The once-vast hotel empire amassed by property developer R&F Properties is being dismantled piecemeal through forced judicial auctions, according to listings on major asset trading platforms.
Information from the JD.com Asset Trading Platform shows that assets related to the Taizhou R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Jiangsu province will enter a forced sale process on June 8th, with a starting price of 115 million yuan. This hotel had previously failed to sell at auction in both April and May of this year. Also entering the disposal process are the Huangshi R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Hubei and the Anyang R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Henan, with starting prices of 118 million yuan and 105 million yuan, respectively.
Additionally, the Bozhou R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Anhui will accept bids starting June 13th, with a starting price of 99.7594 million yuan. The listings indicate that these asset disposals stem from a dispute over an enforceable notarized creditor's rights document involving CM BANK's Guangzhou branch, Guangzhou R&F Properties Co., Ltd. (R&F Properties), and Guangzhou Zhaoxi Investment Co., Ltd.
CM BANK's Guangzhou branch has applied to the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for compulsory enforcement against R&F-related assets, including these hotels. Data from the JD.com and Alibaba Asset platforms shows that the number of R&F hotel asset auction projects applied for enforcement by CM BANK's Guangzhou branch has reached 32, involving 33 hotels and one office building.
Between 2017 and 2018, R&F Properties acquired 71 hotels and one office building asset from Dalian Wanda, briefly becoming the world's largest owner of luxury hotels. Today, this portfolio is being systematically pushed onto judicial auction platforms. Currently, there are 11 R&F hotel assets in either auction or forced sale procedures.
Among these, the JD.com platform has three listings: the Harbin R&F Wanda Realm Hotel, the Tangshan R&F InterContinental Hotel, and an asset package comprising the Dalian R&F Center, the Dalian Conrad Hotel, and the Dalian R&F Hilton Hotel, with starting prices of 272 million yuan, 153 million yuan, and 1.399 billion yuan, respectively.
The Alibaba Asset platform has four assets currently up for auction, including the Bengbu R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Anhui, the Nanning R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Guangxi, the Dongguan Wanda Vista Hotel in Guangdong, and the Fushun R&F Wanda Realm Hotel in Liaoning, with starting prices of 144 million yuan, 135 million yuan, 224 million yuan, and 109 million yuan, respectively.
Since the first batch of hotel assets entered judicial auction in September 2025, a total of 33 hotels owned by R&F Properties have been listed for auction. Of these, 12 hotels (comprising 11 lots) are still in the auction or forced sale stage, while transactions for the remaining 21 hotels have concluded.
Looking at transaction results, luxury hotel assets still hold considerable market appeal. Among the 21 concluded lots, 17 were successfully sold, generating a total transaction value of 5.279 billion yuan. Four lots either failed to sell or were withdrawn. The Changsha project fetched the highest price at 514 million yuan; two Wuhan projects sold for 470 million yuan and 424 million yuan, respectively; and the Urumqi project transacted for 422 million yuan.
Projects in Quanzhou, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Kunming, Hefei, and Shijiazhuang all sold for over 300 million yuan each. In terms of discounting, among the 17 successful sales, 11 sold at approximately a 30% discount to their valuation, two at about a 20% discount, and the remaining four at roughly a 44% discount.
Most hotels have undergone multiple rounds of disposal procedures. Taking the Dalian asset package as an example, its starting price in the first auction in March was 1.749 billion yuan. After failing to sell, it was relisted in April at 1.399 billion yuan before entering the forced sale process, representing a discount of about 44% to the assessed value.
Regarding buyer composition, private enterprises have been dominant. Among them, Ningbo Jiangdong Modern Electromechanical Materials Market Development Co., Ltd. successively acquired three hotels in Wuhan, Hefei, and Wuxi for a total of 1.06 billion yuan. The Quanzhou project was acquired by a local "Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative" enterprise.
Other buyers include hotel management firms, automotive service companies, coal enterprises, and medical service providers. Four hotels were acquired by state-owned enterprises: the Maanshan and Yichang projects were taken over by local cultural tourism companies, the Zhengzhou project was won by a local state-owned hotel management firm, and a Wuhan project was secured by a local state-owned enterprise.
The Legal Mechanism Behind the Sales
What pushed these R&F hotels onto the auction block is an enforceable notarized creditor's rights document. Information released by the Guangzhou Intermediate Court shows it accepted a case involving a dispute over such a document between CM BANK's Guangzhou branch and R&F Properties, among 134 persons subject to enforcement. The court commissioned an appraisal of the related hotel assets.
Unlike ordinary litigation, an enforceable notarized creditor's rights document is a legal instrument given compulsory enforcement effect by a notary institution when a financing contract is signed. Upon debtor default, the creditor can directly apply to the court for compulsory enforcement with the notarial and execution certificates, bypassing the litigation and trial process.
Corporate records show that from November 2017 to May 2018, R&F Properties and its subsidiaries pledged the equity of 147 hotel management companies to CM BANK's Guangzhou branch. Most of these companies were established between August 2017 and June 2018 and controlled 68 hotel assets under R&F.
R&F began its acquisition of Wanda's hotel assets in July 2017. To facilitate the transaction, Dalian Wanda pre-established holding entities for the relevant hotels, with asset transfer completed via equity assignment at closing. Post-acquisition, most hotel assets were placed under Guangzhou Zhaoxi.
R&F claimed at the time that the acquisition funds came primarily from its own capital, but it initiated large-scale financing immediately after signing the deal. This included a 11.94 billion yuan syndicated loan led by CM BANK and a $540 million overseas acquisition loan. The collateral for both domestic and overseas financing was the 68 hotels and one office building asset held by Guangzhou Zhaoxi.
The domestic financing was secured mainly through equity pledges of Guangzhou Zhaoxi and related companies; the overseas financing pledged the equity of Hong Kong Zhaoxi, which is a shareholder of Guangzhou Zhaoxi. The turning point came in 2024 when these domestic and overseas financings defaulted.
Overseas creditors applied to have the 68 hotels and office building asset transferred to a designated entity. CM BANK's Guangzhou branch applied to the Guangzhou Intermediate Court for compulsory enforcement. In September 2024, overseas creditors, through a security agent, appointed a receiver who took full control over the operation and disposal of the related assets, stripping R&F of practical control.
Starting in September 2025, CM BANK's Guangzhou branch began putting batches of the hotel assets up for judicial auction. A source close to the asset disposal process indicated that hotels within the pledged scope will enter the disposal process in batches, with the remaining assets having completed preliminary work like appraisal and set to be listed subsequently.
Years of Operational Losses
The story traces back nine years. On July 19, 2017, Dalian Wanda, Sunac China, and R&F Properties signed an agreement. Under the arrangement, Sunac took over 13 cultural tourism projects for 43.8 billion yuan, while R&F Properties acquired 100% equity in 77 Wanda hotels for 19.9 billion yuan.
The deal was later adjusted, excluding some hotel assets and adding the Dalian Wanda Center office building, with the transaction amount revised to 18.955 billion yuan. Ultimately, due to交割 issues with some projects, the actual assets transferred were 71 hotels and one office building.
At that time, this was seen as an attractive deal. According to R&F's announcements, the average cost per acquired hotel was about 255 million yuan, significantly lower than the roughly 430 million yuan average investment for its self-built hotels. The premium generated from the transaction contributed 13.1 billion yuan in profit for R&F that year and pushed its hotel business into profitability.
Post-acquisition, R&F's hotel count jumped from 18 to 89, making it the world's largest luxury hotel owner. However, excluding the one-time gain from the acquisition, R&F's hotel operations have been chronically loss-making. From 2017 to 2019, the hotel business reported losses of 146 million yuan, 459 million yuan, and 1.008 billion yuan, respectively.
From 2020 to 2022, impacted by market conditions, losses widened further to 1.427 billion yuan, 1.422 billion yuan, and 1.53 billion yuan, respectively; revenue during this period fell by about one-third compared to peak levels. In 2023, R&F's hotel business revenue saw a noticeable recovery but still recorded a loss of 904 million yuan.
In 2024, affected by the deconsolidation of some hotel assets and impairment losses, the loss expanded further to 3.619 billion yuan. In 2025, 22 hotels under R&F generated operating revenue of 1.7 billion yuan, with a net loss of 1.185 billion yuan.
Overall, excluding factors like asset appreciation and impairment, R&F's hotel operations accumulated losses of approximately 9 billion yuan from 2017 to 2025. A source close to R&F Properties stated that, compared to profit, the more important value of the hotel business lies in its continuous cash flow.
Over the past two years, R&F has attempted to avoid further asset disposals by repaying debt, but progress has been difficult due to industry headwinds. According to agreements between R&F and its creditors, if the principal and interest of the relevant loans are repaid, the corresponding collateral can be released and returned to R&F. However, since its debt default at the end of 2023, R&F has consistently failed to fulfill related repayment commitments.
To date, R&F Properties retains 22 self-built hotels, mainly located in Guangzhou, Beijing, Huizhou, Chongqing, and Hainan. Among the 71 hotels acquired from Wanda in 2017, the Beijing Wanda Realm, Fuzhou Westin, and Zhenjiang Wanda Realm were sold early in the liquidity crisis. The remaining 68 hotels and one office building asset have all entered the disposal process.
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