponding funds. A “Domestic Agency” shall be a domestic company participating in the equity incentive plan or a domestic institution which is qualified for asset custody business as chosen by us according to PRC law.

We adopted our 2018 share incentive plan in January 2018. Our board of directors has authorized the issuance of up to 9,000,000 Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of awards granted under our 2018 share incentive plan. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Employees — Share Incentive Plan.” We and the PRC optionees who participate in the 2018 share incentive plan will be subject to these regulations, as such, the 2018 share incentive plan provides that the PRC optionees shall not exercise their options nor shall they purchase or subscribe for our shares before our company becomes a publicly listed company in the United States. After our initial public offering in the U.S. we have advised our employees and directors participating in the 2018 share incentive plan to handle foreign exchange matters in accordance with the Stock Option Rules. We cannot provide any assurance that we or the PRC optionees of our share incentive plans have complied or will comply with the requirements imposed by the Stock Option Rules. If we or our PRC optionees fail to comply with these regulations, we or our PRC optionees may be subject to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions, and our ability to further grant shares or share options under our share incentive plans to, and to adopt additional share incentive plans for, our directors and employees may be restricted. Such events could adversely affect our operations. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulatory Matters—Regulations on Employee Stock Incentive Plans of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company.”

Further, a notice concerning the individual income tax on earnings from employee share options jointly issued by Ministry of Finance, or the MOF, and the State Taxation Administration, or the SATSTA (previously known as State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT), on March 28, 2005, and its implementing rules, provide that domestic companies that implement employee share option programs shall (i) file the employee share option plans and other relevant documents to the local tax authorities having jurisdiction over them before implementing such employee share

option plans; (ii) file share option exercise notices and other relevant documents with the local tax authorities having jurisdiction over them before exercise by the employees of the share options, and clarify whether the shares issuable under the employee share options mentioned in the notice are the shares of publicly listed companies; and (iii) withhold taxes from the PRC employees in connection with the PRC individual income tax. To comply with the requirement, we will file the 2018 share incentive plan with the relevant local tax bureau.

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.

There are significant legal and other obstacles in China to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated by regulators outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States involves uncertainty. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation, evidence collection and other activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests.

Our employment practices may be adversely impacted by the labor contract law of the PRC.

The PRC National People’s Congress promulgated the Labor Contract Law which became effective on January 1, 2008 and was amended on December 28, 2012, and the State Council promulgated implementing rules for the labor contract law on September 18, 2008. The labor contract law and the implementing rules impose requirements concerning, among others, the execution of written contracts between employers and employees, the time limits for probationary periods, and the length of employment contracts. The interpretation and implementation of these regulations are still evolving, our employment practices may violate the labor contract law and related regulations and we could be subject to penalties, fines or legal fees as a result. If we are subject to severe penalties or incur significant legal fees in connection with labor law disputes or investigations, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

The Labor Contract Law prohibits an employer to establish staff dispatching companies to place workers with themselves or their subsidiaries. We have established a subsidiary which is the employer of most our employees of other subsidiaries. This subsidiary has entered into a service outsourcing arrangement with other relevant subsidiaries of us.ours. Since the current labor dispatch regulation does not clearly define the distinction of labor dispatch and service outsourcing business, our service outsourcing arrangement could be considered as labor dispatch by the relevant PRC government authorities and our abovementioned subsidiary might be regarded as dispatching entity and therefore subject us to fines, or termination of such outsourcing arrangement.

In accordance with the PRC Social Insurance Law and the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Fund and other relevant laws and regulations, China establishes a social insurance system and other employee benefits including basic pension insurance, basic medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, housing fund, and a handicapped employment security fund, or collectively the Employee Benefits. An employer shall pay the Employee Benefits for its employees in accordance with the rates provided under relevant regulations and shall withhold the social insurance and other Employee Benefits that should be assumed by the employees. For example, an employer that has not made social insurance contributions at a rate and based on an amount prescribed by the law, or at all, may be ordered to rectify the non-compliance and pay the required contributions within a stipulated deadline and be subject to a late fee of up to 0.05% or 0.2% per day, as the case may be.day. If the employer still fails to rectify the failure to make social insurance contributions within the stipulated deadline, it may be subject to a fine ranging from one to three times the amount overdue.

Under the Regulations on the Administration of Housing Fund, PRC companies must register with applicable housing fund management centers and establish a special housing fund account in an entrusted bank. Both PRC companies and their employees are required to contribute to the housing funds.

We have not made adequate contributions to employee benefit plans, as required by applicable PRC laws and regulations. We have recorded accruals for the estimated underpaid amounts for the current employees in our financial statements. However, we have not made any accruals for the interest on underpayment and penalties that may be imposed by the relevant PRC government authorities. If we are subject to investigations related to non-compliance with labor laws and are imposed severe penalties or incur significant legal fees in connection with labor law disputes or investigations, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We rely principally on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to borrow money or pay dividends to holders of our ADSs.

As a holding company, we rely principally on dividends and other payments from our wholly owned operating subsidiaries in China for our cash requirements, including funds necessary to service any debt we may incur, to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and to pay our operating expenses. If our subsidiaries or any newly formed subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing their debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends to us. In addition, our subsidiaries are permitted to pay dividends to us only out of their accumulated profits, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Pursuant to laws applicable to entities incorporated in the PRC, each of our subsidiaries in the PRC must make appropriations from after tax profit to a statutory surplus reserve fund. The reserve fund requires annual appropriation of 10% of after tax profit (as determined under accounting principles generally accepted in the PRC at each year-end) after offsetting accumulated losses from prior years, until such reserve reaches 50% of the subsidiary’s registered capital. The reserve fund can only be used to increase the registered capital and eliminate further losses of the respective companies under PRC regulations. As of December 31, 2017, 20182019, 2020 and 2019,2021, total statutory reserves of our PRC subsidiaries were RMB57.7RMB63.0 million, RMB57.7RMB70.0 million and RMB63.0RMB77.5 million (US$9.112.2 million). These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends, loans or advances. In addition, due to restrictions under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiaries are restricted in their ability to transfer their net assets to the company in the form of dividend payments, loans or advances. Amounts of net assets restricted include paid up capital and statutory reserve funds of our PRC subsidiaries amounted to RMB391.0RMB509.4 million, RMB394.4RMB777.7 million and RMB509.4RMB936.8 million (US$73.2(US147.0 million) as of December 31, 2017, 20182019, 2020 and 2019,2021, respectively. As a result, our Chinese subsidiaries are restricted in their ability to transfer a portion of their net assets to us or any of our other subsidiaries in the form of dividends, loans or advances. Limitation on the ability of our Chinese subsidiaries to pay dividends to us or any of our other subsidiaries could materially and adversely limit our ability to borrow money outside of China or pay dividends to holders of our ADSs. Also, see “— Risks Related to Doing Business in China — It is unclear whether we will be considered as a PRC “resident enterprise” under the Enterprise Income Tax Law of the PRC, and depending on the determination of our PRC “resident enterprise” status, dividends paid to us by our PRC subsidiaries may be subject to PRC withholding tax, we may be subject to 25% PRC income tax on our worldwide income, and holders of our ADSs may be subject to PRC withholding tax on dividends on, and gains realized on their transfer of, our ADSs.”

PRC regulation of loans and direct investment by offshore holding companies to PRC entities may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of our initial public offering to make loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries which would materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

In utilizing the proceeds of our initial public offering in the manner described in “Use of Proceeds,”ADSs as an offshore holding company of our PRC subsidiaries, we may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries. Any loans or additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are subject to PRC regulations and approvals. For example, loans by us to our subsidiaries in China, which are foreign-invested enterprises, to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the SAFE or its local counterpart.

We may also decide to finance our subsidiaries by means of capital contributions. According to the relevant PRC regulations on foreign-invested enterprises in China, depending on the total amount of investment, capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are no longer subject to the approval of the PRC Ministry of Commerce or its local branches. Instead, we are required to file and submit required information and documents online within 20 working days of such event. However, we cannot assure you that the regulations will always remain favorable to us. If the regulations are revised in the future or we fail to complete such registration or obtain such approvals on time, our ability to use the

proceeds from theour initial public offering of the ADSs and to capitalize on our operations in the PRC may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Except for the filing required by PRC Ministry of Commerce or its local branches, when using the capital contributions to exchange for RMB funds, the domestic institutions including foreign-invested enterprises, must comply with certain foreign exchange requirements. For example, SAFE promulgated the Circular of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Regulating Policies on the Control over Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital Accounts, or Circular 16, on June 9, 2016. Under Circular 16, the foreign exchange receipts under capital accounts of a domestic institution and the RMB funds obtained thereby from foreign exchange settlements may be used for expenditure under current accounts within its business scope or expenditure under capital accounts permitted by laws and regulations. However, they may not be used (i) directly or indirectly, for expenditure beyond the enterprise’s business scope or expenditure prohibited by laws and regulations of the state; (ii) unless otherwise specified, directly or indirectly, for investments in securities or other investments than banks’ principal-secured products; (iii) for the granting of loans to non-affiliated enterprises, except where it is expressly permitted in the business license; and (iv) for the construction or purchase of real estate for purposes other than self-use (except for real estate enterprises). In addition, the RMB funds obtained thereby from foreign exchange settlements may not be used to repay RMB loans if the proceeds of such loans have not been fully used by the domestic institution, including a foreign-invested company like us.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain these government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future capital contributions by us to our subsidiaries. If we fail to receive such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds of our initial public offering and to capitalize our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

It is unclear whether we will be considered as a PRC “resident enterprise” under the Enterprise Income Tax Law of the PRC, and depending on the determination of our PRC “resident enterprise” status, dividends paid to us by our PRC subsidiaries may be subject to PRC withholding tax, we may be subject to 25% PRC income tax on our worldwide income, and holders of our ADSs or ordinary shares who are not PRC residents may be subject to PRC withholding tax on dividends on, and gains realized on their transfer of, our ADSs.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its Implementation Regulations, or the EIT Law, dividends, interest, rent, royalties and gains on transfers of property payable by a foreign-invested enterprise in China to its foreign investor who is a non-resident enterprise without any establishment or place of business within China or if the received dividends, interest, rent, royalties and gains have no connection with the establishment or place of business of such foreign investor will be subject to a 10% withholding tax, unless such non-resident enterprise’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a reduced rate of withholding tax. Under the EIT Law, an enterprise established outside China with its “de facto management body” within China is considered a “resident enterprise” in China and is subject to the Chinese enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on its worldwide income. The ��de“de facto management body” is defined as the organizational body that effectively exercises overall management and control over production and business operations, personnel, finance and accounting, and properties of the enterprise. There are no detailed rules or precedents governing the procedures and specific criteria for determining “de facto management body.”

The Notice Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprises on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or Circular 82, provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a Chinese-controlled offshore-incorporated enterprise is located in China. According to Circular 82, a Chinese-controlled offshore incorporated enterprise will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having a “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its worldwide income only if all of the following criteria are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in China; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in China; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholders meeting minutes are located or maintained in China; and (iv) 50% or more of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in China.

Although substantially all of our operational management is based in the PRC, it is unclear whether PRC tax authorities would require (or permit) us to be treated as a PRC resident enterprise. It is also unclear whether the dividends we receive from our PRC subsidiaries will constitute dividends between “qualified resident enterprises” and therefore qualify for exemption from withholding tax if we are deemed to be a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes. We are not controlled by a Chinese enterprise or PRC enterprise group and as such we do not believe that our company meets all of the conditions to be deemed a PRC resident enterprise. For the same reasons, we believe our other subsidiaries located outside China are not PRC resident enterprises. In addition, we are not aware of any offshore holding companies with a corporate structure similar to ours ever having been deemed a PRC “resident enterprise” by PRC tax authorities. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body.” While we do not currently consider our company or any of our overseas subsidiaries to be a PRC resident enterprise, there is a risk that the PRC tax authorities may deem our company as a PRC resident enterprise since a substantial majority of the members of our management team are located in China, in which case we would be subject to the PRC enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on our worldwide income.

If the ChinesePRC tax authorities determine that we are a resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, among other things, we would be subject to the PRC enterprise income tax at the rate of 25% on our worldwide taxable income, substantially higher than the 10% withholding tax rate to which we are subject as a non-PRC resident enterprise. Furthermore, if we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise, payments of dividends by us may be regarded as derived from sources within the PRC and therefore we may be obligated to withhold PRC income tax at 10% on payments of dividends on the ADSs or shares to non-PRC resident enterprise investors. In the case of non-PRC resident individual investors, the tax may be withheld at a rate of 20%. In addition, if we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise, any gain realized on the transfer of the ADSs and/or shares by non-PRC resident investors may be regarded as derived from sources within the PRC and accordingly may be subject to a 10% PRC income tax in the case of non-PRC resident enterprises or 20% in the case of non-PRC resident individuals. The PRC tax on dividends and/or gains may be reduced or exempted under applicable tax treaties between the PRC and the holder’s home country.

In addition, under the Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties by Non-Resident Enterprises, or SATSTA Public Notice 7, an “indirect transfer” of assets, including equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of PRC taxable assets, if such arrangement does not have a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of avoiding payment of PRC enterprise income tax. Gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax. According to SATSTA Public Notice 7, “PRC taxable assets” include assets attributed to an establishment in China, immovable properties in China, and equity investments in PRC resident enterprises. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—Company — B. Business Overview—Overview — Regulatory Matters—Matters — Regulations Relating to Tax.” As part of our restructuring, GreenTree Hospitality Group Ltd., or GreenTree Hospitality, the listing entity for the purpose of our initial public offering, acquired through a share exchange the entire share capital of GreenTree Samoa, including the equity interests in most of our PRC operating subsidiaries then held by it. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—Company — C. Organizational Structure.” This acquisition of equity interests in our PRC operating subsidiaries by GreenTree Hospitality may be deemed to be an indirect transfer of PRC taxable assets, and the gains from the acquisition may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of up to 25%. However, there is uncertainty as to the implementation details of SATSTA Public Notice 7. If SATSTA Public Notice 7 was determined by the tax authorities to be applicable to the abovementioned and other of our transactions involving PRC taxable assets, we might be required to spend valuable resources to comply with SATSTA Public Notice 7 or to establish that the relevant transactions should not be taxed under SATSTA Public Notice 7. If such transactions involving PRC taxable assets were subject to PRC enterprise income tax, our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

If additional remedial measures are imposed on the “big four” PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging such firms’ failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

Starting in 2011, the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between U.S. and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S. listed

companies operating and audited in mainland China, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese accounting firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. The firms were, however, advised and directed that under Chinese law they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the CSRC.

In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the Chinese accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. In January 2014, the administrative law judge reached an initial decision to impose penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC. The accounting firms filed a petition for review of the initial decision. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the commissioners of the SEC had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepts that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms will receive matching Section 106 requests, and are required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If they fail to meet specified criteria, the SEC retains authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure. Remedies for any future noncompliance could include, as appropriate, an automatic six-month bar on a single firm’s performance of certain audit work, commencement of a new proceeding against a firm, or in extreme cases the resumption of the current proceeding against all four firms. The audit committee is aware of the policy restriction and communicated with our independent auditor to ensure compliance.

In the event that the SEC restarts the administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, United States-listed companies and the market price of our ADSs may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm were denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our consolidated financial statements, our consolidated financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

The audit report included in this annual report is prepared by an auditor who ishas not been inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, as such, youour investors are deprived of the benefits of such inspection. In addition, the adoption of any rules, legislations or other efforts to increase U.S. regulatory access to audit information could cause uncertainty, and we could be delisted if we were unable to meet any PCAOB inspection requirement in time.

Our independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit reportsreport included in this annual report, as an auditorauditors of companies that are traded publicly in the United StatesU.S. and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is required by the laws of the United StatesU.S. to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess its compliance with the laws of the United StatesU.S. and professional standards. PCAOB inspectionsBecause our auditors are intended to enhancelocated in the quality of financial reporting and ensure audit quality. However, absent approval from Chinese government authoritiesPRC, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to fully conduct inspections without the approval of the audit work and practices of PCAOB-registered audit firms within the PRC on a comparable basis to other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Since weChinese authorities, our auditors have substantial operations in China, our auditor, and its audit work are currently not been inspected by the PCAOB. Furthermore, the PRC Securities Law, which became effective in March 2020, has in principle prohibited organizations or individuals from providing documents and materials relating to securities business activities to overseas parties, such as the PCAOB, without the consent of the competent PRC securities regulators and relevant authorities. According to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. Inspections of other firms that the PCAOB has conducted outside China have identified deficiencies in those firms’ audit procedures and quality control procedures, which may be addressed as part of the inspection process to improve future audit quality. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to PCAOB inspections. Investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information and procedures and the quality of our consolidated financial statements.

On May 24, 2013, PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations in the United States and China. PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges. On December 7, 2018, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a joint statement highlighting continued challenges faced by the U.S. regulators in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China. The joint statement reflects athe U.S. regulators’ heightened interest in an issue that has vexed U.S. regulators in recent years. On February 19, 2020,this issue. In a statement issued on December 9, 2019, the SEC based on additional meetings with the Big Four accounting firms, issued an additional statement reiterating itsreiterated concerns over questions overthe inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of the audit firm work papers with respect to U.S.-listed companies that have operations in China, and emphasized the importance of audit quality due the PCAOB being prevented from inspecting the audit work and practices of PCAOB-registered audit firms in China on a comparable basis to other non-U.S. jurisdictions.emerging markets, such as China. On April 21, 2020, the SEC and the PCAOB issued a new joint statement, reminding the investors that in investing in companies that are based in or have substantial operations in many emerging markets, including China, there is substantially greater risk that disclosures will be incomplete or misleading, and inthere is also a greater risk of fraud. In the event of investor harm, there is substantially less accessability to recourse,bring and enforce SEC, DOJ and other U.S. regulatory actions, in comparison to U.S. domestic companies, and stressing again the PCAOB’s inabilityjoint statement reinforced past SEC and PCAOB statements on matters including the difficulty to inspect audit work papers in China and its potential harm to investors. On June 4, 2020, the U.S. President issued a memorandum ordering the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, to submit a report to the President within 60 days of the memorandum that includes recommendations for actions that can be taken by the executive branch and by the SEC or PCAOB on Chinese companies listed on the U.S. stock exchanges and their audit firms, in an effort to protect investors in the U.S. On August 6, 2020, the PWG released a report recommending that the SEC take steps to implement the five recommendations outlined in the report. In particular, to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfill its statutory mandate, or NCJs, the PWG recommends enhanced listing standards on U.S. stock exchanges. This would require, as a condition to initial and continued exchange listing, PCAOB access to work papers of the principal audit firm for the audit of the listed company. Companies unable to satisfy this standard as a result of governmental restrictions on access to audit work papers and practices in NCJs may satisfy this standard by providing a co-audit from an audit firm with comparable resources and experience where the PCAOB determines it has sufficient access to audit work papers and practices to conduct an appropriate inspection of the co-audit firm. There is currently no legal process under which such a co-audit may be performed in China. The report permits the new listing standards to provide for a transition period until January 1, 2022 for listed companies, but would apply immediately to new listings once the necessary rulemakings and/or standard-setting are effective. The measures in the report are expected to be subject to the standard SEC rulemaking process before becoming effective. On August 10, 2020, the SEC announced that SEC Chairman had directed the SEC staff to prepare proposals in response to the report, and that the SEC was soliciting public comments and information with respect to these proposals. If we fail to meet the new listing standards before the deadline specified thereunder due to factors beyond our control, we could face possible delisting from the NYSE, deregistration from the SEC and/or other risks, which may materially and adversely affect, or effectively terminate, our ADS trading in the United States.

In recent years, U.S. regulators have continued to express their concerns about challenges in their oversight of financial statement audits of U.S.-listed companies with significant operations in China. More recently, as part of a continued regulatory focus in the United States on access to audit and other information currently protected by national law, in particular China’s, in December 2021, the United States enacted the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, which includes requirements for the SEC to identify issuers whose audit reports are prepared by auditors that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate because of restrictions imposed by non-U.S. authorities in the auditor’s local jurisdiction. The HFCA Act also requires public companies on this SEC list to certify that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government and make certain additional disclosures on foreign ownership and control of such issuers in their SEC filings. On March 24, 2021, the SEC announced that it had adopted interim final amendments to implement the foregoing certification and disclosure requirements under the HFCA Act. On December 2, 2021, the SEC announced that it had adopted final amendments to its rules implementing the HFCA Act, thereby finalizing the interim final rules that it had adopted in March 2021, with two modifications to clarify application of the requirements to variable interest entities, and to require tagging of information such as auditor name and location. On May 13, 2021, the PCAOB issued proposed PCAOB Rule 6100, Board Determinations Under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, for public comment. The proposed rule provides a framework for making determinations as to whether PCAOB is unable to inspect an audit firm in a foreign jurisdiction, including the timing, factors, bases,

publication and revocation or modification of such determinations, and such determinations will be made on a jurisdiction-wide basis in a consistent manner applicable to all firms headquartered in the jurisdiction. On September 22, 2021, the PCAOB adopted PCAOB Rule 6100 as final, and on November 5, 2021, the SEC announced that it had approved PCAOB Rule 6100, giving it immediate effect. Accordingly, our securities may be prohibited from trading on the NYSE or other U.S. stock exchanges if our auditor is not inspected by the PCAOB for three consecutive years, and this ultimately could result in our ADSs being delisted. On December 16, 2021, pursuant to the HFCA Act the PCAOB issued its report notifying the SEC of its determination that it is unable to inspect or investigate completely accounting firms headquartered in China or Hong Kong, including our independent registered public accounting firm, Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP. On March 10, 2022, the SEC identified five “commission-identified issuers” that are not in compliance with the accounting-related procedures of the HFCA Act and could be subject to potential delisting from U.S. exchanges over time. Furthermore, on June 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate passed the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which if enacted into law would amend the HFCA Act and require the SEC to prohibit an issuer’s securities from trading on U.S. stock exchanges if its auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspections for two consecutive “non-inspection” years instead of three, and thus, would reduce the time before our ADSs may be prohibited from trading or delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market. As of the date of this annual report, our company has not been identified by the SEC as having a “non-inspection” year. However, it remains unclear what further actionsthere can be no assurance that we will not be identified as such by the SEC in the future. There also can be no assurance that, once we have a “non-inspection” year, we or our auditor will be able to take remedial measures in a timely manner, and as a result, there can be no assurance that we will always be able to maintain the listing of our ADSs on a national stock exchange in the U.S., such as the NYSE or the Nasdaq Stock Market, or that you will always be allowed to trade our shares or ADSs. While we understand that there has been dialogue among the CSRC, the SEC and the PCAOB regarding the inspection of PCAOB-registered accounting firms in China, there can be no assurance that our auditor or us will takebe able to addresscomply with requirements imposed by U.S. regulators. The market prices of our ADSs and/or other securities could be adversely affected as a result of anticipated negative impacts of the problem.HFCA Act upon, as well as negative investor sentiment towards, China-based companies listed in the United States, regardless of our actual operating performance.

InspectionsRisks Related to Our Business

Our results of operations are subject to conditions typically affecting the hospitality industry.

Our results of operations are subject to conditions typically affecting the hospitality industry, including the following:

Changes in any of these conditions could adversely affect our occupancy rates, average daily rates and RevPAR or otherwise adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to various operational risks inherent in the franchised-and-managed business model.

Our success could be adversely affected by the performance of our franchised-and-managed hotels. As of December 31, 2021, we franchised-and-managed approximately 98.6% of our hotels, and we derived 76.1%, 72.9% and 64.2% of our revenues from those hotels in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively, which include revenues from membership fees of franchised-and-managed hotels. We plan to increase the number of franchised-and-managed hotels in operation to increase our national presence in China. Our franchisees may not be able to develop or construct hotel properties on a timely basis, which could adversely affect our growth strategy and may impact our ability to collect fees from them on a timely basis. If COVID-19 continues to have a long-lasting impact on China’s economy, our franchisees may lose confidence in the hospitality industry, they may invest in, develop or construct fewer hotel properties than we expect, and they may decide not to invest in, develop or construct any additional hotel properties. See “— Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by epidemics, natural disasters and other firmscatastrophes.” If our franchisees reduce their investments in the hospitality industry, develop or construct fewer hotel properties, or abandon such development or construction altogether, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We oversee and manage the operations of our franchised-and-managed hotels pursuant to various franchise agreements. However, we are not able to control the actions of our franchisees. Under those franchise agreements, our franchisees are typically responsible for developing hotel properties on a timely basis, bearing the costs and expenses of developing and operating the hotels, including costs of constructing, decorating or renovating the hotels to our standards and recruiting and employing hotel staff. However, if our franchisees have difficulties in accessing capital or are reluctant to make investments for the construction, decoration, management or renovation of the hotels, we may not be able to force them to secure the required capital and the quality of our franchised-and-managed hotels’ operations may be thereby diminished.

We normally require our franchisees to secure relevant governmental approvals and permits for operating the hotels in our standard franchise agreements and require that our franchisees provide us with some basic approvals and permits, including business licenses, special industry licenses and fire prevention safety inspection certificates. However, some of our franchisees may not be able to obtain such approvals or permits in a timely manner, or at all. See “— Failure to comply with government regulations relating to the franchise, hospitality industry, construction, fire prevention, food hygiene, safety and environmental protection could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.”

As many factors affecting the operations of those hotels are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that the PCAOB has conducted outsidequality of China have identified deficienciesthe services in those firms’ audit proceduresour franchised-and-managed hotels are consistent with our standards and requirements. Although we send for routine inspection purposes regional managers and members of our quality control team to franchised-and-managed hotels on a regular basis, we may not be able to identify problems in their operations and make responses on a timely basis. As a result, our image and reputation may suffer, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

In addition to quality standards, safety incidents such as fire accidents may occur at our franchised-and-managed hotels despite our supervision or entrusted management. Any such occurrence may result in substantial reputational harm to us and our brands. In addition, if such safety incidents occur at any of the franchised-and-managed hotels that do not possess the relevant licenses, permits or inspection certificates, there could be substantial negative publicity, thereby triggering large-scale government actions that could impact our entire hotel network, which in turn will have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Although our proprietary information system can collect operational and financial data of each hotel, we may not be able to avoid fraud or manipulation of such data by some franchisees, which may adversely affect the ability to

effectively respond to potential issues. In addition, many of our franchisees do not own the hotel land or the property but typically lease the property from landlords who are either a property owner or a sub-lessor. We cannot assure you that all landlords who lease the hotel property to our franchisees have good and marketable title, or have unencumbered rights to lease or sub-lease the property to our franchisees. If any third party such as the ultimate property owners or relevant governmental authorities successfully challenge the lease of our franchisees, or if our franchisees fail to renew the leases when they expire, or if the landlords early terminate the lease, or if the properties or lands owned or leased by our franchisees are demolished, acquired or otherwise reclaimed by the government, our franchisees may have to close their hotels and thus terminate the franchise agreements and as a result, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Moreover, the term of the leases for some of the property of our franchisees is shorter than the typical term of our franchise agreements. We cannot assure you that upon expiration, these franchisees will be able to renew their leases in order to perform their franchise agreements with us.

We may not be able to renew our existing franchise agreements or renegotiate new franchise agreements when they expire.

We franchise hotels to third parties pursuant to franchise agreements. These franchise agreements may be renegotiated or may expire. We completed acquisitions of Argyle Hotel Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Argyle” or “Argyle Hotel Group”), and Shandong Xinghui Urban Hotel Management Group Co., Ltd. (“Urban” or “Urban Hotel Group”), respectively in April 2019 and November 2019. The versions of franchise agreements we have used during recent years, including those for Argyle, typically have an initial term of 10 to 20 years except for the franchise agreements with our Shell franchisees and Urban franchisees. We plan to renew our existing franchise agreements upon expiration or renegotiate with our franchisees for new franchise agreements. However, we may be unable to retain our franchisees on satisfactory terms, or at all. If a significant number of our existing franchise agreements expire and new franchisees do not cover those expired franchises, our revenue and profit may decrease in the future, and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

As the hospitality industry in China is highly competitive, the terms of our franchise agreements are influenced by contract terms offered by our competitors. We cannot assure you that the terms of franchise agreements for new franchised-and-managed hotels entered into or renewed in the future will be as favorable as the terms under our existing franchise agreements. If such agreements cannot be renewed on satisfactory terms upon expiration, our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Failure to comply with government regulations relating to the leased-and-operated and franchised-and-managed business models, hospitality industry, construction, fire prevention, food hygiene, safety and environmental protection could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our business is subject to various compliance and operational requirements under PRC laws and regulations, which include public safety, construction, fire prevention, public area hygiene, health and sanitation and environmental protection, as well as requirements related to construction or decoration of hotel premises. The failure of any of our hotels to comply with applicable laws and regulations may incur substantial fines and penalties from the relevant PRC government authorities. Each hotel in our network must hold a basic business license and a special industry license issued by local government authorities and must conduct its hotel operations within the business scope of its business license. These hotels must also obtain various other licenses and permits. For example, if our hotels provide catering service, they are required to obtain a food operation permit. In addition, any project construction undertaken by our hotels may be subject to governmental approvals or filings requirements, and our failure to comply with the aforementioned requirements may subject us to fines or the suspension or even the cessation of operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In any event, we may not be able to obtain all permits, licenses, certificates and other approvals required by government regulations, which could negatively impact our business and significantly harm our reputation.

As of December 31, 2021, we operate 66 leased-and-operated hotels, among which, two hotels are from Argyle and nine from Urban Hotel Group, including three hotels situated on properties owned by us. Out of our 66 leased-and-operated hotels, 15 have not obtained fire prevention safety inspection certificates, one is in the process of applying for fire prevention safety inspection certificates, 11 have not obtained public area hygiene permits, 14 have not obtained

special industry permits, eight which engage in catering business have not obtained the food operation permits, and two are in the process of applying for food operation permits. Five of our leased and operated hotels share and operate on the same premises as our other leased and operated hotels; these five leased and operated hotels have not obtained, and are unlikely to be able obtain, their own licenses. Given the significant discretion local government authorities have in the examination of our application as well as other factors beyond our control in certain areas, we may be unable to obtain our food operation permits at all.

In addition, we have only been provided with and reviewed the relevant governmental approvals and permits for the operation of 3,862 out of our 4,593 franchised-and-managed hotels in total, including Argyle and Urban, in operation as of December 31, 2021, and have found that:

For our leased-and-operated hotels that have not obtained the necessary licenses, and to the extent that the franchisees who did not provide us with the licenses had not obtained the licenses prior to the commencement of their operations, the legal consequences will be as follows:

If any franchisee is subject to the foregoing legal consequences, whether fines or orders to suspend or even cease operations, due to its failure to obtain necessary licenses and permits or to comply with other requirements, our image and reputation may suffer, and such franchisee may defer making or refuse to make payments in breach of its franchise agreement with us. As we hold equity interests in certain of our franchisees, any regulatory non-compliance by such franchisees may also decrease the value of our investments. In either case, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Furthermore, as to certain hotels that are being converted from the leased-and-operated model to the franchised-and-managed model, if any franchisee refuses to return and uses any of our hotels’ permits in breach of their

supplementary agreements with us, our company as the registered permit holder could be held liable for any regulatory non-compliance by our franchisees. See “— Our hotels being converted into franchised-and-managed hotels may not be able to obtain their own operational licenses or fail to pay us the rent materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.”

In respect of our franchising business, we are subject to a comprehensive disclosure requirement when recruiting and managing our franchisees. In the past, we have not received penalties in relation to such requirements. However, our communication with our franchisees could be found in violation of these requirements in the future. In the past, we have not received penalties in relation to such requirements.

We may terminate franchise agreements earlier under certain circumstances, and we may have disputes with our franchisees which may materially and adversely affect our business and result of operations.

Our franchisees may terminate our franchise agreements in the event that, among others, the franchised-and-managed hotels’ performance is worse than they expect. Although they are not permitted to do so by our franchise agreements, the franchisees may still attempt to unilaterally terminate their franchise agreements. In such instances, we may have disputes with them, and it will be difficult for us to force them to continue the performance of our franchise agreements until they expire. If the franchise agreements are eventually terminated either based on a settlement between us and the franchisees or with a judgment or arbitral award which requires the franchisees to compensate us for our losses and costs, such compensation may not cover our losses which we have suffered as a result of the early termination, and we may no longer receive the franchise fees and related management fees from the termination. Furthermore, if our franchisees breach or terminate their franchise agreements with us before the hotel commences operation, we might not be able to grow our hotel network as planned.

Due to our rapid expansion in recent years, we have added a large number of new franchised-and-managed hotels into our hotel network, some of which may not be able to provide consistent and high-quality service to meet our standards. To avoid potential damage to our brand name and to ensure the quality of services provided to our guests, we may terminate our franchise agreements with such franchisees. In addition, if any of our franchisees defaults or commits wrongdoing and fails to cure defaults or wrongdoings, we may also need to terminate our franchise agreements. Although our franchise agreements typically allow us to terminate the agreements under many circumstances, our franchisees may dispute our termination or our claim and in such cases we have to submit such disputes for the settlement by courts or arbitration. For example, as of December 31, 2021 we had 43 pending legal proceedings with the franchised-and-managed hotels. Also, we have in the past closed and may close in the future certain franchised-and-managed hotels as a result of disputes with the franchisees for their failure to comply with our requirements on, among other things, the punctual payment of our franchise fees or management fees, the decoration or operation standard, use of our brand, maintenance of the hotel condition and appearance, the avoidance of competition between the franchisees, including keeping appropriate distances between the franchised-and-managed hotels. For example, for the year ended December 31, 2021, we terminated 400 franchised-and-managed hotels that did not comply with our brand and operating standards, respectively. If a significant number of our existing franchise agreements are terminated early, our revenue and profit may decrease in the future.

In case of a dispute with our franchisees, even if such disputes can be resolved in favor of us, the disputes could divert our management attention, affect our brand image, and incur cost for us. There could also be situations where the franchisee is not in a position to sufficiently compensate us for losses which we have suffered as a result of their defaults or wrongdoings. If we eventually terminate any franchisees, we will lose such franchisees and can no longer collect franchise fees and management fees from them. If new franchisees do not cover those terminated franchises, our results of operations and financial conditions could be materially and adversely affected.

Our hotels being converted into franchised-and-managed hotels may not be able to obtain their own operational licenses or fail to pay us the rent materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

During the past few years, we have sought to convert some hotels from the leased-and-operated model over to the franchised-and-managed model through selling relevant business assets and handed over the management of such hotels, in most of the cases pursuant to an asset, business and personnel transfer agreement, or Transfer Agreements, to certain

individuals or entities that have subsequently entered into franchise agreements with us and have therefore become our new franchisees. According to the Transfer Agreements, such new franchisees shall take over and operate such hotels on their own account and shall take the risks and enjoy the benefit of operating such hotels from the completion of the transfer contemplated by such agreements. However, the Transfer Agreements typically allow our franchisees under such arrangements to continue to use the hotel’s permits that were previously obtained by us and remain in the name of our company for a transitional period. As of December 31, 2021, 11 of the abovementioned new franchisees were still using our relevant hotels’ permits. All of these franchisees have executed a supplementary agreement which requires them to stop using and return to us our hotels’ permits upon execution of the supplementary agreements. Such supplementary agreements also require the franchisees to indemnify us against all losses, costs or liabilities incurred by us for their defaults under such agreements. However, if any franchisees refuse to return and continue to use any of our hotels’ permits, our company could be held liable as the registered permit holder for any regulatory non-compliance on the part of our franchisees. As a result, any breach by our franchisees of relevant regulations could cause us to incur relevant legal liability under PRC law, which may materially affect our brand image and our results of operations. In addition, in such instances, because the relevant leases have not been transferred to our new franchisees, we continue to be the tenants of the relevant hotel premises and we remain liable to pay the rent to our landlords, and may not thereafter be fully compensated by the new franchisees. As a result, our result of operations and financial conditions may be materially and adversely affected by the default of such franchisees. Furthermore, such arrangement between us and the new franchisees could be deemed as a sublease, and our landlords may claim that our subleasing arrangement without our landlords’ consent constitutes a default. In such cases, we may be required by our landlords to terminate sublease arrangements and compensate their losses, if any, which may further increase our costs and risks. Moreover, we may not be able to enforce our rights against the franchisees under the supplementary agreements, which would hinder our ability to prevent the franchisees from using our hotel permits and negatively impact our business and our reputation.

Our leased-and-operated hotels are subject to a number of operational risks.

For hotels under the leased-and-operated model, a significant portion of operating costs, including rent, is fixed. Accordingly, a decrease in revenues could result in a disproportionately larger decrease in earnings because the operating costs and expenses are unlikely to decrease proportionately. For example, the period during both the New Year and Chinese Spring Festival holidays generally accounts for a smaller portion of our annual revenues than the other periods, but the expenses do not vary in proportion to changes in occupancy rates and revenues. Major construction work near our hotel may also have a negative impact on the occupancy rate. We need to continue to pay rent and salaries, make regular repairs, perform maintenance and renovations and invest in other capital improvements for our leased-and-operated hotels throughout the year to maintain their attractiveness. Therefore, our leased-and-operated hotels’ costs and expenses may remain constant or increase even if their revenues decline. The operation of each leased-and-operated hotel goes through the stages of development, ramp-up and mature operation. Our involvement in the development of such properties presents a number of risks, including construction delays or cost overruns, which may result in increased project costs or forgone revenue. During the development stage, significant pre-opening expenses will be incurred, and at the ramp-up stage, which is usually six months, when the occupancy rate increases gradually, revenues generated by these hotels may be insufficient to cover their operating costs, which are relatively fixed in nature. As a result, most newly opened leased-and-operated hotels may not achieve profitability until they reach mature operations. We also may be unable to recover development costs we incur for projects that are not completed. Any expansion of our leased-and-operated hotel portfolio would incur significant pre-opening expenses during the development stage and relatively low revenues during the ramp-up stage of such newly opened leased-and-operated hotels, of which expenses may have a significant negative impact on our results of operations. Properties that we develop could become less attractive due to market saturation, oversupply or changes in market demand, with the result that we may not be able to recover development costs as we expect, or at all.

We also may acquire or develop owned-and-operated hotels on a limited, case-by-case basis to seize unusually attractive business opportunities. Any such owned-and-operated hotels will be subject to risks similar to those of our leased-and-operated hotels. Such owned-and-operated hotels will also be subject to depreciation in the value paid by us for the underlying hotel property, which usually is influenced by macroeconomic and local political and economic factors.

In certain circumstances, we have needed to liquidate certain of our PRC subsidiaries and branches which previously operated leased-and-operated hotels, upon the completion of conversion or closure of hotels. In liquidating such subsidiaries and branches, we need to complete various deregistration procedures, which may be addressed as parttime-consuming and therefore we cannot assure you that such subsidiaries and branches can be deregistered in a timely manner. In the future, we may need to liquidate more subsidiaries and branches which have ceased to operate leased-and-operated hotels.

The legal rights of our franchisees and us to use certain leased properties could be challenged by property owners or other third parties, which could prevent our franchisees or us from operating the affected hotels or increase the costs associated with operating these hotels.

For most of our franchised-and-managed hotels and all but three of our leased-and-operated hotels, we and our franchisees do not hold property ownership with respect to the premises under which those hotels are operated. Instead, we and our franchisees rely on leases or contracted management arrangements with third parties who either own the properties or lease the properties from the ultimate property owner. As of December 31, 2020, 22 of the inspection processultimate owners of the properties of our leased-and-operated hotels failed to improve future audit quality. Theprovide us with the relevant title certificates. As to these 22 ultimate owners, if they have not obtained and provided such title certificates because the relevant properties were constructed by such ultimate owners without having obtained or in violation of a construction project planning permit, our of such properties may be challenged or even invalidated by a government authority or relevant dispute resolution institution. Meanwhile, the property title certificates for the premises on which approximately half of our leased-and-managed hotels are located have a different designated use from the actual usage of those properties, and our lease of such properties may be challenged by relevant government authorities and subject us to cessation of operations or fines in an amount of up to RMB30,000 for each property or approximately RMB480,000 in aggregate. If the property owners’ title and the legal rights of our franchisees and us to the leases of such properties are successfully challenged by a government authority or dispute resolution institution as mentioned above, the development or operations of our hotels on such properties could be adversely affected.

In addition, we and our franchisees are subject to the risks of potential disputes with property owners or our immediate lessors and to forced closure of hotels by the government. Such disputes and forced closures, whether resolved in the favor of our franchisees and us, may divert management attention of our franchisees and us, harm our reputation or otherwise disrupt and adversely affect our business.

Where immediate lessors are not the ultimate owners of hotel properties operated by our franchisees and us, in some instances, no consent was obtained from the owners to sublease the hotel properties to our franchisees or us. A property owner’s failure to duly obtain the title to the property or a sub-lessor’s failure to receive any necessary approvals from the ultimate owner or the primary leaseholder, as applicable, could potentially invalidate the underlying lease or result in the renegotiation of such lease which may lead to less favorable terms. Some of the properties we or our franchisees lease from third parties were subject to mortgages at the time the leases were signed. In such circumstances and where consent to the lease was not obtained from the mortgage holder, the lease may not be binding on the transferee of the property if the mortgage holders foreclose on the mortgage and transfer the property, which could in turn materially and adversely affect the ability of our franchisees and us to operate the hotel facility located on such property. In the past, although our operations have not been disrupted simply due to the lack of PCAOB inspectionstitle certificates or consent from the owners, such events could occur in the future.

We also sublease the property parts we do not use to third parties and in some instances where we have closed or converted our leased-and-operated hotels, we may also need to sublease the whole properties we leased for such hotels to third parties to save costs if our landlords do not agree to early terminate our lease. In some instances, no written consent was obtained from our landlords to sublease such property parts or the whole property to third parties. Our failure to receive any necessary approvals from our landlords could potentially invalidate the underlying lease or result in our default under such subleases, which may in turn affect our business. In addition, if our sub-lessees are not able to pay us rent in a timely manner or at all, we are obligated to pay the rent to our landlords on our own account. If we fail to pay such rent, we may be required by our landlords to terminate the sublease arrangements and compensate their losses, if any, which may adversely affect our result of operations and our financial condition.

If we are unable to compete successfully, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

The hospitality industry in China preventsis highly competitive. Competition in the PCAOBindustry is primarily based on convenience of location, geographic coverage, service quality, room rates, quality of accommodation, brand name recognition, range of services and guest amenities. We compete primarily with branded and standalone hotels as well as regional and local mid-scale hotels. We also compete with four- and five- star hotels, as we offer rooms with standards comparable to many of those hotels while maintaining competitive pricing. Furthermore, we compete with other hotels for guests in each market segment in which we operate, as our typical business and leisure traveler guests may change their travel, spending and consumption patterns and choose to stay in hotels in different markets. New and existing competitors may offer competitive rates, greater convenience, services or amenities or superior facilities, which could attract guests away from regularly evaluating our auditors’ auditshotels, resulting in a decrease in occupancy and itsaverage daily rates for our hotels. In addition, competition among franchised hotels is intense in attracting potential franchisees and retaining existing franchisees. We believe that hotel operators choose hospitality franchisors based on primarily the value and quality control procedures.of a franchisor’s brand, reputation and service and the extent to which affiliation with that franchisor may increase the franchisee’s hotel occupancy rates and profitability. Any of these factors may have an adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations and financial condition.

We may not be able to successfully attract new franchisees and compete for franchise agreements and, as a result, we may not be able to achieve our planned growth.

Our growth strategy includes expanding through franchised-and-managed hotels by entering into franchise agreements with our franchisees. We believe that our ability to attract new franchisees and compete for franchise agreements with them depends primarily on our brand recognition and reputation, the results of our overall operations in general and the success of our current franchised-and-managed hotels. Other competitive factors for franchise agreements include marketing support, membership program, efficiency of our central reservation system, our ability to provide systems and support to assist franchisees to operate their hotels cost-effectively. The terms of any new franchise agreements that we obtain also depend on the terms that our competitors offer for those agreements. In addition, if the availability of suitable locations for new properties decreases, or governmental planning or other local regulations change, the supply of suitable properties for additional franchised-and-managed hotels could diminish. If the performance of our franchised-and-managed hotels is less successful than that of our competitors’ hotels or if we are unable to offer terms as favorable as those offered by our competitors, we may not be able to compete effectively for new franchise agreements and we may not be able to attract as many new franchisees as we expect. As a result, investorswe may not be able to achieve our planned growth and our business and results of operations may be deprivedmaterially and adversely affected.

The leases of our franchisees and us could be terminated early, we and our franchisees may not be able to renew the existing leases on commercially reasonable terms and the rents paid by us or our franchisees could increase substantially, which could materially and adversely affect our operations.

The terms of leases for our franchised-and-managed hotels and leased-and-operated hotels typically provide, among other things, that the lease could be terminated under certain legal or factual conditions. If any such lease were terminated early, operations of the benefitsrelated hotel property may be interrupted or discontinued and costs may be incurred by us or our franchisees to relocate to another location. Furthermore, we may be liable to our lessors, guests, franchisees and other vendors and may be required to pay losses and damages due to our default under relevant contracts. As a result, our business, results of PCAOB inspections.operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Although we intend to coordinate with our franchisees to renew existing leases of our franchised-and-managed hotels, and to renew existing leases of certain of our leased-and-operated hotels, there can be no assurance that we and our franchisees will be able to renew such leases and maintain current hotel operations on satisfactory terms, or at all. In particular, we and our franchisees may experience increased rent payments and increased operating cost in connection with renegotiating leases. If we and our franchisees fail to maintain current hotel operations on satisfactory terms upon expiration of the leases, the respective operating costs of our company and our franchisees may increase, the ability of our franchisees to pay their franchise fees may decline, and overall profits generated from hotel operations may decrease. If we and our franchisees are unable to pass on increased costs to our guests through room rate increases, the operating

margins and earnings of our company and our franchisees could decrease and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may terminate our leases early for certain reasons and any failure by us to terminate a lease for cause may subject us to payment of liquidated damages.

Our leases typically allow us to terminate the lease early under limited circumstances, and in some instances, our leases contain a term which requires us to pay the contingent rent for our wrongful early termination of such agreements. In the past, we have early terminated some leases of hotel properties and closed our leased-and-operated hotels underlying such leased properties, and disputes arose between us and our landlords whereby we were demanded to pay the contingent rents and liquidated damages. If such disputes occur in the future, and are resolved in favor of our landlords, we may need to pay losses and damages to the landlords and as a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Our growth depends on our ability to increase revenues generated by our existing hotels.

While sales growth will depend in part on our plans for new hotel openings, deeper penetration into existing and new geographic markets and increased sales at our existing hotels will also affect our sales growth and will continue to be critical factors affecting our revenue and profit. Our ability to increase the revenues generated by our hotels depends in part on our ability to successfully implement our growth strategy and related initiatives. Our ability to penetrate further into the existing geographic markets where we already have a presence depends in part on our ability to successfully market ourselves and to maintain and increase sales to our existing members, including individual members and corporate members and attract more members to our membership program. We may not be able to achieve our targeted sales growth at our existing hotels, and sales at existing hotels could decrease. In addition, we may not be able to achieve our targeted level of expansion within existing and new geographic markets. The occurrence of any of such events may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our growth depends on our ability to grow the number of hotels in operation.

Our growth depends on our ability to open and profitably operate new hotels under both franchised-and-managed model and leased-and-operated model. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, we opened 605, 528 and 693 new franchised-and-managed hotels. In each of 2019, 2020 and 2021, we opened two, ten and 29 new leased-and-operated hotels, respectively. We plan to increase the number of our hotels in the future. We may not be successful in identifying and leasing or franchising additional hotel properties at desirable locations and on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In more developed cities, it may be difficult to increase the number of hotels because we or our competitors may already have operations in such cities. In less developed cities, demand for our hotels may not increase as rapidly as we expect. We also may incur substantial costs in connection with evaluating hotel properties and negotiating with property owners, including ones that we are subsequently unable to lease or franchise.

The inabilitygrowth in the number of hotels is subject to numerous risks, many of which are beyond our control. Among other risks, the following factors affect our ability to open and operate additional hotels profitably and achieve growth in the number of our hotels:

We may not be able to manage our expected growth, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

We have experienced substantial growth since our inception. We have increased the number of our total hotels in operation in China from eight as of December 31, 2005 to 4,593 as of December 31, 2021, and we intend to focus on developing additional franchised-and-managed hotels in different geographic locations in China and internationally, as well as growing through mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances. This expansion has placed, and will continue to place, substantial demands on our managerial, operational, technological, financial and other resources. There can be no assurance that we will be able to effectively manage our growth. If our growth initiatives fail, and if we fail to integrate new alliances, merged entities or acquired targets into our network, our businesses and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Our planned expansion will also require us to maintain the consistency of our brands and the quality of our services to ensure that our brands do not suffer as a result of any deviations, whether actual or perceived. In order to manage and support our growth, we must improve our existing operational, administrative and technological systems and our financial and management controls, and recruit, train and retain qualified hotel managerial personnel as well as other administrative and sales and marketing personnel, particularly as we expand into new markets.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively and efficiently manage the growth of our operations, recruit and retain qualified personnel and integrate new franchised-and-managed hotels into our operations, whether they are organically developed or strategically acquired. Any failure to effectively and efficiently manage our expansion may materially and adversely affect our ability to capitalize on new business opportunities, which in turn may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Acquisitions, financial investment or strategic investment may have an adverse effect on our ability to manage our business and harm our results of operations and financial condition.

If we are presented with appropriate opportunities, we may acquire or invest in businesses or assets. For example, in 2018, we acquired: (i) an additional 1% of the PCAOBequity interest in Yancheng Zexin Hotel Management Co., Ltd., or Zexin, and our equity interest in Zexin increased to conduct inspections51%; (ii) a 70% of auditorsthe equity interests in Foshan Baiqinghui Hotel Co., Ltd.; (iii) all of the business assets and a 70% interest in Donghe Zhenxing Hotel, in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone; and (iv) all of the business assets and equity interests in Deep Sleep Hotel, in the Xuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. In 2019, we acquired: (i) a 60% equity interest in Argyle, (ii) a 70% equity interest in Urban, and (iii) several properties for strategic development purpose. In 2020, we acquired all the hotel assets from a hotel management company located in Guangxi, and thereafter opened one leased-and-operated hotel under “GreenTree Eastern” brand. In 2021, we have acquires some hotels in some cities where we had limited numer of leased and operated hotels or we did not have any leased and operated hotels.

The existing and future acquisitions or investments may expose us to potential risks, including risks associated with unforeseen or hidden liabilities, risks that acquired or invested companies will not achieve anticipated performance levels, diversion of management attention and resources from our existing business, difficulty in integrating the acquired businesses with our existing operational infrastructure, and inability to generate sufficient revenues to offset the costs

and expenses of acquisitions or investments. For example, the sellers of the 70% equity interest in Urban (“Urban Sellers”) had undertaken to us under the equity purchase agreement entered into between us and the Urban Sellers in April 2019 (“Urban Purchase Agreement”) that Urban will achieve a steady growth with respect to its revenue and profit during the agreed period. If Urban fails to achieve the agreed growing rate, we may have an option to claim certain amount of compensation against the Urban Sellers. If we are entitled to and also decide to exercise such option, once the compensation paid to us by the Urban Sellers reaches 50% of the purchase price we paid to the Urban Sellers, they will have the right to redeem the whole 70% equity interest in Urban from us, in which case, we would no longer be able to consolidate the financial results of Urban in our consolidated financial statements and the results of our operations may also be adversely affected. In addition, following completion of an acquisition or investment, our management and resources may be diverted from their core business activities due to the integration process, which diversion may harm the effective management of our business. Furthermore, it may not be possible to achieve the expected level of benefits after integration and the actual cost of delivering such benefits may exceed the anticipated cost. Any difficulties encountered in the acquisition or investment and integration process may have an adverse effect on our ability to manage our business and harm our results of operations and financial condition. If a financial or strategic investment is unsuccessful, then in addition to the diversion of management attention and resources from our existing business, we may lose the value of our investment, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, we have made loans to third parties including our franchisees, and other entities with which we have a business relationship or strategic cooperation. Although our loans to such third parties are generally secured by collateral or a guarantee, some of these third parties may not repay us, we may not be able to recover the loaned amounts of principal and any interest due, and we may thereby incur losses which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our expansion into new markets may present increased risks.

We plan to open new hotels in markets in China makesas well as internationally where we have little or no operating experience. Those markets may have different regulatory requirements, competitive conditions, consumer preferences and discretionary spending patterns as compared to our existing markets. As a result, any new hotels we open in those markets may be less successful than hotels in our existing markets. Guests and franchisees in any new market may not be familiar with our brands and we may need more time to build brand awareness in that market through greater investments in advertising and promotional activities than we anticipated. We may find it more difficult in new markets to hire, motivate and keep qualified employees who share our vision, passion and culture. Hotels operated in new markets also may have lower average sales or higher operating costs than hotels in existing markets. Sales at hotels operated in new markets may take longer than expected to ramp up and reach expected sales and profit levels, and may never do so, thereby affecting our overall profitability.

Our financial condition and results of operations may be materially affected if our strategy to diversify our brand portfolio and mix of hospitality offerings is not successfully implemented.

We intend to diversify our brand portfolio and mix of hospitality offerings with existing brands, including GreenTree Eastern, Gem, Gya, Vx, Deep Sleep, Greentree Inns, GT Alliance, GreenTree Apartment, Vatica and Shell, as well as brands from Argyle and Urban, to cover market segments from economy to luxury markets. In April 2019, we acquired Argyle which focuses on mid-to-up-scale to luxury segments of the markets, most of which are four- and five- star hotels. In December 2019, we consolidated Urban which focuses on economy to mid-scale market segments. We may not possess sufficient knowledge or experience in expanding into the luxury market segment, hence we may face more competition in this new market segment or newly geographic markets where we operate.

In addition, the strategy to diversify our mix of hospitality offerings may increase the cash needs of our operations and may distract our management’s attention and energy. If such strategies are not successful, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

If we fail to maintain our relationships with our members and corporate members, our business and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Historically, we have derived a portion of our revenues from our members and from our cooperation arrangements with certain corporate members such as banks, airlines and other large companies. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, we sold approximately 93% of our room nights through our direct sales channels. We expect that these members and corporate members will contribute to the growth of our business in the near future.

We cannot assure you that our members will remain loyal patrons of our hotels and that our corporate members will agree to renew the relevant cooperation agreements upon their expiration, or enter into new agreements with us on substantially similar terms. Our negotiating position with corporate members also is limited, given the competition in China’s hospitality industry. If we fail to enhance or maintain our relationships with our members, and the frequency of member stays at our hotels declines as a result, or if our corporate members decline to renew their cooperation agreements or propose new agreements with commercial terms less favorable to us, our business and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

If our franchisees are unable to maintain our hotels’ condition and appearance, our hotel occupancy rates may decline.

In order to maintain the condition and appearance of hotels in our network, our hotels require ongoing renovations and other leasehold improvements, including periodic replacement of broken or used furniture, fixtures and equipment. Such investments and expenditures require ongoing funding and, to the extent our franchisees cannot fund these expenditures from existing cash or cash flow generated from operations, our franchisees must borrow or raise capital through financing. Our franchisees may not be able to access capital and our franchisees may be unwilling to spend available capital when necessary, even if required by the terms of our franchise agreements. If our franchisees continue to operate hotels while they are under refurbishment or improvement, there may be instances where refurbishment or improvements would seriously disrupt hotel operations and adversely affect the revenues of the relevant hotels. If our franchisees do not make needed leasehold investments and improvements, our hotels could become less attractive to our potential guests, we could lose market share to our competitors and our hotel occupancy rates may decline. Moreover, disruptions and other risks associated with renovation and improvements could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If the value of our brand portfolio or image diminishes, it could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Our continued success in maintaining and enhancing our brand portfolio and image depends, to a large extent, on the ability of our franchisees and us to satisfy customer needs by maintaining consistently high-quality services across our hotel network, as well as their and our ability to respond to competitive pressures. If we and our franchisees are unable to do so, our occupancy rates may decline, which could in turn adversely affect our results of operations. Our business may also be adversely affected if our brands, public image or reputation were to be diminished by the operations of any of our hotels, whether due to our franchisees failing to operate hotels according to our requirements, unsatisfactory service, accidents or otherwise. Our brand portfolio is integral to our sales and marketing efforts. In addition, the trademark “GreenTree Inn” in the U.S. was registered by a company owned by Mr. Alex S. Xu, our chairman and chief executive officer and currently used by a chain of 18 hotels in the U.S. owned by a company majority owned by Mr. Alex S. Xu. We cannot exert control over any of these hotels in the United States. If these hotels experience any quality issues or are involved in any incidents, despite the fact that our current operations are primarily in China, our reputation can be negatively affected, and the value and image of our brands can diminish. If the value of our brand image is diminished or if our brands do not continue to be attractive to guests and franchisees, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Our results of operations may fluctuate significantly due to seasonality and other factors.

The hospitality industry is subject to fluctuations in revenues due to seasonality. The seasonality of our business may cause fluctuations in our quarterly operating results. Generally, the first quarter, in which both the New Year and

Spring Festival holidays fall, accounts for a lower percentage of our annual revenues than other quarters of the year. Furthermore, our overall results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period because of several factors, including the timing of new hotel openings, revenue loss associated with the temporary closure of existing hotels for refurbishment, and any losses incurred by our franchisees or us due to hotel closures. As a result, our results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period and comparison of different periods, or even the same periods during different years, may not be meaningful. Our results for a given fiscal period are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any other fiscal period.

Substantial defaults or delays in payment by our franchisees and corporate customers or the deterioration of the financial condition of our franchisees or corporate members may have an adverse effect on our cash flows, working capital, financial condition and results of operations.

Our accounts receivable mainly consist of amounts due from our franchisees and corporate members whose employees are guests in our leased-and-operated hotels. Our corporate members may choose to settle with us directly, and we typically require our franchisees to pay various fees pursuant to their franchise agreements with us on a monthly or annual basis. Our franchisees and corporate members may delay their payments beyond the time periods set forth in our agreed credit arrangements. Furthermore, in order to accelerate our expansion, we used our surplus cash to finance the opening of new franchised-and-managed hotels by franchisees who have a proven track record with us. There can be no assurance that our franchisees will always repay us timely once we begin the financing plan. Our liquidity and cash flows from operations may be adversely affected if our accounts receivable cycles or collection periods lengthen or if we encounter a material increase in defaults of payment of our accounts receivable or repayment of the amounts we have lent to our franchisees.

Our operating results are affected by the ability of our franchisees to pay our franchise management fees. An extended period of hotel room vacancy or decrease in room rates, which may be the result of a variety of factors such as unfavorable economic conditions in China and globally, may adversely affect the operating results and financial condition of our franchisees. These negative operating conditions could result in the financial failure of our franchisees and result in the delayed payment of franchise management fees or other revenues derived from our franchised-and-managed hotels or the termination of their franchise agreements. As a result, our business, prospects and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Failure to retain our senior management could harm our business.

We place substantial reliance on the hospitality and other consumer-service industry experience and the institutional knowledge of members of our senior management team. Mr. Alex S. Xu, our founder, chairman and chief executive officer, is particularly important to our future success due to his substantial experience in the property development, hospitality and other consumer service industries. We do not carry key person insurance on any members of our senior management team. The loss of the services of one or more of these members of our senior management team due to their departure or otherwise could hinder our ability to effectively manage our business and implement our growth strategies. Finding suitable replacements for Mr. Xu or other members of our senior management team could be difficult, and competition for such personnel of similar experience is intense. If we lose their services, our business may be adversely affected.

If we or our franchisees are not able to hire, train and retain qualified managerial and other employees, our brand and our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our managerial and other employees manage our hotels and interact with our guests on a daily basis. They are critical to maintaining the quality and consistency of our services as well as our established brand and reputation. It is important for our franchisees and us to attract qualified managerial and other employees who have experience in hospitality or other consumer-service industries and are committed to high levels of service. There may be a limited supply of such qualified individuals in the cities in China where we and our franchisees have operations or where we intend to expand. In addition, it is difficult to ascertain and evaluate intangible criteria of candidates, and whether they will share our vision, dedication, passion and culture, during the recruitment process. We and our franchisees must hire and train qualified managerial and other employees on a timely basis to keep pace with our rapid growth while

maintaining consistently high-quality services across our hotels in various geographic locations. Regular training needs to be provided to our managerial and other employees so that they are equipped with up-to-date knowledge of various aspects of our hotel operations and can meet our demand for quality services. We and our franchisees also need to offer opportunities for development and career advancement in order to retain qualified managerial and other hotel staff. If we or our franchisees fail to do so, the quality of our services may decrease in one or more of the markets where the hotels in our network are located, which in turn, may have a material and adverse effect on our brand and our business.

Interruption or failure of our information and operational systems could impair our ability to effectively provide our services, which could damage our reputation.

Our ability to provide consistent quality services throughout our hotel network depends on the operation of our proprietary information and operational systems, including our central reservation, hotel management, data analysis and inter-department support systems. Any damage to or failure of our systems could interrupt our service. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption as a result of power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, fires, floods, earthquakes, interruptions in access to our toll-free numbers, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems, and similar events. Our servers, which are maintained in Shanghai, may also be vulnerable to break-ins, sabotage and vandalism. Some of our systems are not fully backed up, and our disaster recovery planning does not account for all possible scenarios. In addition, our systems and technologies may become outdated and we may not be able to replace or introduce upgraded systems as quickly as our competitors or within budgeted costs for such upgrades. If we experience frequent or persistent system failures, our quality of services and our reputation could be harmed. The steps we need to take to increase the reliability and safety of our systems may be costly, which could reduce our operating margins, and may not be successful in reducing the frequency or duration of system failures and service interruptions.

Failure to maintain the integrity of internal or customer data could result in harm to our reputation or subject us to costs, liabilities, fines or lawsuits.

Our business involves collecting and retaining a large volume of internal and customer data, including credit card numbers and other personal information as our various information technology systems enter, process, summarize and report such data. We also maintain information about various aspects of our operations as well as our employees. The integrity and protection of our customer, employee and company data are critical to our business. Our customers and employees expect that we will adequately protect their personal information. We are required by applicable laws to keep strictly confidential the personal information that we collect, and to take adequate security measures to safeguard such information. Our security measures and those of our third-party service providers may not be adequate for the protection of our customers, employees or company data.

In addition, computer hackers, foreign governments or cyber terrorists may attempt to penetrate our network security and our website. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may be obtained through break-ins, sabotage, breach of our secure network by an unauthorized party, computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, employee theft or misuse, breach of the security of the networks of our third-party service providers, or other misconduct. Because the techniques used by computer programmers who may attempt to penetrate and sabotage our proprietary internal and customer data change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may also be obtained through inadequate use of security controls. The laws and regulations applicable to security and privacy are becoming increasingly important in China. The theft, loss, fraudulent or unlawful use of customer, employee or company data could harm our reputation or result in remedial and other costs, liabilities, fines or lawsuits.

The Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC, known as the general data protection regulation, or GDPR, has imposed certain requirements on the processing of personal data relating to natural persons. GDPR requirements will apply both to companies established in the EU and to companies, such as us, that are not established in the EU but process personal data of individuals who are in the EU (and in the European Economic Area subject to the enactment of implementation procedures), where the processing activities relate to: (a) the offering of goods or services, irrespective of whether a payment of the data subject is required, to such data subjects in the EU; or (b) the monitoring of their behavior as far as their behavior takes place within the EU. Compliance with the GDPR will

be a rigorous and time-intensive process that may increase our cost of doing business, and the failure to comply with the GDPR could expose us to sanctions from both a financial and business operations perspective. In addition, in case of control, noncompliance with the GDPR may expose us to damage to our reputation.

On February 1, 2013, China’s initial personal data protection guidelines, the Guidelines for Personal Information Protection in Information Security Technology Public and Commercial Service Systems, became effective, which guidelines set forth detailed requirements as to the protection of personal information and data collection, data processing, data transfer and data creation. Although these guidelines are voluntary and non-binding, we are advised by our PRC counsel that, going forward, further regulatory oversight of data privacy in China is expected. In addition, Amendment 7 to the PRC Criminal Law prohibits institutions, companies and their employees in the telecommunications and other industries from selling or otherwise illegally disclosing a PRC citizen’s personal information obtained during the course of performing their duties or providing services, or obtaining such information through theft or other illegal means. On November 7, 2016, the Standing Committee of the PRC National People’s Congress issued the Cybersecurity Law of the PRC, which became effective on June 1, 2017. Pursuant to the Cybersecurity Law of the PRC, providers of network products and services shall maintain the security of their products and services and shall comply with provisions regarding the protection of personal information as stipulated under relevant laws and regulations. Moreover, the Provisions on Protection of Personal Information of Telecommunication and Internet Users specifically regulates the collection, use, disclosure and security of personal information. Complying with these PRC laws and regulations may cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices. To include cross references to Regulations

While we take various measures to comply with all applicable data privacy and protection laws and regulations of the PRC, our current security measures and those of our third-party service providers may not be adequate for the protection of our customers, employees or company data. In addition, hackers, foreign governments or cyber terrorists may attempt to penetrate our network security and our website. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may be obtained through break-ins, sabotage, breach of our secure network by an unauthorized party, computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, employee theft or misuse, breach of the secure networks of our third-party service providers, or other misconduct. Because the techniques used in any attempt to penetrate and sabotage our proprietary internal and customer data change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against us, we may be unable to anticipate or protect against these techniques. Unauthorized access to our proprietary internal and customer data may also be obtained through inadequate security measures. Laws and regulations in China relating to security and privacy are becoming increasingly important. Any theft, loss, fraudulent, unlawful use or disclosure of customer, employee or company data could harm our reputation and result in remedial and other costs, liabilities, fines or lawsuits.

Any failure to protect our trademarks and other intellectual property rights could negatively impact our business.

Our brand, trade name, trademarks and other intellectual property are critical to our success. The success of our business depends in part upon our continued ability to use our brands, trade names and trademarks to increase brand awareness and to further develop our brands. As of December 31, 2021, we had a total of 552 trademarks, 74 software registration certificates, and one copyright registered in China. The expiration dates of our trademarks fall between 2022 and 2032. Once the ten-year term of our registered trademarks has expired, we will be able to renew our trademark registrations for another ten years upon paying a renewal fee. If we are unable to renew one or more trademark registrations, our ability to use such trademarks could be impaired, and our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, the unauthorized reproduction or infringement of our trade name or trademarks or other intellectual property could diminish the value of our brand and its market acceptance, competitive advantage or goodwill. For example, our proprietary operational IT system, which has not been patented, copyrighted or otherwise registered as our intellectual property, is a key component of our competitive advantage and our growth strategy. As of December 31, 2021, we have received 74 software registration certificates for certain of our proprietary information and operational systems including our Central Reservation System (CRS), Property Management System (PMS) and certain other quality control systems. Although we have been granted software registration certificates in respect of some of our proprietary information and operational systems, these systems could be infringed upon by third parties, which may adversely affect

our business, financial condition and results of operations. Because the protection of a company’s intellectual property provided under PRC laws and regulations is less than that afforded under United States laws and regulations, the measures we take to protect our brands, trade names, trademarks and other intellectual property rights may not be adequate to prevent their unauthorized use by third parties. Furthermore, the application of laws governing intellectual property rights in China and abroad is uncertain and evolving, and could involve substantial risks to us. If we are unable to adequately protect our brands, trade names, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, we may lose these rights and our business may suffer materially. For example, in order to protect our brands, in the past we have filed lawsuits against certain hotel operators which had alleged to be our franchised-and-managed hotels but have not entered into any agreements with us.

We could also be subject to claims for infringement, invalidity, or indemnification relating to third parties’ intellectual property rights. Such third-party claims may be time-consuming and costly to defend, divert management attention and resources, or require us to enter into licensing agreements, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

The restaurants operated by our hotels face risks related to instances of food-borne illnesses and other food safety accidents.

Some of our hotels directly operate the restaurant located in the hotels. The restaurant business is susceptible to food-borne illnesses and other food safety accidents. We cannot assure you that our internal controls and training will be fully effective in preventing all food-borne illnesses. Furthermore, our reliance on third-party food suppliers and distributors increases the risk that food-borne illness incidents could be caused by third-party food suppliers and distributors outside of our control and the risk of multiple locations being affected rather than a single restaurant. New illnesses resistant to any precautions may develop in the future, or diseases with long incubation periods could arise that could give rise to claims or allegations on a retroactive basis. Reports in the media of instances of food-borne illnesses could, if highly publicized, negatively impact restaurant sales, forcing the closure of some restaurants and affect our customers’ confidence in our hotel business. Furthermore, other illnesses, such as hand, foot and mouth disease or avian influenza, could adversely affect the supply of some of the restaurants’ food products and significantly increase such restaurants’ costs, which may also adversely affect the results of operations of the relevant hotels.

Accidents or injuries in our hotels may adversely affect our reputation and subject us to liability.

There are inherent risks of accidents or injuries in hotels. One or more accidents or injuries such as fire accident, slip and fall and accident during property renovation at any of our hotels could adversely affect our safety reputation among guests and potential guests, decrease our overall occupancy rates and increase our costs by requiring us to take additional measures to make our safety precautions even more visible and effective. If accidents or injuries occur at any of our hotels, we may be held liable for costs related to the injuries. Our property and liability insurance policies may not provide adequate coverage and we may be unable to renew our insurance policies or obtain new insurance policies without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels.

In addition, if any incidents, particularly fire accidents, occur in any of the leased-and-operated hotels that do not possess the relevant licenses, permits, title certificate or fire safety inspection certificate, or is located on properties where the actual use and the designated land or property use are inconsistent, there could be substantial negative publicity, thereby triggering large-scale government actions that impact our entire hotel network, which in turn will have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to risks related to litigation filed by or against us, and adverse litigation results may harm our business and financial condition.

We have been, and may in the future be, a party to litigation and other proceedings filed by or against us, including actions relating to among others property lease, franchise agreements with our franchisees, infringement of our brands, employment-related disputes, personal injury, property damage or other harm resulting from acts or omissions by individuals or entities outside of our control, including franchisees and third-party property owners. Various disputes in connection with the properties we lease or with the franchise agreements may occur from time to time, which may cause

our hotel operations to be affected or in the worst-case scenario, to be ceased. For example, as of December 31, 2021 we had four pending legal proceedings in connection with the leased hotel properties, six pending legal proceedings in connection with trademarks, and 43 pending legal proceedings in connection with franchised-and-managed hotels. In addition, the research and examinations that we conduct on both the hotel properties and the potential franchisees before entering into franchise agreements, may not be sufficient for us to identify all relevant information. As a result, we may be in dispute with our franchisees, which may result in litigation filed by or against us. See “Our Business — Legal Proceedings.”

The outcome of legal proceedings is uncertain, we cannot predict with certainty the cost of defense, the cost of prosecution or the ultimate outcome of thereof, including remedies or damage awards, and adverse results in such litigation and other proceedings may disrupt our business, materially and adversely affect our reputation, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. Moreover, if any claims against us were to prevail, we would be subject to monetary or other liabilities, which could strain our financial resources, consume the time and attention of our management and otherwise have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our lessors’ failure to comply with lease registration and other compliance requirements under PRC law may subject these lessors or us to fines or other penalties that may negatively affect our ability to operate our hotels.

As an operator and manager of our leased hotel properties, we are subject to a number of land- and property-related legal requirements. For instance, under PRC law, all lease agreements are required to be registered with the local land and real estate administration bureau. Our standard lease agreement generally requires the lessor to make such registrations. However, as of December 31, 2021, because our lessors failed or were reluctant to provide necessary documents for us to register the leases, 63 lessors of our leased-and-operated hotels had not obtained registrations of their leases from the relevant authorities as required despite our repeated requests to these lessors to obtain registrations, as required under our lease agreements with them. In addition, based on the specific land use right certificates and property ownership certificates held by some of our lessors of the leased-and-operated hotels, approximately half of the 66 hotel properties we own or lease and operate are restricted to industrial and other uses, rather than qualified for hotel operation use. The failure of these 63 lessors to register lease agreements as required by law or to ensure that the hotel properties are operated in compliance with their designated use may subject these lessors or us to fines or other penalties in the amount of up to RMB10,000 for each hotel property or approximately RMB310,000 in aggregate, which may negatively affect our ability to operate the hotels covered under those leases. Moreover, the failure to use the property in compliance with the intended usage designated by the land use right certificates or the property ownership certificates may subject the lessors or us to fines in the amount of up to RMB30,000 for each property, invalidate the lease agreements, confiscation of relevant gains or subject them or us to temporary suspension or termination of operations.

We are subject to various claims and disputes in the ordinary course of business, and increases in the amount or severity of these claims and disputes could adversely affect us.

We are exposed to various claims and disputes related to commercial operations, personal injury, property damage, labor disputes and other matters in the ordinary course of our business. Developments in regulatory, legislative or judicial standards, material changes to dispute resolution trends, or a catastrophic accident or series of accidents, including accidents that affect our franchisees or vendors, involving any or all of commercial operations, property damage, personal injury, and labor disputes could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and reputation.

For example, as of December 31, 2021, approximately 8.6% of our room nights are booked through OTAs, to whom we pay agency fees for such services. If we were to have a dispute with an OTA, the volume of our room inventory booked through such OTA may decline, or the OTA may block reservations of our rooms or remove our hotels from their website entirely, pending resolution of the dispute. As a result, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

In addition, our franchisees may suspend or terminate their cooperation with us voluntarily or involuntarily due to various reasons, including disagreement or dispute with us, failure to maintain requisite approvals, licenses or permits or to comply with other governmental regulations, and events beyond our or their control, such as inclement weather,

natural disasters, transportation interruptions or labor unrest or shortage. For example, franchisees of our brand may object to or decline to pay franchise fees charged by us. Due to intense competition in China’s hospitality industry, our existing franchisees may also discontinue their cooperation with us and work with our competitors instead. We may not be able to promptly replace our franchisees on a timely and cost-effective basis, or at all. As a result of any disruptions associated with our franchisees, our guest satisfaction, brands, reputation, operations and financial performance may be materially and adversely affected.

We may encounter disputes from time to time relating to our use of intellectual property of third parties.

We may encounter disputes from time to time over rights and obligations concerning intellectual property, and we may not prevail in those disputes. We cannot assure you that personnel in our leased-and-operated hotels will not use intellectual property of third parties without proper authorization. We may incur liability for such unauthorized or infringing use, and be subject to additional claims in the future. Any such claim of infringement or unauthorized use of intellectual property could result in costly litigations and divert the attention and resources of our management.

The growth of online and other hotel reservation intermediaries and travel consolidators may adversely affect our margins and profitability.

In 2019, 2020 and 2021, approximately 7.4% of our room nights were booked through OTAs to whom we pay commissions for such services. If these intermediaries and consolidators become the primary channel through which our guests make their bookings, they may be able to negotiate higher commissions, reduced room rates, or other significant concessions from us. The operations of these travel intermediaries and consolidators may adversely affect our ability to control the supply and price of our room inventory, which would in turn adversely affect our margins and profitability.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual.

GTI beneficially owns 82.9% of our Class A ordinary shares and 100% of our Class B ordinary shares and 93.2% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital. The voting power of our company owned by GTI is indirectly owned by Mr. Alex S. Xu, our founder, chairman and chief executive officer, as he owns 83.9% of voting power of GTI, which entitles Mr. Xu to nominate or replace all directors of GTI, and determine how GTI exercises the voting power in our company. As long as GTI or Mr. Alex S. Xu owns at least 50% of the voting power of our company, we will be a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE Listed Company Manual. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors, although we have no current intention to rely on the controlled company exemption. As a result, you may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by epidemics, natural disasters and other catastrophes.

Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by epidemics, natural disasters and other catastrophes, particularly in locations where we operate a large number of hotels. China has in the past experienced significant natural disasters, including earthquakes in Western and Southwestern China, extreme weather conditions, as well as health scares related to epidemic diseases, and any similar event that could materially impact our business in the future. If a disaster or other disruption were to occur in the future that affects the regions where we have or are developing franchised-and-managed or leased-and-operated hotels, our operations could be materially and adversely affected due to loss of personnel and damages to property. Even if we are not directly affected, such a disaster or disruption could affect our guests, which could harm our results of operations.

In addition, our business could be affected by public health epidemics, such as the outbreak of avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, Zika virus, Ebola virus, COVID-19 or other diseases. If any of our employees is suspected of having contracted a contagious disease, we may be required to apply quarantines or suspend our operations. Furthermore, any future outbreak may restrict economic activities in affected regions, resulting in

reduced business volume, temporary closure or quarantine of hotels in operation or otherwise disrupt our operations and adversely affect our results of operations.

Losses caused by epidemics, natural disasters and other catastrophes, including SARS, H1N1, H7N9 influenza, COVID-19, earthquakes or floods, are either uninsurable or too expensive to justify insuring against in China. In the event an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occurs, we could lose all or a portion of the capital we have invested in a hotel, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the hotel. In that event, we might nevertheless remain obligated for any financial obligations related to the hotel. Similarly, war (including the potential of war), terrorist activities (including the threat of terrorist activities), social unrest and heightened travel security measures, as well as geopolitical uncertainty and international conflict may affect travel and may in turn affect our business, financial conditions, and results of operations. If our franchised-and-managed hotels are affected by these incidents, we might lose our revenue stream from those hotels. In addition, we may not be adequately prepared in contingency planning or recovery capability in relation to a major incident or crisis, and as a result, our operational continuity may be adversely affected and our reputation may be harmed.

COVID-19 caused us to incur economic losses in 2021, and may continue to do so. Our Franchised-and-managed revenues in 2021 full year declined by 6.9% comparing to 2019 level. Consumer demand was reduced and the operation of our hotels was disrupted as a result of measures that were taken to control the COVID-19 outbreak. Our leased-and-operated hotels generally have fixed operating costs and low profit margins, so any disruption their operation or significant reduction in consumer demand may adversely affect our business and results of operations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have provided certain financing support to our franchisees, and have reduced or waived the fees that we collect from them. This financing support, and reductions or waivers of franchisee fees, also have had an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore, the resurgence of COVID-19 in several provinces such as Hebei, and cities such as Shanghai and Beijing caused our occupancy rate to decline in January 2021. Our occupancy rate was also low during the New Year and Spring Festival holiday due to the policy encouraging residents to stay local and not return home. Although China’s economic outlook has recovered and improved since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, COVID-19 as well as policies and measures adopted in response to it may still have a material and adverse impact on our financial and operating performance in the future. Over the longer term, any further resurgence of COVID-19 may undermine our existing franchisees’ confidence in us, our business and the hospitality industry generally, they may decide not to expand and develop new hotels, and our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected as a result.

We have limited insurance coverage.

We carry property insurance that covers the assets that we own at our leased-and-operated hotels, but such property insurance does not cover the buildings or any other assets owned by our lessors or the assets of the franchised-and-managed hotels. Although we generally require our lessors and our franchisees to purchase customary insurance policies, we cannot guarantee that they will adhere to such requirements. We do not have business disruption insurance coverage for our operations to cover losses that may be caused by natural disasters or catastrophic events, such as SARS or avian flu. Any business disruption or natural disaster may result in our incurring substantial costs and diversion of our resources. In addition, there are inherent risks of accidents or injuries in hotels. One or more accidents or injuries at any of our hotels could adversely affect our safety reputation among customers and potential customers, decrease our overall occupancy rates and increase our costs by requiring us to take additional measures to make our safety precautions even more visible and effective. In the future, we may be unable to renew our insurance policies or obtain new insurance policies without increases in cost or decreases in coverage levels. We may also encounter disputes with insurance providers regarding payments of claims that we believe are covered under our policies. If we were held liable for amounts and claims exceeding the limits of our insurance coverage or outside the scope of our insurance coverage, our reputation, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

We may require additional financing for our business, which may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all, or would increase our financial leverage and may be difficult to service.

We may require additional financial resources to support our growth, future development and any investments, including mergers or acquisitions that we may pursue. The amount and timing of such additional financing needs will

vary depending on the timing of our new hotel openings, investments in converting new leased-and-operated hotels and searching and developing relationships with potential franchisees and the amount of cash flow from our operations. If our internal resources are insufficient to satisfy our financing requirements, we may seek additional financing by selling additional equity or debt securities or obtaining a credit facility. The sale of additional equity securities could result in additional dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that may, among other things, potentially restrict our operations or our ability to pay dividends. Servicing such debt obligations could also be burdensome to our operations. If we fail to service our debt obligations or are unable to comply with the relevant debt covenants, we could be in default under the relevant debt obligations and our liquidity and financial conditions may be materially and adversely affected.

Our ability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:

We cannot assure you that future financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If we fail to raise additional funds, we may need to sell debt or additional equity securities, reduce our growth to a level that can be supported by our cash flow or defer planned expenditures.

We will continue to recognize a substantial amount of share-based compensation expenses, which will have a significant impact on our financial condition and liquidity position.

We adopted our 2018 share incentive plan in January 2018, pursuant to which we may grant options to purchase up to 9,000,000 of our Class A ordinary shares. Options granted to our employees generally vest either ratably over the following four years starting after the first/second/third anniversary of date of our initial public offering in the U.S., or 50% on the date of our initial public offering in U.S. and another 50% on December 31, 2019, as applicable; options granted to our directors vested 100% on the first anniversary of the date of our initial public offering in the U.S. As of December 31, 2021, we had outstanding options with respect to 992,500 Class A ordinary shares that have been granted to our employees, directors and consultants under the 2018 share incentive plan. As a result of our grants of awards under the 2018 Plan, we incurred share-based compensation expenses of RMB0.23 million and RMB2.46 million (USD$0.39 million) in 2020 and 2021. We are required to account for share options granted to our employees, directors and consultants in accordance with Codification of Accounting Standards, or ASC 718, “Compensation — Stock Compensation” and ASC 505-50, “Equity, Equity-Based Payments to Non-Employees.” We will continue to incur and recognize additional share-based compensation expenses in the future as we continue to grant share-based incentives. We believe such incentives are necessary for us to be able to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share-based compensation to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and liquidity position.

A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting has been identified. If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud.

We are required to assess the effectiveness of our auditors’disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit proceduresof our internal control

over financial reporting. As defined in standards established by the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or qualitythe PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified a material weakness in accordance with the standards established by the PCAOB, which relates to our material weakness in controls over the completeness of the bad debt provision for our franchisee loans receivable. To remedy our identified material weakness, we intend to implement certain measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting to address the material weakness identified. See “Item 15. Controls and Procedures — Internal Control over Financial Reporting”. However, the implementation of these measures may not fully remediate the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.

We are a public company in the United States subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, required that we include a report of management on our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our independent registered public accounting firm did not undertake a comprehensive assessment of our internal control for purposes of identifying and reporting material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as they will be required to do after we cease to be an emerging growth company. In the future our management may again conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, after we became a public company, our reporting obligations have placed and continue to place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation. In addition, we may not be able to timely file our periodic reports as a public company under U.S. securities laws, which could limit the amount of information that investors receive about our company in the future and adversely affect the price of our ADSs, our business and our reputation.

In the future in documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify new material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as comparedthese standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to auditors outside of China that are subjecttime, we may identify new material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to PCAOB inspections. Investors mayachieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial informationinformation. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and procedures andlead to a decline in the qualitytrading price of our ADSs.

Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial statements.reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our financial statements from prior periods.

Going forward we expect to generate a significant portion of our revenues from the restaurant business, which involves risks and uncertainties.

In May 2022, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Da Niang Dumplings and Bellagio, two leading restaurant chain businesses in China, or collectively, the Target Businesses, from GTI, our controlling shareholder. The closing of this proposed acquisition is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions, and is currently expected to occur in the second half of 2022. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—A. History and Development of the Company—Proposed Acquisition of Da Niang Dumplings and Bellagio.” After completion of our proposed acquisition of Da Niang Dumplings and Bellagio, we expect to generate a significant portion of our revenues from the restaurant business, which involves risks and uncertainties that differ from our hotel business. Risks and uncertainties related to the restaurant business operated by Da Niang Dumplings and Bellagio include, but are not limited to, the following:

We are an “emerging growth company” and may not be subject to requirements that other public companies are subject to, which could harm investor confidence in us and our ADSs.

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or the JOBS Act, contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain requirements for qualifying public companies. We are an “emerging growth company” as defined under the JOBS Act and, for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies, including an exemption from the requirement to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 and an exemption from the requirement to adopt and comply with new or revised accounting standards at the same time as other public companies. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of our fiscal year during which we have total annual gross revenues of at least US$1.07 billion; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering; (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous three year period, issued

more than US$1.0 billion in non-convertible debt; or (d) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, which would occur if the market value of our ADSs that are held by non-affiliates exceeds US$700 million as of the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We will take advantage of the extended transition period. As a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to other public companies that comply with the public company effective dates for these new or revised accounting standards.

We also expect that these new rules and regulations could make it more expensive for us to renew director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee.

We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and our ADS price may be more volatile.

Risks Related to Our ADSs

The market price for our ADSs may be volatile.

The market price for our ADSs may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to factors including the following: