Recently, the prominent social media influencer “Master Mei” shared a firsthand experience on social media, revealing the bleak situation in the high-end hotel conference market in China. He considers it a microcosm of the current economic difficulties facing China.
“Master Mei” has been engaged in the business training industry in China for many years and is a certified influencer on Weibo, with over 250,000 followers across various social platforms. He disclosed that on September 12-13, he conducted a negotiation training session for a multinational bulk commodity trading company in Anji, Zhejiang. The company’s owner is a foreigner, with its China headquarters located in Shanghai.
The client arranged the training at the renowned Banyan Tree Resort in Anji, Zhejiang. Banyan Tree is a globally recognized resort chain with over 41 resorts and hotels managed and/or owned across 25 countries.
According to “Master Mei,” the Banyan Tree Resort in Anji offers not only standard hotel rooms but also pricey standalone villas and a separate conference building specifically designed for events.
Despite the high prices at the hotel, with standard rooms exceeding 2,000 Chinese yuan per night in September and reaching over 4,000 yuan during the National Day Golden Week, the villa rooms even cost up to 7,000-8,000 yuan per night. However, during his two-day stay, “Master Mei” observed that the hotel’s business conference areas were deserted.
“These past two days, only our conference room was in use. All the other meeting rooms were empty, even without any service staff,” he lamented. He noted that a large conference room accommodating over fifty people and the grand banquet hall upstairs were also vacant.
Hotel staff revealed to him that business was indeed slow. Drawing from his experience in the training industry, “Master Mei” explained that September is usually a peak season for training and conferences, being a busy business period. Many companies tend to organize intensive meetings and training sessions in the second half of the year (third quarter) to utilize their annual budgets. He highlighted that the two weeks before the National Day holiday are usually the prime time for such activities. However, this year’s situation was entirely different, with a noticeable decrease in business groups, as confirmed by the staff, as barely any business groups checked in during August.
Therefore, “Master Mei” expressed his sentiments that the downturn in a high-end hotel serves as a reflection of China’s current economic state.
His experience is not an isolated case but aligns with the macroeconomic data and business conditions in China currently.
Declining corporate profits: Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China showed a year-on-year decrease in profits for industrial enterprises above a designated size in the first eight months of 2024.
The high-end hotel conference market serves as a barometer of corporate economic activities. When companies tighten their budgets, training, conferences, and travel expenses are often the first to be cut.
Lack of market confidence: Weak domestic demand, pressure on exports, geopolitical uncertainties have made companies cautious about the future, leading to further reductions in non-essential expenses.
Real estate drag: The sluggish real estate market has put many real estate companies in financial straits, impacting upstream and downstream industries, and further slowing down economic activities.
This situation not only reflects the challenges faced by the hotel industry but also represents a tangible manifestation of the downward pressure on the Chinese economy at a micro level.