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whether it is enjoying the greenery and listening to the wind in the mountains, or watching the fireworks in the city, or facing the sea when you open your eyes, homestays have become the first choice for many people to stay when traveling. according to data released by an institution, the scale of china's homestay market will exceed 30 billion yuan in 2023.

especially when holidays come, it is normal for beds in characteristic homestays to be in short supply. for example, during the mid-autumn festival just passed, homestays in many places welcomed a small peak in passenger flow after the summer peak season.

however, as homestays continue to gain popularity, "blind boxes" have emerged. topics such as online celebrity homestays not matching the products advertised and posing numerous health and safety risks have frequently attracted attention. some tourists have turned from fans to haters, raising soul-searching questions such as "what is left of a homestay without the filter?"

i can't help but wonder, why has choosing a b&b become a "blind box"? how can we stay in a b&b that we like?

image source: visual china

one

if b&bs are well run, the result is a win-win situation. for practitioners, they can earn some pocket money by renovating or renting out idle houses; for tourists, it is an additional accommodation option different from staying in hotels and guesthouses. however, the current b&b industry still has problems such as uneven quality and irregular operations. some netizens said that choosing a b&b is like "opening a blind box", which can reveal surprising "hidden items", but it is also easy to "open" a bad experience.

appearance trap.in short videos or online travel platforms, the promotion of homestays usually focuses on the most attractive aspects: floor-to-ceiling windows with sea views, infinity swimming pools, giant-screen cinemas, etc., coupled with the slogan "high-end, atmospheric and classy", which greatly enhances the temptation.

however, when tourists arrive with high expectations, they sometimes find that the actual situation is far from what is described online. the slogan says "one bedroom and one living room, independent room", but in fact it may be a partitioned room hidden in a residential area; the "paradise" surrounded by green mountains may mean that the location is remote and the transportation is not convenient... some people joked: "there is nothing you can't encounter as long as you can think of it."

price bubble.in recent years, many tourists have lamented that they can no longer afford to stay in b&bs. some b&bs cost hundreds or even one or two thousand yuan a night, which is close to the price of five-star hotels. they thought that paying a higher fee would ensure a good accommodation experience, but they did not expect to fall into a trap of high prices and were surprised to find themselves encountering "b&b assassins". some b&bs even raise prices during holidays, which can be 2 to 3 times higher than usual. netizens have also encountered situations where the same house was sold at a higher price after the order was maliciously cancelled, and they said frankly that it was "very annoying".

security black hole.some rural b&bs are self-built houses or converted from self-owned yards. they have not been professionally planned and designed, and lack the necessary fire safety inspections and catering business licenses. others deliberately pursue a "natural feel" and are built on cliffs or near the tides.

in urban communities, some owners disguise their homes as b&bs, which can also cause public security problems and nuisance. last month, news broke that nearly 100 b&bs were operating in a community near a scenic spot. the community pavilions became "bars", and tourists were noisy late at night, which made the community owners very distressed.

cartoon source: "china tourism news" wechat public account

two

in recent years, the homestay industry, as a new business format, has become a major highlight in the cultural and tourism industries in various places. the homestay industry has evolved from a single accommodation to a rich and diverse experience scene and consumption space. it has become a motivation for many tourists to spend a comfortable holiday and indulge in "poetry and distant places", and has also become a "small carriage" to drive the cultural and tourism consumption market. some more professional homestays, on the basis of ensuring service standards, have also revitalized local cultural resources, cleverly implanted intangible cultural heritage, handcrafts, etc. into each store, and displayed the diverse regional customs.

however, some b&bs are still labeled as "rip-offs" and "frauds". one can't help but ask: why are b&bs still a hotbed for "blind box opening"?

good reviews can be misleading.whether booking a homestay through an online travel platform or a social platform, most tourists consider dimensions such as the number of orders, the rate of favorable comments, and the content of the reviews. some homestay operators have neglected the hardware facilities and service quality, and have focused on marketing "packaging". some businesses have even become "traffic dependent" and spend a lot of money on traffic. a media investigation found that the number of orders and the content of reviews for homestays can be "brushed up". some internet celebrity inns have spared no expense, spending thousands of yuan a day to "brush up orders".

there are blind spots in supervision.some platforms only require basic information such as photos, booking prices, and descriptions of listings to be filled out when listing listings. even if the platform promises to conduct on-site inspections of listings, it is difficult to conduct a comprehensive inspection due to the large number, variety, and wide distribution of listings, which gives "false" content an opportunity to take advantage. some homestays also use social platforms to attract traffic, step by step guiding tourists to add wechat to book homestays, bypassing third-party audits, making it difficult to ensure transaction security and the personal safety of tourists.

in addition, the supervision requirements and intensity of b&bs vary from place to place. for example, some places only regulate b&b-related business certificates and sanitary conditions, but lack necessary requirements for check-in procedures and emergency measures; some places do not open complaint channels, so tourists often suffer losses but have no way to complain.

the management is not effective.the b&b owner largely determines the service quality of the b&b and the tourists' stay experience, and this "key variable" is often uncontrollable. subjectively, there are some operators who want to do a "one-time deal" and only care about the present and not the long-term; objectively, some b&b owners follow the trend and enter the industry. they lack a professional operation team and do not know how to manage a b&b. reservation, pick-up, cleaning and other links are all "deductions". a survey was conducted in a certain place. more than 60% of the b&b operators are self-employed, and most of the employees are local residents who have not received professional training.

three

the "homestay blind box" hurts more than just tourists. when more and more tourists dare not choose homestays easily, it affects the entire homestay market and even the image of a place. how to resolve this "trust crisis"? the author has three things to say.

staff are cleaning the homestay. source: xinhua news agency

if you want something new, you have to know the ropes.simply providing temporary novelty will not make tourists want to come again. the key is to "work hard" on civilized management, "come up with new ideas" on accommodation quality, and "do something fancy" on consumer experience to increase their own charm. for example, formulate unified management and service processes, provide standardized products, and ensure that every link from before check-in to after check-out is well-regulated and well-serviced.

it is worth mentioning that in order to make this track move forward in the direction of professionalism and high quality, local cultural and tourism departments have also successively introduced relevant policies and measures. for example, some places have formulated standards for rural homestays, and incentivized practitioners through star ratings, thereby improving the quality of homestay accommodation and management level.

you have to earn the difference and win reputation.it is understandable that online travel platforms make a profit as middlemen, but they still need to be good "gatekeepers". the good reviews behind countless listings constitute consumers' trust in the platform. listing review needs to be very strict, and b&bs that have been repeatedly complained about should be warned, fined, or even banned; digital means can also be used for fine management and dynamic monitoring of b&bs' bad behavior. for example, some platforms have added options such as "fake listings" and "discounts", so that consumers can quickly establish feedback and complaint channels when canceling orders, thereby better protecting the rights and interests of guests.

there must be standards for low thresholds.b&bs and hotels differ in many aspects of operation and management, so the management of this field cannot mechanically follow the methods of the hotel or rental industry. the "basic requirements and grading of tourism b&bs", which was mainly drafted by the cultural and tourism departments and implemented last year, not only established the rating of b&bs, but also put forward detailed requirements for facilities, hygiene, and operations, which are customized standards for this field. in addition, the b&b industry involves multiple departments such as culture and tourism, housing and construction, fire protection, and public security, and should continue to promote and improve the cross-departmental comprehensive supervision system to form a joint force.

of course, as the final experiencers, we can only “open our eyes” when making choices, listen more to netizens’ comments, compare properties on multiple platforms, and “be more careful” to “avoid pitfalls”.

some people say that b&b is another possibility of home. it is not only a place to stay, but also a deep experience of people and nature, culture and life. in the future, whether the development boom of b&b can continue depends on whether b&b operators can provide heartfelt services and whether a place has the ability to carry out standardized management. in the final analysis, the high-quality development of the tourism industry requires everyone to take good care of it and operate it.