Looking back at the ups and downs of 2020, resort hotels have become a force that has risen against the trend in the hotel industry that has suffered heavy losses, and is regarded as a breakthrough in China's hotel industry in the future. In 2021, the "rebellious spirit" of the resort hotel will continue. The strategic cooperation between Fengyue Hotels and Resorts and Minor Hotel Group will stir the spring water of the domestic resort market early and leave endless reveries about the future.

01 Chinese-style vacation: from "hotel in hotel" to "hotel in residence"

In terms of time, the domestic holiday market can be traced back to the 1990s. After more than two decades of tepid development, the opportunities given by the times and the market have begun to emerge more and more. Throughout the development of Chinese-style vacations, this is a process from outward imitation to inward exploration. It has also experienced the evolution of the route from "living in a hotel" to "residential hotel".

Imitation period

With the establishment of the Yalong Bay National Tourism Resort in 1992, more than 20 high-end resort hotels lined up in Yalong Bay, creating the most densely populated high-end hotel resort in the Asia-Pacific region. In 1996, the opening of Sanya Gloria Resort Chinese resort hotels are the first.

During this period, the domestic resort hotel market was still dominated by international hotel brands, and the standards were in the hands of resort hotel brands such as Banyan Tree and Six Senses, and even inspired by Europe, America and Southeast Asia. Relaxation and enjoyment were the main melody. . At this time, the Chinese resort hotel just planted a seed, waiting for the opportunity to break through.

Groping period

With the advent of the new millennium, the domestic holiday market has gradually formed two "important towns", which are called "two southern markets" by the industry, namely Hainan and Yunnan. These two markets have common characteristics, namely, abundant resources, beautiful scenery, and climate. Comfortable and well-developed tourism industry, it has also become an excellent test ground for domestic resort hotels to explore their own style.

During this period, Chinese resort hotels began to "leave" the islands, some settled in the suburbs and became the destinations of urban residents' micro vacations, while more were in deserts, hot springs, villages, lakesides, rain forests and other fields. Unleashing a more diverse appearance, attracting the first group of elite travelers with an adventurous spirit, looking for the resort hotels that local travelers want in each other's supply and demand.

Take advantage of the growth period

Time jumps to the present. The players of Chinese resort hotels have also changed from stragglers to group operations. More and more domestic and foreign hotel groups have joined and are optimistic about the Chinese tourism market. In addition, there are more and more new-era traveler vacation concepts. They began to change. They no longer only pursue luxury, but began to recognize the new lifestyle, physical and mental pleasure, and the attitude of healthy living in the resort hotel. The hotel is no longer just a "residence" during the journey, but can " House” place. Chinese resort hotels are faintly exploding. Under the influence of the epidemic, resort hotels have become the first hotel category to be ignited and continue to heat up. According to relevant statistics from Ctrip, this year’s Spring Festival Golden Week, consumers’ "hotel vacation" trend may be higher than in previous years. It is more obvious that residents of first-tier and new-tier cities are more willing to spend the 2021 Spring Festival in a "hotel holiday" way.

02 In 2021, local resort hotels will mature from the "edge"

In the post-epidemic recovery phase, suppressed tourism demand was released, and resort hotels became the first category to recover and attracted attention. And for a long time, local resort hotels have been relatively "edge" in the hotel category, and they have developed slowly until the outbreak of the epidemic-as if all other hotel categories have taken a step back, resort hotels have Pushed to the center of the stage, and after experiencing the market tempering of the “horse and chaos” in 2020, the original resort hotel model is bound to be iterated, and local resort hotels will step out of the “growth period” and enter the “mature period”.

The first is due to the increase and return of holiday demand. In the post-epidemic recovery in 2020, the recovery and drive of holiday demand is far greater than that of business needs. Data during the National Day show that many holiday hotels performed better than the same period last year. Take Fosun Travel as an example, its Sanya Atlanti From October 1 to 8, the net room rate of Atlantis hotels increased by 35% year-on-year during the 2019 National Day Golden Week, and the total resort revenue increased by 34% year-on-year; while the Club Med (Mediterranean Club) resort was During the period, the average occupancy rate of the five resorts opened in China was close to 90%, and the overall occupancy rate increased by 6% year-on-year. On the other hand, in the beginning of 2021, the epidemic will repeat again. Due to the characteristics of prolonged, recurring, and rapid mutation of the epidemic, outbound tourists have fallen precipitously. The 150 million overseas travel market has been transferred to China. Those who pay more attention to the quality of life With the return of net worth travelers, demand and consumption for vacations will appear stronger. Just as Tang Ming, president of Shimao Star Hotel Group, believes that “the future opportunity lies in the domestic holiday market”, the domestic tourism and holiday industry will at least usher in a “small era”, especially the replacement of foreign high-quality holiday demand will be particularly obvious.

Secondly, more and more Chinese resort hotels have begun to explore characteristics. Such characteristics are not limited to culture, experience, scenery, etc. Zhou Mingqi, the founder of Jingjian Think Tank, once believed that most of the so-called resort hotels simply moved traditional city hotels to tourist destinations, and then "patched" (mostly 1 to 2 floors) and "expanded" (the area is much larger than that of city hotels). ), “skin-changing” (specialized design according to local style), although large prices are spent on design, construction, landscape, and interior decoration, the function still stays at the level of “living”, which is no different from city hotels, even Some internationally well-known luxury resort hotels that enter the country are no exception. Excessive room prices and poor content are only suitable for a very small group of high-net-worth customers to stay for a few days, so it is basically difficult to make a profit. Driven by interests, more and more Chinese resort hotels are learning to use "content" and "experience" to let travelers "stay" longer - just like people, mature resort hotels must have connotations.

The most important thing is that the local resort market has given local resort hotels a mature opportunity. Compared with the fierce competition and fine division of other types of hotel markets, the resort hotel market has not been fully explored, and many major hotel groups are still in development. The high-end and mid-to-high-end hotel markets are fighting, and the "real estate + hotel" model of real estate groups is too simple and rude, and only some small and medium hotel groups are deeply involved in this. On the whole, the local resort hotel market is still under-exploited, and the epidemic is undoubtedly an opportunity for rapid growth for Chinese resort hotels. It is also a ray of light of the breadth and depth of this market and a taste of 2020. Resort hotels with "opportunity bonuses" will obviously be more relaxed in 2021, be able to position themselves and their customers more accurately, and find a new path in reverse.

03 The 4 Paths of "Reverse Rebirth"

In the epidemic, the "reverse maturity" of Chinese resort hotels is a kind of passiveness, but now, after recognizing the future potential of the market, "reverse rebirth" has become an active choice. Some Chinese resorts have already embarked on the journey. At the resort, we saw 4 "roads of rebirth".

Transnational cooperation

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, Fengyue Hotels & Resorts and Minor Hotel Group have joined hands to deploy the domestic resort market. Multinational cooperation is one of the fastest ways for Chinese resort hotels to grasp the essence of the resort market and resort hotel operations. The Minor Hotel Group from Thailand has its own vacation genes and is widely praised in the resort field. Its luxury resort and spa brand Anantara has no shortage of fans in China. In this cooperation, Fengyue's ambition is to promote the transformation and upgrading of the business structure.

In the resort field, multinational marriages are not uncommon. For example, the Anlu brand is Duan Qiang, the president of the China Tourism Association and the chairman of the World Tourism Federation, and it was established with Adrian Zecha, the founder of Aman, and reached a partnership with Jihemu Hotel Management Group. ; Atlantis Sanya, Casa Cook, Club Med and other resort brands are all under the revenue of Fosun Travel...

More orthodox vacation genes, coupled with localized operating methods, enable these Chinese-style resort hotels from multinational cooperation to not only touch the minds of travelers in time, but also meet their practical vacation needs with professionalism.

Rush into the city

Horwath’s "2020 China Hotel Business Statistics Release" report pointed out that in the destination resort market, the performance of remote destination resorts has declined significantly, while the performance of short-distance resort hotels near core city clusters has been relatively stable. With the rise of "micro vacations", surrounding vacations and urban leisure vacation markets have become more popular. Meituan's big data shows that although the number of orders for out-of-town travel has declined, due to the great release of local travel demand, people have not only become accustomed to vacationing within 300-500 kilometers from home, but also "buy hotels". The phenomenon.

The space secret explorer pointed out in the article "Resort Hotels in the City, Are You Done?" that traditional resort hotels far away from the city are just the 1.0 model of resort hotels. The 2.0 model is no longer confined to the inside and outside of the city, but to travellers. The demand is the heading. Urban vacations have already had the right time to enter. International hotel brands such as Capella and Sukhothai have long appeared in cities as "urban oasis". Among Chinese resort hotels, Huajiantang, Die Lai Yagu, etc. , Is also trying to make travelers experience vacation from another angle.

Focus on specific customer groups

Like most hotel categories, resort hotels also need to be subdivided and pay special attention to specific customer groups. A resort hotel cannot meet the needs of all travelers. Comprehensive catering means high investment and low quality. This is obviously not realistic.

At present, many hotels with their own loyal users are mostly focused on a certain segment, such as Club Med, Sanya Atlantis, Kaiyuan Senbo, etc. Coincidentally, they are all parent-child trips. , The parent-child experience continues to increase, in front of the huge parent-child market, such a choice is not surprising. However, it is conceivable that in the future, the focus of the customer base of Chinese-style resort hotels will inevitably expand, and new resort hotel types such as honeymoon vacations and artistic vacations may also be born.

Memories that can be taken away

As mentioned in the previous article, the traveler’s vacation has changed from "living in a hotel" to "living in a hotel". Therefore, how to enable travelers to "living in a hotel" is extremely important for the experience of the resort itself. If it is a cultural and tourism complex, a series of experience projects will be developed to keep consumption within the scope of business.

Taking the good soil hotel in Xitang as an example, it integrates "organic vacation" into the experience. Guests can pick them in an organic and ecological village covering an area of ​​more than 3,000 acres, and even trace the process of crops from the farm to the table, conveying respect for the land . In addition, some mature resort hotels will have some experience activities that allow guests to take away their own works, such as papermaking, pottery, bracelets... memories sometimes fade with time, but those hand-made works become The hints and calls repeatedly mentioned.

04 The next five years of Chinese resort hotels

With the continued popularity of the domestic tourism market and the self-upgrading of Chinese-style resort hotels, the resort market on this land will usher in more violent fission. In the next five years, a series of Chinese holiday products with local characteristics may be born.

Healthy living destination

Under the influence of the epidemic, traditional sightseeing and vacations can no longer meet the fundamental needs of travelers. "Healthy living" has begun to receive more and more attention. Some Chinese resort hotels will become healthy living destinations.

The "healthy life" here is not just about the health of the body, but the health of the environment and the health of the mentality. In terms of environment, in addition to resort hotels enjoying superior natural environment, urban resort hotels can also achieve a cut from the hustle and bustle through the design of the internal environment. In terms of mentality, resort hotels use appropriate services and inspiring experience activities to meet the holiday needs of target customers.

Cultural Resort Hotel IP

In the future, in Chinese resort hotels, it will be possible to have a resort IP such as Aman and Banyan Tree. The culture of this resort hotel’s IP may not be completely classical Chinese culture, but it must be from this land. There is no lack of vacation culture with the characteristics of the times. And through the creation of this vacation IP, through the guidance of cultural scenes and cultural consumption, it will be able to provide travelers with a deeper vacation space. Under the guidance of such IP, Chinese resort hotels will, like Aman, acquire a group of "Amans" who believe in hotel characteristics, making hotel IP a cultural symbol.

Scenic Resort

At present, the resort hotel is regarded as a scenic spot, which has begun to take shape. Resort hotel brands such as Atlantis and Kaiyuan Senbo are all large-scale tourism complexes integrating sports and entertainment, dining and entertainment, and hotel accommodation. In addition to accommodation, there are more possibilities to attract travelers. With the development of the resort hotel market, the simply replicated and homogenized Chinese resort hotels will inevitably encounter obstacles in the market competition after the bonus period subsides, and those resort hotels that use hotels as scenic destinations, It is more likely to usher in the next round of outbreak.

From "shunyi imitating" to "against the trend of rebirth", Chinese resort hotels are ushering in the best era. Under the craze, only those brands that have taken the road of differentiation can seize the next five years!