As the Spring Festival draws ever closer, many people are eager to return home. However, due to sporadic outbreaks in multiple regions across the country and amid a severe epidemic prevention and control situation, local governments have successively issued notices urging everyone to avoid returning home unless absolutely necessary, making staying put for the Lunar New Year the choice of the majority.

On January 28, the 2021 Spring Festival travel rush officially kicked off. According to data from Feichangzhun, as of 12:00 on January 28, the cancellation rate for domestic-to-domestic passenger flights nationwide had reached 51.93% (including both early cancellations and same-day cancellations). Meanwhile, numerous high-speed rail services have been suspended. Data from Ctrip show that airfares for returning home in many parts of the country are trending downward, with price drops exceeding 60% on routes such as Beijing–Chongqing and Shanghai–Guangzhou.

On the one hand, celebrating the Lunar New Year where people live has left the aviation industry facing a cold start to the year; on the other hand, the hotel industry is experiencing starkly contrasting fortunes—hotels in other cities are seeing wave after wave of cancellations. According to staff at a major domestic hotel chain: “Previously, due to the decline in business travelers, many hotels in non‑first‑tier cities had already entered the off‑season—and now they may be facing a second wave of order reductions.” Meanwhile, city resort hotels and nearby suburban getaway hotels are extremely popular with consumers, with rooms hard to come by across many regions nationwide. Among them, hotels in Sichuan’s ski resorts and hot spring destinations have seen the highest growth rates; bookings for hotels around Chengdu have surged 150% compared to the same period last year, while reservations at the most sought‑after hotels have more than quintupled.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year at hotels is becoming a trend.

The post-90s generation is the main force.

According to a recent big data report on holiday travel released by OTA platforms, the “hotel as destination” vacation concept has gained significant popularity over the past year amid the impact of the pandemic. With people choosing to celebrate the Lunar New Year locally, consumer preferences have shifted toward short‑duration, nearby, and leisurely travel experiences. Data from Qunar and Ctrip show that hotel bookings for Chinese New Year’s Eve this year increased by 30% compared to the same period in 2019, making staying at hotels during the Spring Festival a major trend.

In terms of user age distribution, “post‑90s” travelers who booked through Ctrip accounted for 58.79% of all bookings, making up half of this year’s Spring Festival orders, while “post‑80s” accounted for 20.42%, and the share of “post‑00s” rose to 9.09%.

High demand for hotels on the front lines.

Luxury hotels are in high demand.

According to data from Ctrip, Shanghai, Sanya, Beijing, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Dali, Shenzhen, and Chongqing ranked among the top ten cities for hotel bookings during this year’s Spring Festival. These cities are mostly first‑tier, new first‑tier, or leisure and resort destinations, with local travelers accounting for the vast majority of bookings.

Choosing to spend the New Year’s holiday at a hotel is often seen as a well-deserved reward for a year of hard work. As such, well‑equipped, high‑quality hotels are particularly popular when making reservations—especially for families with children, as these hotels’ comprehensive family‑friendly facilities provide ample recreational space for kids. Among hotel bookings on Ctrip, approximately 66.8% are for high‑star hotels. The Grand Hyatt Shanghai Jin Mao, Shanghai South Suburb Hotel, Sofitel Shanghai Oriental Riverside, Sanya Atlantis, and Kerry Hotel Pudong Shanghai are all highly favored by users.

The data from Qunar show the same trend: during New Year’s Eve, over 80% of hotel bookings in urban areas were for five‑star hotels. However, around February 14, popular “internet-famous” hotels and high‑star properties became the mainstay of bookings. What’s more, many hotels saw their prices double around February 14 compared to New Year’s Eve, and several hotels even found their standard room types fully booked.

OTA, New Tricks for Hotels

Innovative Diverse Product Portfolio

The most important meal of the Spring Festival is the New Year’s Eve dinner. The Ministry of Commerce has issued guidelines encouraging businesses to actively develop New Year’s Eve dinner packages and semi‑prepared, pre‑cooked dishes suitable for delivery. In line with these policy directions, major hotel chains have also launched corresponding products and services—such as the Shangri-La Hotel, Yangzhou, which has introduced Yangzhou steamed buns and Yangzhou morning tea gift boxes; the InterContinental Quanzhou Tahe Hotel, which offers a variety of online chef‑led cooking classes; and Marriott, which has rolled out a “New Year’s Eve Dinner Takeout with Chef‑Delivered Cooking” service.

In response to consumers’ evolving needs for hotels, OTA platforms are looking to leverage this opportunity to drive additional spending. For example, Ctrip has announced that it will further capitalize on its resources in themed tourism categories such as outdoor hiking, mountain climbing, skiing, off-road driving, and cycling. The company plans to release a nationwide collection of themed tours in the lead-up to the Spring Festival, focusing on car rentals paired with carefully selected hotels and outdoor activities.

The China Tourism Alliance believes that consumers’ demand for hotels will always be affected by various uncertainties, including the pandemic. To maintain lasting competitiveness, the hotel industry must seize this opportunity to reposition and develop its customer base, and adjust and refine its products in line with market changes.