Hotels fight for College Entrance Exam Market

This weekend, the annual university entrance examinations will start. According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, the country's registered examinees have reduced by 400 thousand this year. Unlike previous years, the hotels near the high school exam venues in Beijing are not fully booked, and the prices have dropped dramatically.

Let's take a closer look with reporter Zhou Jing.

Reporter:

According to the Ministry of Education, there will be about 100 thousand examinees in Beijing this year, 17 thousand less than last year. The suite prices offered by some hotels have dropped a lot. For example, a suite in a five star hotel is only priced at around 360 Yuan per day, 70 yuan less than the price last year. A hotel manager Jia Yanhua says.

"Due to the slipping economic situation, most of the hotels saw much less occupancy. We have to grab the college entrance exam as an opportunity. So we prepared more rooms for students this year."

For the hospitality industry in Beijing, the market is usually quite competitive during June. The hotels close to the exam venue still enjoy their biggest advantage. Wu Fengquan is the manager of Juzi Hotel in Zhongguancun.

"Our estimation is that the occupancy will not be lower than 90% this year. My hotel is just 200 meters away from a high school."

Some hotels even promoted their exam lunch break package at 28 yuan per two hours for examinees.

Cao Juan from Han Ting Hotel:

"It's not a strategy trying to earn more money during this time, it is more like a branding promotion. These students will later go to college and work, after several years, our 28 yuan star service will leave a lifetime impression, and they will become a group of potential customers."

In the past, parents would pick a lucky room number, book a luxury suite, or buy special service such as psychology consultation offered by the hotel. But this year, parents seem to be more practical.

"No need to stay in a luxury suite, as long as it is comfortable and suitable for my son, that's fine."

Some five star hotels such as the Beijing Friendship Hotel are among the first to promote college entrance exam suites in June. Now they focus more on the detailed service and adjust their prices to a more reasonable level.

Manager Xiao Qing says:

"In the past we usually put up a message board saying 'please be quiet on examinees' floor'. But now we stop doing that. Because we think it would put some pressure on the students."

In order to win more customers, considerate and detailed services are a big attraction this year. Some economical hotels offer free shuttles taking students to the exam venues. Some even prepare fans and cool soups for examinees and their parents to survive the heat.