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not long ago, the super typhoon "makar" hit hainan and other places, causing water and power outages in some areas of haikou, and many residents chose to stay in hotels. however, according to residents, some hotels in haikou have increased their prices.

recently, the hainan provincial market supervision bureau issued administrative penalty notices for four price-gouging cases, and all four hotels were punished. one of the apartment hotels usually sold rooms at a price of 87 to 275.19 yuan per room per night, but from september 7 to 8, the price was raised to 604.8 to 1,043.4 yuan per room per night.

as soon as this incident happened, it immediately sparked heated discussions, and related topics became hot searches on various platforms.

during typhoons

many hotels in hainan have significantly increased their prices

according to media reports, the platform showed that on september 9, the booking price of hainan huaming select hotel was around 1,200 yuan, while the highest price on september 10 and the following days was only 498 yuan.

the hotel front desk said that more than 400 yuan is the normal front desk price, and the retail price is more than 1,000 yuan. the hotel front desk said that after the typhoon, demand surged, and the hotel temporarily adjusted the price. the four economy hotels visited by the reporter all saw a sharp increase in prices.

on the wechat mini program, the booking price for the vienna international hotel longhu guangnian branch on september 9 was about 1,300 yuan, and the offline booking price was about 800 yuan. however, the reporter checked the booking calendar on multiple platforms and found that the hotel's daily booking price was about 280 yuan.

in addition to economy hotels, apartment hotels also saw similar price increases. the price of haikou shangpin resort hotel was 732 yuan on september 9, but it was 130 yuan two days later, and 125 yuan after that.

the reporter called the hotel front desk, and the staff told the reporter that the current price is 500 yuan, but even at 500 yuan, it is several times different from the price of around 100 yuan in the next few days.

according to a media report on september 10, a netizen named mr. liang revealed: "we checked into a serviced apartment in haikou on september 7. the room rate was more than 200 yuan when we checked in. however, when we extended the room on september 8, the hotel staff told us that the extension fee was 1,000 yuan per night."

the reporter checked the room rates in haikou on september 10 on multiple booking websites and found that the room rates of some hotels or b&bs with available rooms were between 500 and 1,000 yuan, and those of star-rated hotels were over 1,000 yuan. among them, the hotel prices that had previously risen to over 10,000 yuan per night have now returned to over 400 to 600 yuan per night.

the lowest price increased from 87 yuan per night to 600 yuan per night

several hotels were fined

on the evening of september 14, according to the hainan provincial market supervision bureau, in order to severely crack down on price violations during typhoon makar and maintain the price order of the province's markets, the hainan provincial market supervision bureau concentrated on exposing 11 suspected price violation cases on september 11. administrative penalty notices have been issued for 4 price gouging cases, which are now exposed.

1. case of suspected price gouging at weihua apartment hotel in xiuying district, haikou city

according to public complaints and reports, on september 11, 2024, the hainan provincial market supervision bureau inspected the weihua apartment hotel in xiuying district, haikou city in accordance with the law and found that the hotel's normal room sales price was 87-275.19 yuan/room/night, and it was raised to 604.8-1043.4 yuan/room/night from september 7 to 8. during the period of the major natural disaster "capricorn", the hotel took the opportunity to raise prices significantly, driving up room prices, disrupting the market price order, and having a bad social impact. its behavior is suspected of violating article 14, item 3 of the "price law of the people's republic of china" and article 6, paragraph 1, item 3 of the "administrative penalties for price violations", and is a price-driving violation. the hainan provincial market supervision bureau intends to impose an administrative penalty of a fine of 200,000 yuan.

ii. case of suspected price gouging at haikou meilan 898 business hotel

according to public complaints and reports, on september 11, 2024, the hainan provincial market supervision bureau and the haikou municipal market supervision bureau conducted an inspection of the 898 business hotel in meilan lingshan town, haikou city in accordance with the law, and found that the hotel's normal room sales price was 221.77-300 yuan/room/night, and it was increased to 700-1100 yuan/room/night from september 7 to 8. during the period of the major natural disaster "capricorn", the hotel took the opportunity to raise prices significantly, driving up room prices, disrupting the market price order, and having a bad social impact. its behavior is suspected of violating article 14, item 3 of the "price law of the people's republic of china" and article 6, paragraph 1, item 3 of the "administrative penalties for price violations", and is a price-driving violation. the haikou municipal market supervision bureau intends to impose an administrative penalty of a fine of 200,000 yuan.

3. hainan xinzhu hotel management co., ltd. is suspected of raising prices

according to public complaints and reports, on september 10, 2024, the hainan provincial market supervision bureau and the haikou municipal market supervision bureau conducted an inspection of the haikou xiuying district vidic hotel (haikou international duty free city store) operated by hainan xinzhu hotel management co., ltd. in accordance with the law. it was found that the hotel raised the normal sales price of the guest rooms from 130-150 yuan/room/night to 575-714 yuan/room/night on september 8. during the period of the major natural disaster "capricorn", the hotel took the opportunity to raise prices significantly, driving up room prices, disrupting the market price order, and having a bad social impact. its behavior is suspected of violating article 14, item 3 of the "price law of the people's republic of china" and article 6, paragraph 1, item 3 of the "administrative penalties for price violations", and is a price-driving violation. the haikou municipal market supervision bureau intends to impose an administrative penalty of a fine of 200,000 yuan.

4. hainan fanji hotel management co., ltd. suspected of price fraud

according to public opinion monitoring, on september 10, 2024, the haikou municipal market supervision bureau inspected hainan fanji hotel management co., ltd. in xiuying district, haikou city in accordance with the law and found that when the company marked the room prices on the online platform, it also marked false or misleading compared prices. during the period of the major natural disaster "capricorn", the company marked false or misleading room prices, disrupted the market price order, and had a bad social impact. its behavior is suspected of violating article 14, item 4 of the "price law of the people's republic of china" "using false or misleading price means to deceive consumers or other operators to trade with them" and article 16 of the "regulations on clearly marking prices and prohibiting price fraud" "when operators compare prices when selling goods or providing services, the marked compared price information shall be true and accurate. if the operator does not indicate the detailed information of the compared price, the compared price shall not be higher than the lowest transaction price of the operator in the same business premises within seven days before the price comparison; if there is no transaction within the previous seven days, it shall not be higher than the last transaction price before this price comparison." the provisions constitute price fraud violations. the haikou municipal market supervision bureau intends to impose an administrative penalty of 200,000 yuan.

the hainan provincial market supervision bureau said that all business operators should take this as a warning and strengthen price self-discipline. at the same time, consumers are welcome to call the "12345" and "12315" reporting hotlines to actively provide clues to price violations, and the market supervision department will investigate and deal with them strictly and quickly.

typhoon disaster weather is different from general market supply and demand changes. as market players, hotels have the right to set prices independently, but they must set prices reasonably within the scope permitted by laws and regulations.

due to the extreme weather caused by the typhoon, the number of foreign tourists decreased, and the demand for hotel accommodation was mostly from local guests whose homes were cut off from water and electricity due to the typhoon. in this case, even if we do not force the hotel to share weal and woe with nearby residents and help each other, we can understand that the hotel will appropriately float the price due to the increase in actual costs such as power generation and labor, but it is really "outrageous" to increase the price by up to 7 times at once, which is tantamount to taking advantage of the fire and raising prices to make a fortune from the disaster.

to this

many netizens scoffed at the price increase of merchants:

"how can you make money from disasters?"

some netizens also said

we need to increase penalties for such behavior.

"support severe punishment!"

according to the meteorological department's forecast, there may be a typhoon every week before national day. this wave of fines issued by the hainan provincial market supervision bureau is a reminder to the hotel and other industries that taking the opportunity to raise prices sharply during a major natural disaster is a "price gouging" that disrupts the market price order. it is really "losing both the wife and the army" to be fined despite the bad social impact. relevant industries should take this as a warning and effectively strengthen price self-discipline.