Did you find anything? The number of complaints is directly proportional to the price reduction.
▲
Fields | Hospitality
Column | Cultural Tourism Business Review
01
This summer, many hoteliers are plagued by complaints.
Especially recently, there are always friends in the hotel industry who complain to me that the profits are already very meager, and the hotel has been selling rooms at a tearful price, and the hotel has been complaining more and more.
A high-star resort hotel in the vicinity of Jiangsu and Zhejiang always crossed his fingers and complained to me that this summer was the sum of the complaints of the past three summers, "The content of the complaint is only what you can't think of, and no guest dares to vote." ”
When it comes to some common complaints, Mr. A always lists them with a wry smile:
"After the guest came, he asked to upgrade the room type, but he couldn't meet it, so he made a complaint."
"The guest said that our service was not good, and he opened his mouth to send two breakfasts, which could not be satisfied, and he was happy to receive a complaint."
"The guest said that the hardware of the room was not good, and asked to upgrade the suite with the executive lounge, but he couldn't meet it, and he knew that the complaint was coming with his eyes closed......"
This summer, hotel guests have a variety of complaints about the hotel, and many hotel people are dumb and eat coptis, sending away this wave, and ushering in new customer complaints, which can be described as miserable.
A hotelier in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, Mr. B, summed up the portrait of complaining guests: "We belittle our hotel to the point of uselessness, but whenever we have a promotion, we have to bring our family over, and the reception of their family is trembling, and if the reception is not enthusiastic, they will be caught." ”
Judging from the frequent complaints of hoteliers in the industry community built by the travel industry, whether reasonable or unreasonable, complaints are indeed the killer feature of guests against hotels, independent hotels are worried about the decline of OTA scores, and chain hotels are worried about headquarters assessment.
In short, in the face of a flood of complaints, the hotel that was not in a good mood during the summer vacation was even worse.
The other side of the coin is that in the summer of 2024, affected by multiple factors, many hotels with high popularity and high prices in the past two years have reduced prices.
This is even more evident in the promotions of some high-star hotels, judging from the promotions of some time ago:
11 Banyan Tree in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai are limited to 1999 yuan / 2 nights;
Sanya Yanlord Crown + MGM 5 days and 4 nights, the price ranges from 6099 yuan to 4499 yuan in early September, including breakfast, welcome fruit, travel photography, aerial photography, airport pick-up;
Qunar big data shows that as of July 15, the average actual price paid for booked rooms in Sanya during the summer vacation has dropped by about 20% compared with the same period last year, and the price of five-star hotels has been reduced by as much as 25%.
This is not the price of broken bones, it is the price of broken bones......
STR released data for Chinese hotels for the week ended July 20, with RevPAR for domestic hotels down 8.4% year-on-year, compared to a 36.9% increase in the same period last year, with average room rates being the main reason for the decline in RevPAR at 7.5%.
The hotel is cheaper, and the complaints are not only not decreasing, but also rising, and there seems to be an inevitable connection in the dark.
02
In the past two years, there has been a consensus in the industry that the cheaper the hotel, the more guests will complain.
First, the wallets of middle-class people are tight, but they still want to maintain a relatively refined life. They have high expectations for hotel prices that cost more than they can afford, and the probability of a complaint is greatly increased if they are dissatisfied.
Second, the relationship between supply and demand in the market has changed, and hotels have to sell cheaply to retain customers. Now the market is fiercely competitive, and major hotel groups are fighting price wars in order to grab traffic. Even as a small and medium-sized independent hotel, you have to keep up, because what consumers value most now is cheapness. If you sell it too expensive, the consumer will directly swipe it away, and they will scold you why it is so expensive.
Driven by these two backgrounds: it will be an inevitable trend for hotels to have low prices across the board, and to usher in more guests who have downgraded their consumption.
STR data shows that the occupancy rate of domestic hotels in July this year fell by only 0.9% year-on-year, at the cost of a large number of complaints brought by guests who were not the target customers of the hotel.
A always thinks that this is unavoidable after the hotel price reduction, "There are a lot of greedy and cheap guests, just like last summer when the hotel was sold at the regular price, there are obviously fewer guests than the current big promotion." ”
Mr. B also found that their hotel's "lightning protection sticker" on Xiaohongshu has skyrocketed, and he believes that the economic downturn, there are more guests who are calculating and pursuing the ultimate cost performance, which is indeed unavoidable.
However, is it really necessary to use this method of "forcing the hotel to death" to "please the guests"? Isn't this too extreme?
You have to sell cheaper than others, and you have to deal with the loss caused by customer complaints, and at the same time you need to be able to make money.
Many hoteliers spit out a mouthful of old blood, isn't this an "impossible triangle"?
In the summer, the hotel industry is in turmoil. During the National Day Golden Week, it is estimated that the waves are still crashing on the shore.
The more the hotel rolls, the more consumers benefit. However, this will also bring up a thousand layers of snow, burying a large number of small and medium-sized hotels that cannot move in the snow. At this time, are you happy or sad?
This is really the most "good" era for consumers, but also the "worst" era for hoteliers.
03
I have a friend of mine, Ms. C, who works for the Lux Hotel Group in Mauritius, and she shared with me some time ago an interesting point that hotels grew up complaining.
From the perspective of front-line operators, since the market environment is like this, we can't avoid it, so we can only passively accept, learn, and avoid, and passive response can't change anything.
For example, some time ago, Banyan Tree Anji was posted online by a short video blogger on the grounds that he found that in addition to the original price of the dish, a 10% service charge and 6% VAT were added during the ordering process.
Ms. C said, "I don't know Banyan Tree Anji, but for a hotel of this size, I believe that the menu is marked with the words "10% service charge and 6% VAT" (or similar), and there are complaints from customers to this extent, which shows that it is difficult to work now......
Speaking of which, there used to be fewer paper reminders in luxury hotels, the better, but have you noticed that there are more and more signage in hotels now? Because it is not only the guests who "cross the river by feeling the stones", but the hotel is also careful to "continue to complain and do business".
And why do some hotels charge for "seat selection" for the most popular locations and boxes? Because when everyone wants it, "if you don't give me a bad review" is a pain that hoteliers can't bear.
Hotels are not black stores, most brand hotels hope to better serve guests rather than from these so-called "invisible consumption" to get a little profit that outweighs the loss, but the service is a degree, enjoy the service also has a degree, the entanglement in the middle is incomprehensible to many consumers from the perspective of spectators.
The question left for hotel chains may be whether bad reviews should really be "one-size-fits-all", allowing front-line employees to bear the ripple effects of "price reductions and full rooms".
To put it bluntly, it is indeed a very simple ruler to evaluate employees with bad reviews, but when "sending breakfast" and "upgrading the room type" become the skills of guests to control the hotel, it is impossible to know whether this ruler is crooked.
During the economic downturn, the hotel is full of rooms, and the requirements for hoteliers are also higher.
How to balance the real customer complaints when ushering in "cost-effective guests" after the hotel price reduction is still exploring the problem of this century.
Today's topic: What do you think about the price reduction of summer hotels, but there are more complaints? Welcome to interact with Travel Traveler in the message box below.