In-situ Chinese New Year causes "hard to find a house"——

The homestay industry ushered in a period of opportunity for quality upgrading

　　Reporter Liu Chun Muyang

　　Recently, Zhang Cheng, who works for an Internet company in Beijing, was preparing to book a Beijing suburbs homestay with friends for the New Year, but found that suitable and satisfactory homestays were fully booked during the Spring Festival.

"The country has issued the'New Year in Place' initiative, and our company also called on employees to stay in Beijing for the New Year. I decided not to mess with the epidemic prevention work and discussed with a few friends to rent a homestay in Beijing for the New Year. I did not expect to browse it on several platforms. , I found that many of them are not available. I found dozens of sets, but only two or three have rooms." Zhang Cheng said.

　　According to data from Tujia Homestay, bookings for tourism products such as resort hotels and homestays in the suburbs of Beijing have gradually increased during the Spring Festival this year. The booking rate of some homestays in Beijing’s suburbs during the Spring Festival has exceeded 70%.

It is hard to find good quality housing.

　　Li Zhenni, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Tujia Homestay, said: “Many people choose the suburban homestays that are about 2 hours’ drive away from the city or the surrounding suburban homestays. The surrounding areas of these homestays can satisfy mountaineering, farming, picking, parenting, etc. Leisure experience activities; there are other homestays in the ancient villages, which restore the old appearance of the ancient village on the exterior, and adopt modern design inside. You can also experience the local characteristics of the year and spend a local year."

　　Data from Little Pig B&B shows that the hot searches for local travel on the platform during the Spring Festival accounted for over 75%.

Guangzhou, Huzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an and other cities have the fastest growth of local orders.

During the Spring Festival, Guangdong Province ranked first in the number of homestay orders in the country, with 85% of bookings made by local tourists, and the average number of booking days was two days.

　　"The tightening of the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the'New Year in Place' initiative are a mixed blessing for the homestay market." Huang Wei, head of public affairs at Xiaozhu Homestay, said that on the one hand, homestays in popular long-term tourist destinations during the Spring Festival face more orders. Unsubscription is cancelled; on the other hand, new and active local consumer demand is released in the homestays in the city's self-driving circle.

　　According to Huang Wei’s analysis, the hot-selling homestay products during the Spring Festival have three characteristics: First, the product content is rich, and there are many experience activities. This is reflected in the fact that the homestay can provide a variety of services including cultural and folk customs experience, parent-child activities, catering services, etc., which can fully satisfy The needs of different subdivided groups; the second is good privacy, mostly located in villages or resorts around the city, mainly in single-family homes, private rural courtyards, etc.; third, high quality, high unit price per customer, and number of receptions Many, to meet the needs of gatherings, families and other crowd activities and accommodation.

　　“The epidemic has caused a considerable blow to Tujia and the entire homestay industry. Therefore, at the beginning of last year, Tujia contracted and adjusted certain businesses.” Li Zhenni said that with the major victory of domestic epidemic prevention and control, the entire homestay industry The recovery is better than expected.

"Take Tujia as an example. The data in the fourth quarter of each year will decrease compared with the National Day, but the decline in 2020 is not serious. This is a positive sign. On New Year's Day 2021, the number of advance bookings for homestays will even reach 1.5 times the same period last year."

　　Mo Xiaoyan, the manager of Yuxi Guliyuan B&B in Conghua, Guangzhou, told reporters that the overall business situation in 2020 has undergone major changes.

In the past, summer vacation was the peak season for staying at homestays, but last summer many colleges and universities only closed in August, and the peak season was shortened to only one month.

Although the occupancy rate in August was basically the same as the previous year, when there was no holiday in July, business dropped sharply by half.

　　"In addition, the homestay industry also shows the characteristics of the peak season being more prosperous, and the off-season being lighter." Mo Xiaoyan said that on national legal holidays, the booking situation is hotter than last year. "For example, on October 3, when there is a concentrated travel every year, rooms are available one month in advance. Fully booked. But the off-season is even lighter than last year. This reflects the current situation where the guests get together to travel and the market lacks stamina."

　　Nowadays, homestays no longer only take on the function of accommodation, but also integrate eating, housing, entertainment and other scenes, becoming a leisure way for many families or groups.

While the epidemic has impacted the homestay industry, it has also brought new opportunities and new trends.

"Users pay more attention to the safety and quality of homestay products, and their individual needs for homestay services are also bursting out." Li Zhenni said that in the epidemic, tourists not only put forward new requirements for privacy, quality and sanitary conditions of homestays, There are also clear demands on themed experience activities.

　　"The epidemic has ushered in an opportunity for the industry as a whole to improve quality and upgrade." Wang Liantao, co-founder of Xiaozhu Homestay, said that after the epidemic, domestic tourism consumption patterns will undergo some structural changes, and the mode of travel will continue to be high-frequency, short-distance, and peripheral leisure travel. Conversion.

Driven by the network platform, self-organized products such as self-driving tours and family parent-child tours will increase significantly. There will also be more room for growth in micro-vacation products around cities, such as micro-travel, slow leisure, and in-depth experience tourism products. It will be more favored by consumers, bringing new traffic and growth opportunities to the tourism industry.

　　Wang Liantao said that in cities, urban boutique homestays under the trend of urban micro-vacation will usher in new development opportunities; in the countryside, country homes and mid-to-high-end homestay clusters under the background of rural revitalization will also be in the policy and market. Demand has become a continuous hot spot under the dual benefit of demand.

　　The reporter learned during the interview that in 2020, the polarization of the homestay industry will become more serious.

Many investors saw the boom in the homestay market, so they invested in homestays one after another.

In the past year alone, many new homestays opened, and some high-quality homestays were "difficult to find a room", which reduced the surrounding tourist market.

However, it should also be noted that there are also many homestays that are forced to close their stores because they cannot continue to operate.

　　Regulatory compliance is also a bottleneck and problem in the current homestay market.

Experts said that at present, ensuring the compliance and legality of future online short-term rentals is undoubtedly the primary strategic direction of each homestay platform, and standards must be established first.