During the “National Day” holiday in mainland China, many people chose to travel outdoors, with “bed car camping” becoming a new choice for many. On October 2nd, the topic of “suddenly finding everyone not staying in hotels while traveling” surged to the top of hot searches, sparking discussions among netizens.
A video posted by Weibo user Shen Xuhuai, who has 2.318 million followers, showed that Chinese holidaymakers are embracing a trend of “anti-involution” in travel. “Bed car camping” has become a new norm for outings, with many tourists preferring to sleep in their cars or tents rather than pay inflated hotel room prices during holidays.
This video resonated with many netizens.
Weibo user “TechDaily” posted, “Mainly because hotels are really expensive, recently hotels in Shantou are very expensive, which truly shocked me. Even budget hotels in popular travel cities start at five to six hundred yuan, and nicer ones go up to over a thousand yuan. Considering it’s just for one night, the exorbitant hotel pricing naturally drives people away. Some choose to sleep in their cars, while others opt to stay farther away during holidays when hotel prices surge, which is reasonable, but it shouldn’t be too ridiculous. If it’s too expensive, everyone will find other methods.”
Weibo user “Classmate GuanGiM” mentioned that in places like Northeast China, bathhouses with rooms for overnight stays and meals have become popular alternatives with a much better cost performance compared to hotels of the same price range.
In recent years, tourists’ accommodation choices have become more diverse. Some exchanged expensive hotels for budget ones, some chose to stay farther from tourist spots, and others shifted from hotels to lower-priced options like guesthouses or youth hostels. For self-driving tourists, some even turned their cars into temporary lodging to save on accommodation expenses.
The phenomenon of “bed cars” in self-driving tours has also garnered attention. Some tourists have converted SUVs and MPVs by simply laying down mattresses inside to sleep in their vehicles at night. For those on long self-driving journeys, saving hundreds of yuan on hotel fees each day adds up to a significant amount over time.
An article by Daily Economic News in October last year reported that during the recent National Day holiday, the general manager of a hotel in downtown Shanghai, Lin Yang, appeared somewhat worried as many rooms remained unbooked despite the peak holiday season. Watching the crowded Nanjing Road pedestrian street, he lamented, “Hotels are reaching record high vacancy rates during peak seasons, competing not just with similar-grade hotels within a few kilometers, but also with higher-tier hotels, electric cars, and even tents for customers.”
With both tents and mattresses, in a service area in Gansu, hundreds of cars stayed overnight on-site. A user on Xiaohongshu posted about “overnighting in cars at service areas on the night of National Day,” while others shared similar posts in the comments section, joking about “saving a few thousand.”
User Neo noticed during a self-driving trip in Guangxi that there were many people “packing beddings” for the holidays, and he was surprised by the spacious new shower rooms provided at service areas, seemingly built specifically for them.
“Saving a few hundred yuan in just one night, using the car bed a couple of times pays off.” This widely circulated slogan on social media is becoming the real choice for more and more travelers.
According to the China Hotel Association’s “China Accommodation Industry Consumption Index Report (July 2026)” released on August 27, 2026, the average room price index in the accommodation industry decreased by 5.9% year-on-year in July. The occupancy rate index dropped by 1.3%, while the online booking index increased by 10.1%. The prices of economy, comfort, high-end, and luxury hotel rooms decreased by 4.9%, 4.6%, 6.3%, and 9% respectively.
The homestay market has also felt this change. Reports and media coverage in the industry this summer indicated that while there is still travel demand supporting the homestay market, prices are under pressure, competition is intensifying, and operators in some popular travel cities have reported a decrease in occupancy rates. The Chinese Tourism Association’s Homestay Inn and Boutique Hotel Sub-Association also noted that homestay consumption is becoming more rational, gradually shifting the market from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market.
The “2026 China Hotel Industry Development Report” released by the China Hotel Association in April revealed that by the end of 2025, the mainland China accommodation industry had 593,000 operating facilities with 20.515 million rooms, including 18.736 million hotel rooms. The report concluded that the total supply of the accommodation industry has entered a relatively saturated stage.
The increase in hotel supply and the heightened focus on prices by consumers are aspects of the phenomenon known as “consumption downgrading” that warrant attention. When factors like future income expectations, living costs, and economic conditions lead people to become more cautious in their spending, they tend to exercise restraint on non-essential expenses. The notion of “staying somewhere nice while traveling” is being replaced by “saving where you can and spending money on more worthwhile things.”