A thousand dollars a night. In 2023, news of a boom in the summer tourism market and an increase in prices in popular city hotels, such as beijing, has given rise to much debate, in particular in the case of a chain of branded economic hotels, which used to sell their services on a cost-effective basis, and in some hot spots, where the price of the house was set at thousands of dollars, making many visitors “unaffordable”。
Why are hotel prices so high lately? Multiple industry analyses suggest that changes in market supply and demand can trigger price volatility, leading to excessive price increases for economic hotels in hot summer hours and at the heart of hot tourist cities, which are expected to fall after the summer。
A thousand dollars a night for a good economic hotel
“recent travel can only take place at an economic hotel, which is not too central, or is beyond the standard.” the beijing white-collar lee jing, who worked in a foreign company, was outraged by the fact that the summer hotel price had “extremely increased” and that most of the hotel prices she had booked had doubled。
In the cities of chongqing, changsha and xi'an, she held up $1,000 a night of accommodation before the summer, more than enough to stay in a five-star hotel, but recently only in an economic hotel. Some of the clients she serves, the company travels at a rate of $500 a night, but the cost of economic hotel rooms in hot spots exceeds $500, and many people pay for the excess。
On social platforms, feedback from a large number of netizens about the increase in the price of the beijing hotel during the summer was equally evident, especially in the case of economic hotels. Yesterday, journalists searched a number of hotel reservation platforms and found that the economic chain of hotels located around the beijing core or view area had reached a high price of about $700. For example, the hantine hotel (the beijing water cube) had a price of $724 per night this weekend, and the most expensive had a price of $1,000. If these hot spots are avoided, the cost of the economic chain is more than $4,500。
Price volatility due to supply and demand imbalances
Even when prices are high, hotels in hot cities during the summer are difficult to get. Ms. Ma, who had travelled to jinzhou last saturday, said that a common hotel bed without an elevator required close to $400 a night and required advance reservations. Ms. Zhang, who often traveled to xiamen, found that many economic hotels had more than 200 flat daily prices, more than 600 for holidays and summers, and more than 800 for bookings one night earlier。
According to industry data, our market for economic hotels and medium-end hotels currently accounts for more than 90 per cent, and consumers who choose such hotels are also most sensitive to price increases。
Chen jie, vice-president of the spirit brigades group, explained that in 2019 there were 338,000 hotels in the country, and in 2020, the number of hotels fell to 276,000 and barely returned to 300,000 in 2022. In his view, the increase in hotel prices was due to a marked decline in the efficient supply of tourism, a supply-demand imbalance that was not a local short-term problem but a long-standing national paradox。
This, coupled with the relatively small profits of the economic hotels, has led to a decline in the share of the economic hotels in recent years, when major hotel chains have targeted higher-middle-end hotels with larger profit margins. As a result, the increase in the prices of economic hotels was particularly significant in this round。
The hotel industry should avoid excessive price volatility
It's worth it to spend $700 or $1,000 a night in an economic hotel? The answer is wise. Mr. Ma, who travels frequently, believes that even if the prices of economic hotels rise again, there will still be advantages as long as they are lower than those of high-end hotels, and that an increasing number of tenants are willing to pay for the accommodation experience and it is normal to pay for the over-anticipated accommodation。
However, industry does not favour blind price increases in terms of long-term industry development. Zhao hwang zhuang, chief knowledge officer of the washington hotel advisory agency, argued that the concentration of summer tourism pushed up housing prices, which, in turn, could adversely affect the healthy development of the tourism industry in the area, which was temporary and unsustainable. Hotel prices will continue to fluctuate depending on supply and demand, and are expected to decline significantly by the end of august. In his view, hotel price increases should be matched with matching services, both in terms of safety and service。
Many tour operators have called for strict enforcement of paid leave, promotion of faulty travel, more focused on increasing market supply and exploring flexible market price regulation mechanisms. Only the maintenance of scientifically sound tourism product prices can ensure a sustainable and healthy recovery in the tourism market. Chen jie suggested that the hotel industry should make reasonable and legal price adjustments to avoid excessive price volatility and balance short-term benefits with long-term benefits。
