Hainan Hotel Room Rates Soar as the Spring Festival Coming

Source: Shenzhen Daily

Hotel room prices in the beach city of Sanya in Hainan Province are going through the roof as the Lunar New Year holidays approach.

With an average rate of 15,000 yuan (USD2,200) a night in star-rated hotels over the holiday period, the tropical resort island has become the most expensive tourist destination in the country.

Most five-star hotels in Sanya have tripled room rates for the week starting from Saturday, Lunar New Year's Eve, while luxury hotels at Yalong Bay, considered as having the best sea views, have increased their rates fivefold, travel agencies say.

The coastal city's Hilton Hotel charges 11,138 to 16,048 yuan for a one-night stay, outstripping the 10,000 yuan watershed price. The title of king of price hikes goes to Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where the top rate is 34,500 yuan per night, 10 times the normal rate.

In the previous few years, the rates during Chinese New Year were around 5,000 yuan.

Figures from the provincial travel bureau show the rate of hotel reservations in Sanya has reached 85 percent for the Lunar New Year.

Wealthy mainland tourists — especially those from northern areas - are usually willing to splash out on a New Year holiday in Sanya, touted as the mainland's answer to Hawaii.

Price hikes in the Chinese Lunar New Year have been a regular last-minute tool used by the island’s hotel industry to exploit the ritual in flow of tourists. However, the peculiarity in Hainan this year lies in its large scale of inflated prices, aided by property speculators who swarmed here after the Chinese Government pledged to build the island into an international tourism hub, analysts said.

Real estate dealers, in their "spare time" from trading in the property market, booked idle hotel rooms in advance to rent them out at higher prices later, Xiao Baojun, a travel agency mamager told the China Business Daily.

Travel agents could be playing a part in hoarding as well, as the middlemen between hotels and tourists, the newspaper said.

The State Council issued a policy statement Dec. 31 saying that the Chinese Government intended to develop Hainan as a top international tourist destination over the next decade. Property prices have been rising in the province ever since.

Report said since last month more than 200 property speculators had flocked to the island and that real estate prices, including hotels, had risen by about 1,000 yuan per square meter - on a daily basis for some properties.

"A considerable amount of guessing and speculating on Hainan's future, like gambling options, greatly spurred a fresh wave of interest in Hainan recently, especially in Sanya," said Li Geng, a Beijing-based tourism researcher. "And this year, you've got the Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day on the same day. All these factors account for the skyrocketing hotel prices."

Another less obvious reason behind the Sanya boom is connected to the recent ban on overseas business trips using public money, previously popular among senior civil servants, industry observers say.

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Editor: Jessie Hwang