A few hundred yuan “unlimited” homestay membership card, what exactly is sold to you?
“Just spend a few hundred yuan to apply for a card, and you can stay in the country’s homestays unlimited times in a year!” Would you be excited to see such a slogan?
When it comes to the topic of homestay, words such as Moganshan, Internet censorship, Airbnb, capital boom, follow the hype, and serious homogeneity will come. In the past two years, the once-booming homestay market has also calmed down. After all, there are few homestay homes that can make a profit.
Not long ago, the topic of how to save the homestay industry continued to appear, and holding a group to warm up seems to have become an important way for homestay operators to save themselves. So, what is the relationship between these “membership cards” with annual fees of several hundred yuan and the hotel?
What’s weird happened after buying the card?
“I was attracted by the selling point of the unlimited homestay. Who knows that I can’t book a room after using it twice.”
Two months ago, Ms. Yu, who was keen on traveling, spent nearly 700 yuan on a membership card on the app of a homestay membership institution. At that time, the advertisement stated that with the membership card, one could stay in the over 300 homestays with which he cooperated for free throughout the country for unlimited times within one year.
What impressed her was that the information showed that most of these co-operative homestays are located in popular tourist cities, such as Shenzhen, Xiamen, Suzhou, Deqing, Qingdao, etc., and the purchase of membership cards can greatly save the cost of travel accommodation and provide a better experience Special style homestays.
“I thought at the time that the better homestays cost a few hundred yuan a night. I bought the membership for two nights and I paid it back.” So, the second weekend after buying a membership card, Miss Yu Can’t wait to book a homestay and experience it with the family.
Because the booking process was quite smooth, she also proudly showed off this membership card to her family, saying that she had “returned the fare” for two nights, and according to membership regulations, she and her family could only be at most Stayed two nights at the same homestay. “I learned that the price of a room for one night at this homestay was more than 500 yuan, and two nights would definitely pay for it.”
After two weeks, when Miss Yu wants to book a bed and breakfast through the app again, she encounters a small problem. Most of the homestays she wants to book show full rooms (unable to book), which makes her feel very scarce. After carefully reviewing the terms, she finds that the important premise of “free stay in national cooperative homestays” is that you must be able to book rooms.
If all the target listings are full, “Free Stay” will not be honored. What made her even more surprised was that when she tried to make a reservation on the App for two or three weeks, she showed the full room status. “Even on weekdays (Monday to Thursday), it shows full rooms, only a few remote ones. B & B, only a few rooms are shown. “
Uncertainly, Miss Yu called customer service, and the other party explained that there were too many users who have recently settled through the membership system, and it is temporarily impossible to guarantee the booking of popular homestays, so she delayed the schedule and tried to book again. As a result, she can only set aside the membership card and think about it later and try again.
“As a result, I went shopping for a few days ago and saw someone selling a B & B membership card. I was curious and asked.” I didn’t know, I was shocked.
She understands that these sellers who sell homestay members on leisure fish are actually “bitters” who cannot book a homestay. In the exchange, the seller stated that most of them stayed at the homestay for two nights, no more than three nights, and they began to find that when they booked the homestay again, they always showed full rooms. Sell it on Idle Fish, pass on the problem of booking to new buyers, and recover some of the losses from purchasing membership cards. “
So, really, as these consumers have encountered, are the cooperative homestays so popular that it is hard to find a room? What is the name of the cooperation between these agencies and the guesthouse?
What are the “win-win” ways to increase occupancy rates?
“There are still rooms available, and it will be difficult to say if there are group bookings in a few days.”
Understand notes recorded the information of several homestays showing full rooms on the member app used by Miss Yu, and chose to come to a home in Dapeng New District, Shenzhen on the weekend. The landlord, Mr. Li, told the note that his homestay had a total of 12 rooms, and there were 8 vacant rooms that day, and no customers had booked in the next week.
Understanding the notes means that I drove over when I saw a full room on a certain membership app. Since there is actually a room, can I check in on the spot according to the membership treatment? He responded “Check-in is ok,However, members cannot enjoy the benefits. “That is to say, the full price is paid based on the price of the day (no discount).
“Unless it is shown on the App that the system can be booked, we will be able to stay for free when we receive the order. Sorry.” After a round of communication, Mr. Li revealed that his homestay cooperation with the agency is one year, “After signing the cooperation agreement, this institution will provide us with information on occupancy regularly. Many of our homestays have cooperation with similar institutions.”
The reason why these infamous homestays are willing to cooperate with the membership platform is that the current homestay industry is highly competitive, and more platforms are needed to divert or provide guest sources for the homestay. The cost of staying at the homestay through the platform is settled by these institutions and the homestay, and the price is lower than the ordinary booking price (that is, the service fee).
As for the settlement price, Mr. Li kept silent, saying that it was not convenient to disclose. It is just emphasized that after cooperation with the institution, customers from the system will be checked in from time to time. “Although it is free of charge, the deposit must be submitted to the platform. The deposit is the same as the ordinary booking price, and two nights will be charged twice.”
The platform will return the deposit to the user only after the user leaves the store and the guesthouse confirms that it is correct. Compared with ordinary hotel accommodation, the deposit for membership-based homestays is indeed much higher, but because only the corresponding number of days are stayed, many users do not care.
“Working with a membership institution has a lot of benefits for the bed and breakfast operator.” Mr. Li told me that he understands that Dapeng, a dozen homestays, has cooperated with different membership institutions. Apart from the advertisement and promotion of membership card at the door, the guesthouse has no other investment.
After careful communication, Mr. Li confirmed that there are currently no repeat customers who check in again through the platform, which means that it is difficult for users to repeatedly book the same homestay on the platform.
“Some of the members stayed in September and November. It was a good idea to add a channel to attract customers during the off-season. It ’s good.” Mr. Li, for customers who stayed two or three nights, why Seeing that the listing shows “full” also said that they did not know, only emphasized that only through the App system booking, the homestay side can guarantee occupancy. “Before cooperation, they have always emphasized a win-win situation. Member fees. “
So, does this win-win include users who purchase membership cards? What are the organizations that implement the B & B membership card to make money?
Homestay MemberHidden secrets
“You can buy more than 600 yuan a year, and then you can stay unlimited. How do you think about it?”
Li Jia (pseudonym) has been operating in a guesthouse in Hangzhou for nearly five years. She just left her post in October this year, and has revealed many industry insiders about the current homestay membership cards on the market.
“In fact, this kind of homestay membership model started to rise at the beginning of this year. At present, there are more than a dozen names and brands in the market. The price of membership cards is mostly between 600 and 1,000 yuan.” Li Jia said, Many homestay membership cards have promoted that staying for two nights can be worth the membership fee. After that, it is equivalent to staying for free indefinitely. These selling points are indeed very attractive.
However, Mingtang is “guaranteed to stay” on these limited days.
The cooperation between these agencies and guesthouses requires settlement fees as long as there are guests staying, that is to say, card users will enter the shop through the system, and the agencies will pay according to the actual number of days, of course, they can also get certain preferential policies .
“Cooperative (settlement) prices are much lower than public external quotes, and are usually discounted by nearly two-thirds.” Taking a homestay standard room with an external price of 600 yuan as an example, the operator’s price to a member institution It is about 200 yuan to 220 yuan.
However, if a user who spends 700 yuan to apply for a card stays more than three times, the institution will settle 600-700 yuan for the hotel. , Is this possible? “
No one will do business at a loss. Therefore, these institutions will set certain restrictions or even traps after members have booked a homestay for 2 to 3 nights. For example, it shows that the room is full, only the remotely located homes need to be purchased with insurance products, etc. “If the majority of users stay for two nights and then cannot book a room, then the institution can also earn two or three hundred yuan in membership fees.”
However, after two or three nights of service, I ca n’t book a room anymore.
Li Jia explained that in addition to the co-hosted homestays, the membership agency will also cooperate with some newly opened small homestays or remotely located homestays, provided that the homestay must provide free listings for a certain number of days. In return. “This is why consumers only found after staying a few times that most of the homestays that can be booked are in remote places, or new homestays where no information can be found on the (OTA) website.”
Li Jia also revealed that, in addition to this, when the agency cooperates with the homestay, the homestay will be required to display membership promotion content to attract new guests to join the membership. In this way, the homestay membership system is like a snowball. The scale will become larger and larger, and the pool of member fees and funds that the institution can get will become larger and larger. “With enough cash in hand, there will be more imagination in the business area of the organization, you know.”
In particular, the deposit fee equal to the house price, Li Jia emphasized that it is also one of the ways of profit for the membership institution. Together, they can also be used for financial business and earn a certain income. “
Compared to shared bicycle, shared car and other projects, users’ deposits can be used to finance business, after all, the cash pool in the hands of member institutions is limited. Therefore, institutions can only invest in short-term financial products, but once the investment fails, the end of the thunderstorm cannot be avoided.
“If there are enough paying members and enough deposits in the hotel, there will be a real risk of running away.” Li Jia told me that she understands that this kind of guesthouse membership system is also being tested by many organizations. There are no large-scale complaints, and new members will continue to join. “If the promise of unlimited stay is fulfilled, the (institution) will be bankrupt.”
[Concluding remarks]
Obviously, the quiet rise of the B & B membership system is to save the sluggish B & B market through “holding groups for heating”. However, there is still a lot of “traps” behind this service that claims that all members can stay in the bed and breakfast for free. There are still many low-cost annual fees to attract consumers to join the membership, and then restrict members’ reservations by some restrictive means.
The B & B market is flourishing in the “Moganshan Model” and is seriously destroyed by homogeneity. Will the constantly emerging membership system “collapse overnight” like some shared entrepreneurial projects, leaving only promises that cannot be fulfilled in one place? At present, no one can give a conclusion.
However, one thing can be confirmed. There is no pie that has fallen for no reason, and no operator is willing to do loss-making business forever. Spend a few hundred yuan to purchase a membership, you can stay unlimited in hundreds of homestays cooperating in the country. For such a slogan … Maybe think about it.