Wuhan Restarts The Full Moon: The Hotel Industry Starts Again In The "Cold Winter"

Hard recovery

Compared with Mount Huangshan after the epidemic, Wuhan hotels and Disney on the outskirts of Shanghai seem to be more suitable for the restoration of the tourism industry, or have a more typical sample significance. Of course, the situation does not seem optimistic. Due to the fact that tourism and students have not yet formed an effective source of tourists, the hotel industry in Wuhan is still struggling to "climb up the slope". While Disney opened the garden, it once triggered a grab ticket, but the profit figures in the earnings report failed to make the shareholders laugh. But on the other hand, a profound change is coming quietly. Like the hi-tech "non-contact service" in the hotel industry, Disney's new media service has grown up against the trend, showing amazing strain. These changes tell us the fact that the epidemic may have radically changed the life we once had, but the future will still be brilliant.

In May 6th, Jinhui, the joint venture president of Hua Hua group, led many executives to show their special trips in various stores in Wuhan.

In the wake of Wuhan's hotel industry, the behavior of the executives of Hua Hua Group has sent a positive signal. "He (Jinhui) seems to have hurt his leg and came over with a cane." Huang Hua, manager of the National Road store in Wuhan Optics Valley Software Park, was impressed by the whole season. "It is really inspiring for our leaders to come to Shanghai to send their condolences. At this time, nothing is more important than confidence."

In May 8th, Wuhan "unsealed" the full moon. The city, which had been hit by epidemics, is slowly returning to its former vitality. The "May 1" holiday, which has just passed, is undoubtedly an important period for Wuhan's hotel industry to move towards recovery. For this reason, the Wuhan municipal government announced ahead of schedule that it will put about 120 million yuan of voucher tickets from April 20th to July 31st to encourage consumption in scenic spots and hotels. Twenty-first Century economic news reporter found that many local hotels also launched various discount promotion measures to attract consumers to stay.

But everyone knows that the revival of the hotel industry in Wuhan will take some time.

Wuhan hotel industry climbs slowly

This year's May Day holiday is the first small holiday since Hubei achieved the decisive results in the epidemic prevention and control work and entered the normalization stage of the national epidemic prevention and control.

Statistics released by the Ministry of culture and tourism show that in from May 1st to 5th, a total of 115 million domestic tourists were received, and domestic tourism revenue was 47 billion 560 million yuan.

However, during this holiday period, the heat of Hubei's travel market has picked up slowly. According to the statistics of Hubei provincial culture and Tourism Department, in from May 1st to 5th, a total of 22 key scenic spots were opened to the public, and 834 thousand and 700 tourists were received, accounting for 27.4% of the authorized tourists, and 32 million 243 thousand yuan for tourism comprehensive income. Among them, in from May 1st to 4th, 22 key scenic spots in Hubei province received 666 thousand tourists, down 81.41% compared with the same period last year, and realized comprehensive tourism revenue of 29 million 184 thousand yuan, down 76.3% from the same period last year.

Affected by the epidemic, Hubei's "restart" rhythm is slower than other provinces in the country. From April 8th at 0:00, Wuhan lifted the control measures from the Han channel. By April 18th, the epidemic level assessment of cities and counties in the province was all low risk, and then the level of emergency response was adjusted from two to one in May 2nd. Hubei province took nearly a month to complete the transformation of the risk level of epidemic prevention and control in the province.

Shortly after the announcement of the "lifting of the ban" in Wuhan, a letter of help from the 164 hotel industry practitioners in Wuhan, called the help letter of the Wuhan hotel apartment accommodation industry (hereinafter referred to as "help letter"), aroused concern on the Internet, reflecting the plight of Wuhan's hotel industry.

In twenty-first Century, the economic news reporter learned from one of the co sounding people in the help letter. With the gradual evacuation of medical staff and the resumption of business after the end of March, high rental and operating costs and weak demand are hindering the normal operation of most hotels and apartments in Wuhan.

"We have done some calculations before, and most of our peers are not expected to run until May and June." The source told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter that the resumption of the hotel is not difficult, but the business is facing even greater losses than the closure.

"According to the statistics of tourism investigators, the occupancy rate and operating income of nearly 2 000 residential units in Wuhan were zero (except for the subsequent government subsidies to be used as quarantine shelter for epidemic prevention). Small and medium-sized hotels rent accounts for about 6 of revenue, and labor costs are about 2. "Help letter" said, "now, those who insist on opening up and free medical staff receive more than 100 hotels and lodging houses, those hotels that are closed to the epidemic because of the epidemic, and those hotels which are used by the government as a segregated Hotel, and the mass panic is afraid to stay, are facing enormous business pressure."

Liu Xiaoqin is responsible for the whole season Wuhan Optics Valley square shop and the whole season Wuhan Zhuankou Development Zone shop, is the first batch of the government is requisitioned to settle the medical personnel of the hotel. According to her introduction, since receiving the requisition notice from government departments in January 23rd, two stores have received 400 local medical staff and 102 Heilongjiang medical workers in Hubei.

With the gradual control of the epidemic, the medical teams returned from the end of March. Following the completion of the quarantine mission, All Seasons is located in a number of stores in Wuhan. It launched the epidemic prevention work quickly and concentrated on the cotton fabrics used by the occupants during the reception period.

"In accordance with the unified requirements, we sterilize strictly, scrapping the requisitioned straw cloth, and then prepare operational materials and epidemic prevention materials in time." Liu Xiaoqin told the twenty-first Century business news reporter that the whole preparation process of the hotel was very fast. A few days later, the two stores she was responsible for met the requirements of reopening.

But since the resumption of operation, compared with the counterparts in other provinces and cities, the hotel industry in Wuhan has not been optimistic. "The occupancy rate is very low at present, maybe less than thirty or forty." Liu Xiaoqin said that the "May Day" holiday is a less obvious geomantic omen for the hotel industry in Wuhan. Now the hotel industry in Wuhan is just in a slow climb process just like other provinces and cities two months ago.

However, in Liu Xiaoqin's view, the sooner the hotel will resume its business, the quicker the recovery will be. She was responsible for the two quarter stores were launched on April 10th and 15, respectively. At the beginning, the resumption of major enterprises in Wuhan led to a rigid demand for employees returning to work. Since then, with most of Wuhan's enterprises returning to work, urban public transport has been restarted, and the demand for housing has been gradually raised under the movement of urban population.

Liu Xiaoqin also admitted that the current occupancy rate of hotels is necessarily "not good-looking". "This is an objective and real situation." Liu Xiaoqin analysis, on the one hand, foreign tourists rarely visit Wuhan, in recent years, the most important source of tourists declined; on the other hand, she learned that some companies will Wuhan travel to the back row, business travel demand is not as fast as expected.

Huang Hua also provided another reason for the twenty-first Century economic news reporter. She is responsible for the whole season, Wuhan Optics Valley Software Park National Road shop is located in a university town in Wuhan. As a "university student" city, the number of college students in Wuhan is over 1 million, and it has become an important consumer group.

"At present, most of the shops are business guests, and the surrounding schools are not yet open." Huang Hua told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter. In addition, according to Xia Huilian, assistant manager of the Wuhan Optics Valley Plaza, the University of Wuhan, near Optics Valley, has been in the tourist season in 4 and May. Many tourists from all over the country come to admire the cherry trees, but this year has been rather cold.

The help letter also regards the university student group as an important driving force for the recovery of Wuhan's hotel industry. In the eyes of these Hotel practitioners, the consumption of college students is a major manifestation of the vitality of Wuhan's city. Affected by the epidemic, universities in Wuhan will not be relaxed even if they are open from 5 to June. The consumption driven capacity is not strong. The economy of tourism and accommodation will be conservatively estimated to recover after a year.

Brewing opportunities for transformation in "cold winter"

Comprehensive Ctrip, donkey mother and many other OTA platform released data report, twenty-first Century economic report reporter found that this year's "51" small holiday domestic tourism market has some new trends. Among them, tour in the province and short distance tour become a big feature.

According to the statistics of donkey mother, in the range of travel, 30% of the small holidays on May Day were selected for local tours this year, and 40% chose the province. This means that the proportion of tourists who can not leave the province is about 70%, and the inter provincial tourism is very slow.

Under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, cross provincial tourism is still limited. The central government should respond to the guidance issued by the leading group of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in early April on the effective prevention and control of the epidemic while actively promoting the resumption of work and production in an orderly manner. Therefore, on the eve of the "May 1" holiday, some provinces and cities issued documents to encourage people to carry out intra provincial and intra city tourism and try not to cross provincial or cross-border travel.

"The activity of surrounding tourism has promoted the revival of the tourism industry, but the contribution it has made has been more than that of cross provincial and cross border tourism." A tourism business person told the twenty-first Century business news reporter that whether cross-border tourism can not be resumed in the short term, whether the domestic tourism industry can recover substantially depends on the inter provincial tourism drive. It is worth mentioning that in May 6th, Wu Zhixiang, founder of Tongcheng group, also appealed to "restart the domestic tour market as soon as possible" in its personal WeChat video number.

Hubei is one of the most important tourist provinces in China. According to the 2019 China tourism development report, the overall competitiveness of tourism in Hubei ranks the upper and middle level in 31 provinces and regions of China. Among them, in recent five years, the number of tourists in Wuhan has been ranked first in the sub provincial cities of China.

However, due to the limited inter provincial tourism, Hubei's "Wen Yi" market is still relatively low during the May 1 period, and it will take some time for the market to pick up. This year's "May 1" holiday, Hubei province received 7 million 358 thousand and 600 tourists, and realized a comprehensive tourism revenue of 2 billion 453 million yuan. Most of the scenic spots in the province are less crowded. Statistics show that people's traffic in Wuhan 5A, East Lake scenic area and Jingzhou ancient city has dropped by more than 80%. The number of tourists in some scenic spots is even less than 20% of the approved capacity.

Affected by this, the hotel industry in Wuhan also takes local personnel as the main source. According to the statistics of the recent occupancy of Liu Xiaoqin's store, the occupancy rate of guests in other provinces is about 20%, and most of them are business travelers.

Under the new trend, the recovery of Hubei's tourism industry can only be hoped for about 60 million of the population in the province in the short term. For this reason, Hubei and Wuhan and other cities are fighting against the clock to launch the policy of revitalizing the tourism industry, with a view to re stimulate the vitality of internal consumption.

For example, Wuhan and Hubei provinces have launched consumer coupons and support travel industry measures before the festival. Through the adoption of product packaging and price bundling, the "preferential package" and "big package" have been launched to extend the consumption chain and enlarge consumption efficiency.

Analysts generally believe that although the epidemic impact on the hotel industry in the short term occupancy rate, but will not affect the overall development trend in the medium and long term. Chen Xin, a tourism analyst at UBS Securities, said that the tourism data of the May Day holiday show that domestic leisure travel materials will continue to recover and continue to be optimistic about the hotel industry.

It is worth noting that although the outbreak of the hotel industry in Wuhan can not recover rapidly in the short term, it has reserved time for the transformation of hotel digitalization and technology.

According to CITIC analysis, at present, the major hotel groups have begun to increase the investment and layout of digitalization and technology transformation, so the trend will become one of the core barriers of the hotel industry in the future.

Liu Xiaoqin and Huang Hua's All Seasons took time to practice "internal strength".

Under the influence of the epidemic, the most important concerns of residents when choosing Check Inn Hotel are turning from price and service to hygiene and safety. This has prompted the demand for "contactless service" in hotels. The so-called "contactless service" of hotels means that the occupants can complete the booking, selection, accommodation, rehousing, check-out and other links through the mobile phone APP or the hotel self-service machine. Some hotels will also send robots to replace the manual completion of room delivery, so as to minimize the risk of cross infection caused by the face-to-face contact between the guests and the hotel staff. This provides an opportunity for intelligent development of hotels.

According to CITIC analysis, the technological transformation and digital transformation of hotels will become one of the most important development trends of the chain hotel industry in the next 3 to 5 years.

All Seasons brand CEO Shen Yijun introduced, "at present, the delivery robot has covered more than 100 hotels in the whole season, ranking the first in the industry."

"Now our robot in the store is busiest. Liu Xiaoqin told the twenty-first Century business news reporter that on the eve of May 1, the Wuhan Optics Valley Plaza store ushered in the "small season" of the object delivery robot, which can help guests to check in, send goods and lead, with an average daily usage of 40 to 70 times.