UrCove, a new mid-to upscale hotel brand created by a joint venture between Hyatt and BTG Homeinns, started to take reservations on Aug 13.

The first hotel of UrCove, known in Chinese as Yifei, is scheduled to open in Shanghai's Jing'an district in October. More hotels are being built in other cities, such as Nanjing of Jiangsu province and Chengdu of Sichuan province. UrCove plans to open 300 hotels across China in the next five years, said CEO Sun Wu during the event.

People are able to reserve rooms on Hyatt and BTG's booking platforms, such as their websites and mobile apps.

The launch of the reservation system and a signing ceremony for property owners and the UrCove hotel management company was staged at Grant Hyatt Shanghai.

"Our target guests are business travelers who care about the experience and quality of their accommodation," he added.

The brand is positioned in between BTG Yitel Premium and Hyatt Place, according to the company.

"We hope our guests will feel a relaxed atmosphere once they enter through the door, so we opened the front desk area and merged it with the lobby to create a multifunctional social space, and we provide guests with more than 130 healthy selections for breakfast," Sun said.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, executives of the new brand are confident about the future of the hotel market.

"The pandemic is temporary and we have seen a gradual recovery in China," said Yan Chun, chief development officer of UrCove. "The signing of a bunch of memorandums of understanding today just showed people's confidence in the future growth of the market."

Sun Jian, general manager of BTG Homeinns Hotels, said the joint venture has combined the efficiency of BTG and the quality of Hyatt. "The idea of the new brand took shape in just two years, which is a record speed for the cooperation between domestic and international hotel groups," he said.

Stephen Ho, president of growth and operations for the Asia-Pacific region at Hyatt, joined the event from a video call in Hong Kong."I am proud to see the global reservation of UrCove go live today. This is a milestone for our cooperation. We hope the new brand will continue to leverage the resources of the two groups and stick to the pursuit of quality and innovation."