160 million outbound people returned, and the post-95s generation became the main traveler
The homestay industry uses group, live broadcast, and stocking to cope with big waves
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Meng Peipei Source: China Youth Daily (Version 11, January 26, 2021)
From being complacent in January, caught off guard in February, struggling to save himself from March to May, and then to the “retaliatory” recovery in the second half of the year, the homestay industry has experienced a roller coaster-like 2020. The new crown pneumonia epidemic has set the industry at a turning point for accelerated reshuffle. .
According to data, in 2019, the number of online homestay hosts in my country was 400,000, and the number of listings was 1.34 million, but 150,000 hotels will be closed in 2020, of which individual hotels accounted for 98%.
However, taking inventory of 2020, Shen Aixiang, founder and CEO of "Order Here", a service platform that has provided management systems for more than 30,000 homestays, found that “the overall operating data of the homestay industry is not bad. Quality homestay enjoys positive benefits".
Holding group for warmth, homestay clusters will become a new trend
The Yellow River and the desert, the oasis and the Gobi, the mountains and the Route 66, the third season of the variety show "Dear Inn", makes Ningxia Zhongwei one of the most worthwhile tourist holiday destinations in 2020, and also makes the filming location "Yellow River" "Suji" is hard to find a room.
At the beginning of 2019, this new project consisting of five branded homestays, Nanan, Xipo, Dalezhiye, Xuli and Feituji, was born. Xia Yuqing is also the convener of the project and the executive chairman of Hangzhou Homestay Industry Association. Try.
Covering an area of 58 acres and costing nearly 100 million yuan, the 5 homestays allow travelers to get close to nature in different ways. They also brought dozens of integrated businesses such as restaurants, cafes, bookstores, cultural and creative stores, and art galleries, and developed a Starlight dinner in the desert, visits to ancient villages in Xixia, and other new local routes.
During the epidemic, the anti-risk ability of the Suji model was verified by the market.
"Even after it has been shut down for a few months, the annual occupancy rate of Huanghe Suji is still close to 70%, of which 66 rooms are full for 6 and a half months, an increase of 20% over 2019." Xia Yuqing told China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily Net reporter, the advantages of high-quality homestays are being highlighted, and the development of homestay clusters will also become a trend. "Dian Duolong City, such as Moganshan, Tonglu, Dali and other areas, homestays will appear together; a homestay to a remote place is too risky to develop , Group heating can reduce risks; like the clustered development of the'Suji' series, you can also negotiate good terms with the local government or developers to reduce the initial pressure and achieve a win-win situation for all parties."
Starting to serve the homestay industry in 2017, Shen Aixiang also found that in recent years, high-quality homestays have begun to appear in large numbers, and they have developed in the direction of branding and chaining. "Some homestay brands we serve have expanded from the first two or three stores to this year. There are more than ten or twenty stores."
Xiaomao, the founder of Liubai Villa, came to Dali Shuanglang to open a homestay in 2014. He was reluctant to catch up with the epidemic after being upgraded and reopened in early 2020. At that time, he was quite hesitant.
"After the May Day holiday, with the increase in passenger flow, the operating conditions have picked up. The occupancy rate reached 80% in June, and the rooms were almost full from July to September." Although it did not meet expectations, Xiao Mao still felt satisfied.
In the first few months, he planned to make "Leaf White Villa" into a chain brand, looking for opportunities to cooperate with well-known homestay brands in the industry. "It is a big risk to expand the scale alone. If you build a homestay cluster together, you can resist unknown risks in the market. Growing together, this will also be the future direction of development."
Shen Aixiang observed, “These country houses around first- and second-tier cities were the first to start business. By July 2020, the occupancy rate of the entire country house has exceeded that of last year. One big change is that China’s 160 million outbound people have returned and the unit price is high. The business of high-quality homestays is recovering much better than that of low-cost homestays."
With the gradual recovery of travel, the post-95 generation has become the main travel force for the 2020 National Day Golden Week for the first time, making the audience of the homestay industry younger.
Shen Aixiang said that single accommodation can no longer meet the needs of young people pursuing individualization. "B&B clusters can make the experience diversified and accommodate more ecology in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain."
Out-of-circle marketing: live broadcast, planting grass, creating IP and hoarding models
The epidemic has quietly changed the travel and accommodation habits of young people.
Traveling around us ushered in explosive growth, and country houses have also become "sweet pastry".
As a major destination IP in my country, Mogan Mountain is known as "Mogan Mountain in Chinese B&Bs".
Sacred Island Mogan Hot Spring Beauty Villa founder An Youying said frankly that from the opening in 2016, she has experienced the fire that once became difficult to find a room, and also experienced the low passenger flow in the off-season, but the impact of the epidemic in early 2020 on them It was "destructive". "The turnover was lost in the first half of the year. It started to pick up in May. What really brought more vitality after September, not only made up for the loss in the first half of the year, but also showed a growth rate of 20%. ".
What made her feel that the biggest change was the large number of young customers brought by content marketing on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu.
"Young people like to check in and plant grass. We focus on Greek and Japanese styles. Travelers and Internet celebrity bloggers visit the store and share, attracting more and more young people."
In order to enrich the accommodation experience, An Youying designed a handmade DIY activity for making matcha and sushi, which was deeply loved by young female customers.
In Xia Yuqing’s view, homestays are best at building IP, from Huanghe Suji to Qinling Suji, Bagu Suji, and Grassland Suji under construction. "We are deploying residences in some places where there is a lack of good hotels, these remote places It happens to have the most beautiful scenery and the best scenery."
In 2020, the wave of live broadcasts will come, and live streaming has become their new means of dissemination and sales: "Huanghe Suji" is made into a universal coupon, and a dozen live broadcasts have been initiated and participated. On the Fliggy platform, the sales of universal coupon live broadcast ranked first.
In November last year, "Orders Here" brought homestay customers to register "Mei Su Lai Flagship Store" on the Fliggy platform, participating in Fliggy’s Double 11 for the first time, with a total turnover of 36.14 million yuan and 36,696 room nights sold. .
On the Douyin and Xiaohongshu platforms, 2,827 and 6,770 orders were sold respectively.
Using today’s discounted price to photograph tomorrow’s itinerary, Shen Aixiang believes that the pre-sale of the homestay live broadcast will also become a regular product. "As the off-season price adjustment and feedback to old customers and fans, it will become parallel to the calendar room. Products exist".
With the normalization of the global epidemic, domestic travel is still the main choice. Out-of-circle sales models popular among young people, such as live broadcast of grass planting and pre-sale stocking, will also bring the homestay industry to new growth points.
However, whether it will really travel after stocking up and whether the Internet celebrity homestay will become popular will also be a major test for the homestay industry in the future.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Meng Peipei Source: China Youth Daily
Version 11, January 26, 2021