2022-10-03 12:54:01

Is it reasonable that hotel prices will rise durin

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Is it reasonable that hotel prices will rise during festivals

China Business Daily/China Business Network recently released reports from a number of online tourism platforms that the May Day holiday will usher in an explosion of travel this year, and tourism product bookings on various platforms are hot at present. At the same time, the average price of hotels in popular tourist destinations during the May Day holiday also increased significantly, and the average price of hotels in some regions even exceeded the pre epidemic level. It seems that the price will rise during festivals has become a common phenomenon in the hotel industry. So, is this phenomenon reasonable?

Is it reasonable that hotel prices will rise during festivals

[P. The substantial increase in the number of tourists has made the May Day Hotel booking very popular, and the price has also risen significantly. CNSPHOTO provided that

hotel prices rose significantly

It is estimated that the number of tourists on May Day this year is expected to exceed the number of the same period in 2019, reaching a new high of 200 million. This May Day holiday may become the "hottest May Day Golden Week in history". The substantial increase in the number of tourists has made the May Day Hotel booking very popular, and the price has also risen significantly.

Ctrip data shows that the hotel order volume of the platform has increased by 43% compared with 2019. Many high star hotels are hard to find a room, and the average price of corresponding hotel orders has risen by leaps and bounds, catching up with the average price of the same period in 2019.

The Forecast Report on Residents' Travel during the "May Day" Holiday in 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the report) released by Tongcheng Travel shows that the surge in demand of popular tourist destinations during the May Day holiday has led to a "rise in both quantity and price" of local hotel room bookings. Among them, Qinhuangdao (up 222.2% YoY), Zhuhai (up 183.2% YoY), Qingdao (up 163.9% YoY), Shantou (up 147.1% YoY), Yangzhou (up 87.1% YoY), Shanghai (up 77.6% YoY), Guangzhou (up 76.8% YoY), Xiamen (up 67.2% YoY), Jiaxing (up 49.5% YoY) Sanya (up 37.3% year on year) is one of the ten tourist cities with the highest year-on-year increase in hotel prices so far. Among the ten tourist cities with the highest hotel price increase, the average hotel prices in the other nine cities except Guangzhou exceeded the level of the same period in 2019. Among them, the average hotel price in Sanya increased by 80.5% compared with the same period in 2019; The second is Qinhuangdao, where the average hotel price increased by 78.3% compared with the same period in 2019.

According to the report, the tourism popularity of the May Day holiday is highly correlated with the average price of local hotels, indicating that the long-term and overnight passenger flow has increased significantly during the long holiday. For example, Yangzhou World Horticultural Exposition has attracted tourists from all over the country, thus increasing the passenger flow of other local tourism reception facilities and hotel bookings; During the May Day holiday, the "Mountain and River Order" concert was held in Suzhou, which greatly boosted the bookings of local hotels; The huge flow of tourists for island tours and duty-free shopping has increased the holiday passenger flow in Sanya, as well as the price of local hotels.

Clearly marked prices are not suspected of being illegal

There are certain objective reasons for the sharp increase in average hotel prices. Cheng Chaogong, the chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, believes that the substitution effect of domestic travel on outbound travel continues to deepen under the situation that the overseas epidemic situation is still severe, which is reflected in the continuous release of demand increment on the one hand, and the overall trend of consumption upgrading on the other hand. The price of travel consumption during the May Day holiday this year has risen to varying degrees from transportation, accommodation to tourism routes. In addition to the factors of surging demand, the increase in the proportion of high-quality products in the demand structure is also an important reason, that is, people choose more air travel, and travel accommodation chooses more high-quality boutique resort hotels, holiday villas, etc.

So, is it reasonable and legal for the hotel to raise prices substantially? According to insiders, from the legal perspective, there are three kinds of prices stipulated in China's price law: market adjusted prices, government guided prices, and government fixed prices. Generally speaking, hotels implement market adjusted prices. As long as the prices are clearly marked, they are not suspected of violating laws and regulations. However, in some places, government guided prices are also applied to hotels in special periods. For example, during this year's Consumer Expo, the room prices of all tourist hotels in Haikou will be guided by the government, that is, the actual transaction prices of rooms in all tourist hotels in Haikou will not be higher than the highest transaction prices of rooms with the same room type and service conditions from March 1 to May 31, 2019. During the Spring Festival this year, Haikou also implemented government guided price management for hotel rooms.

From an economic perspective, supply and demand determine prices. During the holidays, tourists from some popular cities and scenic spots have exploded. The demand for hotels in these cities and around scenic spots has increased significantly, and hotel prices are bound to rise. In addition, the labor cost of holiday hotels will also increase, and the hotel price increase is reasonable.

However, some consumers pointed out that it is understandable for hotels to increase prices moderately, but it is not reasonable to double them at any time. Some consumers said that besides price, quality is also very important. As long as hotels clearly mark prices and can provide services that meet the standards, higher prices are acceptable.

Work together to solve the price rise disorder

Some insiders said that hotel operation cannot rely on "rising every festival", because this kind of operation adjustment is tantamount to "drinking poison to quench thirst" for hotels and even city tourism. On the one hand, hotels should attach importance to their own brands, and can no longer have the speculative mentality of "opening for one year, opening for one year" in the past; On the other hand, for local governments, the reputation of the service industry is also the best display of a city's image. To get rid of the chaos of price hikes, relevant functional departments and the hotel itself need to work together to strengthen supervision, crack down on those illegal behaviors such as unclear price marking, price starting, collusion in price hikes, and false publicity, protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and prevent individual bad businesses from damaging the city's image.

The contradiction between supply and demand is also an important reason for hotel prices to rise during festivals. As an important cultural and tourism supporting facility, hotels are not evenly distributed in some cities. Taking Chengdu as an example, Qunar.com data shows that during the National Day in 2020, the five most popular local hotels are concentrated in the High tech Zone, and the scenic spot also drives the prices of surrounding hotels to rise. The unit price of some popular hotels in Qingcheng Mountain even exceeds 3000 yuan a night. The reason is that most of the hotels in the High tech Zone were decorated after 2017 and located near the Global Center and other business districts. The theme design and distinctive services attracted young tourists of the post-80s and post-90s generation to clock in. The number of popular hotels in Kuanzhai Alley and Chunxi Road decreased. Therefore, the city needs to do a good job in the category and regional planning of accommodation products, coordinate the distribution of accommodation products in the region, and reduce the pressure on the few accommodation facilities around the scenic spot.

In the long run, people should also be separated in space and time. For example, increase the supply of high-quality tourism resources, develop more characteristic tourism projects, and increase the supply of hotels and home stays in popular areas; Government departments and online tourism platforms can give play to the advantages of big data, provide prediction and publicity of the tourism market for popular tourism destinations, divert tourists and avoid tourists flocking to a few popular attractions. In addition, we will implement the policy of paid vacation and guide tourists to travel in different peaks. (Chen Chen)

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