As the concept of e-sports becomes popular in China, "playing games" has become an important way for most post-90s and post-00s to socialize.
During the epidemic period, the market size of e-sports hotels that have developed well has doubled, and the situation of "involution" has quickly formed.
In just two years, the market for esports hotels has tripled.
The "2022 E-sports Hotel Market Research Report" jointly released by the China Tourist Hotel Industry Association and Tongcheng Travel shows that the domestic e-sports hotel market has maintained a steady growth momentum in the past two years, and the number of e-sports hotels nationwide is expected to exceed 20,000 by 2023 Homes, dedicated e-sports hotels and ordinary e-sports hotels (ordinary hotels that provide e-sports-themed room types) are the main formats of the current domestic e-sports hotel market.
E-sports hotel consumption in Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha, Wuhan, Hefei, Wenzhou, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Nanchang, Hangzhou and other places is relatively active.
The core customer group of e-sports hotels is dominated by the post-90s and post-95s generation, and male users account for nearly 90%.
In terms of average room rates, 67.4% of e-sports hotels have an average price of less than 250 yuan per room.
In recent years, in addition to a group of entrepreneurs who have entered the e-sports hotel market as a blue ocean, Internet giants have also rushed to the end.
In 2021, Shangri-La Group released a game e-sports theme room jointly customized with Tencent Games and Tencent E-sports, integrating game IP elements such as "Everyday Love Elimination" and "Happy Fighting the Landlord" into the hotel scene; Established the "Jingdong E-sports Hotel" brand, and Tongcheng-Elong made strategic investment in i-E-sports Hotel, etc.
In 2022, the popularity of e-sports hotels will not decrease, and involution will intensify.
In September, the first virtual human-managed e-sports hotel brand "Jing'e Hotel" opened in Hangzhou; Shengtian Network signed a strategic cooperation with Meituan Hotel to develop in-depth around e-sports events and e-sports hotel business Cooperation; in December, Xiamen PK E-sports Hotel received 5 million yuan in financing.
According to analysis, at present, e-sports hotels have shown many new highlights in terms of business innovation and user experience innovation, and will create more abundant consumption scenarios in the future.
For example, e-sports hotel + escape room, e-sports hotel + script killing + takeaway, e-sports hotel + game IP, etc.
However, what needs attention is that because e-sports hotels have both functions of surfing the Internet and lodging, the corresponding industries have different regulatory regulations. However, Chinese laws have not yet clarified the business nature of e-sports hotels, resulting in a regulatory vacuum.
Social protection and network protection issues are particularly prominent when dealing with minors.
At present, some cities have launched legislation on the right to set penalties for illegal admission of minors in e-sports hotels, and many cities have stepped up law enforcement inspections, requiring e-sports hotel operators and managers to strictly implement various safety management systems to eliminate minors. The phenomenon of people surfing the Internet.
Text/Reporter Chen Si