Recently, a news that "680 yuan homestay was quietly adjusted to 2780 yuan for National Day by the platform" has attracted widespread attention. The incident involved a homestay in Lishui, Zhejiang Province, whose room rate soared from 680 yuan on weekdays to 2,780 yuan per night on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays. Shockingly, the owner of the B&B himself had no idea about it, and the news quickly caused a heated discussion in the society.
After the incident, the owner of the B&B released ** through the Internet, revealing the operation status of his B&B in the past 5 years. Usually, customers mainly come through offline bookings or ** booking channels, but recently found that the number of bookings is not as usual, so they decided to promote through the platform. However, to his great surprise, the original room rate of 680 yuan per night was quietly raised to 2,780 yuan, and the homestay has displayed "no bookable room type" on the platform, which seems to have closed the booking channel.
This incident has sparked widespread discussion and speculation. Some netizens believe that this is a sign of the platform's familiarity, pointing out that it may be more cost-effective to contact the B&B directly when booking a room. However, some people question whether the merchant deliberately created the topic to achieve the purpose of drainage.
In the course of the investigation, the reporter found that with the approach of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, housing prices in many popular tourist destinations are generally at a premium. Not only that, but the accommodation in popular cities and popular attractions is even more obvious, with an increase of 2 to 3 times, and even 8 to 10 times in some places. The price of budget hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other cities is 300 yuan per night, and now it is basically about 700 yuan. The comfortable hotel has risen from about 600 yuan per night to almost 1,500 yuan, and the ** of popular scenic spots is close to the daily life of a five-star hotel**.
This price increase has become too much for many consumers to bear, and some have even abandoned their original travel plans. Not only that, but similar ** problems will become the focus of attention during every small long holiday. During this year's May Day, some B&Bs canceled consumers' orders booked in advance because of the pursuit of quick profits, and sold the empty rooms again at **. There are also some cases of being fined for raising **, which makes people think, what is a reasonable housing price?
Industry insiders said that the pricing power of B&B is usually in the hands of B&B owners, taking into account many factors such as geographical location and decoration. Even if the pricing power is still in the hands of the B&B through promotion and booking through the platform, the platform can make suggestions based on market changes. During peak booking periods, the platform's recommendations can be more impactful and even lead to rates for the entire region**. For this incident, there are ** reports that it may have been caused by the misoperation of the platform staff, which has been resolved.
In response to this incident, legal expert Huang Rongnan said that judging from the current public information, the possibility of misoperation cannot be ruled out. If the platform has the intention to raise the **, it should have a formal negotiation with the homestay owner, and it will be modified only after confirmation. Similarly, if the B&B owner wants to modify **, he should also leave a record of the modification on the platform system. Therefore, he suggested that the platform should conduct internal inspections of its systems and operational processes to prevent the recurrence of similar misunderstandings.
On the consumer side, the China Consumers Association has repeatedly called on merchants to set reasonable prices and not to collude to manipulate the market**. If consumers find that the price increase of the homestay is excessive, they can complain and report to the regulatory department to protect their legitimate rights and interests. Social platforms have also become a channel for consumers to protect their rights, and through the sharing of real experiences, they can attract more attention and promote the power of rights protection.
This time, the soaring incident of B&B is not only a problem of B&B, but also a deep thinking about the tourism industry's ** system. How to ensure the reasonableness of the first is a common challenge faced by platforms, merchants and regulatory authorities. It is hoped that in the future tourism market, a more fair and transparent mechanism can be established to protect the rights and interests of consumers and make travel costs more controllable.