At a time when tourism consumption continues to be hot, according to research data from Ctrip, Tongcheng Travel and other platforms, women have surpassed men in the tourism industry, both in terms of the number of employees and consumers. As an industry that emphasizes creativity and experience, female practitioners have the advantages of carefulness, tenacity, love of innovation, and good communication, and have carved out their own world in the field of diversified cultural tourism. With the arrival of International Women's Day, the Beijing News Shell Finance reporter interviewed the hotel's female chef, the female director and stylist of the theme park, and the landlady of the homestay to understand their exploration, love and fun in their work.
Female hosts are becoming the backbone of the homestay industry. According to the data of Tujia B&B, female landlords on the platform account for nearly 60%, of which post-70s and post-80s female landlords account for more than 60%. In addition, female hosts are more business-savvy, with 58 of them on the platform "Superhosts".6% are landladys, and one landlady moved from Shanghai to Xishuangbanna to work full-time as a homestay, with an annual turnover of more than one million. Women also have more advantages in running B&Bs, such as they show unique insight into the creation of ** characteristics, pay more attention to the decoration and details of the room, and serve more carefully. Over 93% of female hosts have a rating of 49 points and above, the scoring keywords are the host's enthusiasm, the landlord's quick response, clean bedding, and thoughtful service.
In an interview, a reporter from the Beijing News learned that many landwomen not only operate homestays with different styles, but also have colorful lives and stories, and some operate homestays in their hometowns while studying in college; Some are 70 years old but energetic and enjoy the life of a landlady; Some run women-only guesthouses to provide a warm space for girls who travel outside; Some take care of parent-child homestays as "mothers of two children", seeking a balance between family and career.
The 70-year-old landlady who lives in Dali has a lot of treasures about the surrounding minority attractions.
Sister Ting is a 70-year-old landlady who has opened her home in Erhai, Dali, into a homestay, and her name is "Artist by the Sea". The B&B is in the Art Deco style of the 30s of the 20th century, and in 2019, it won the Airb Belo Awardl** Design Award, "It's all my son's idea, and I believe more in the aesthetics of young people." In fact, Sister Ting is also an artist, she is a native of Beijing, and before her retirement, she was a famous stage costume designer, and she has worked with Li Gu many times.
First, ** and other star cooperation. However, she loves to travel more, has traveled to more than 50 countries, and only loves to stay in homestays, in her opinion, "hotels all over the world are the same, and you can live like a local when you stay in homestays." She remembered a handwritten greeting note from a homestay host in Italy and a homestay host in Spain sharing precious and delicate tableware.
Although Sister Ting is 70 years old, she is still hospitable and loves to travel.
After retiring, Sister Ting left Beijing and moved to Dali to live, and in 2017 she decided to do a homestay. The house where she runs the B&B is her home, and she keeps one bedroom and the other three to receive guests. Sister Ting said that she is cheerful, talkative, and willing to make friends, and she likes to make a cup of coffee for her guests in the morning and accompany them like family and friends to enjoy a relaxing and leisurely vacation time.
Before the guests check in, Sister Ting will communicate with the guests and give them two choices, one is to hope that the landlord will stay in the homestay, and the other is not to be the landlord and want to be alone. She found that there are generally old and small family guests, who prefer to enjoy the homestay space alone, "I will give the key to the guest, drive around Dali for a few days, and wait for the guest to check out and come back." "Young people who travel alone or in groups are more likely to share space with their hosts. Last year, Sister Ting received a boy born in the 90s, and Sister Ting would prepare breakfast for him in the morning, and be a free driver in her free time, taking him to play around, "just like her own children." ”
Sister Ting loves to be clean, the three B&Bs are cleaned up by themselves, and the guests will definitely not rent on the day they quit the lease, "I want to set aside a day for cleaning." In addition, she loves to play and play, and is always enthusiastic about helping guests customize activities and itineraries, such as how to play with children, how to play with the elderly, how to play on day trips, and sometimes simply take guests to play together. For her, B&B is not only a business, but also a life, "without any operational pressure." In addition, in Sister Ting's view, the age of the homestay is not a problem, the willingness to learn new things is the most important, when she was in her 60s, she began to try to travel by car, and now she is learning to cut **, do social**, and want to do her best in everything.
The mother of two children does not want to be a full-time wife, "the homestay is my best work".
Katie is a post-80s mother of two children, in order to take care of her two babies, she quit her job, but she doesn't want to be a full-time wife, and she also runs a homestay while working as a home blogger, hoping to have a career with free time.
Katie said that she has loved drawing, designing, and home decoration since she was a child, and after graduation, she has renovated three houses by herself, and she loves to travel, which has made her interested in homestays. In 2019, she transformed her vacant wedding house into a parent-child homestay and officially became a landlady. "I am a native of Shunde, after the broadcast of "Taste of Shunde", a large number of tourists came to check in, and business has been good in the past two years. ”
Katie will design and arrange the parent-child homestay from the mother's point of view.
The homestay is very welcoming, with all the decorations done by Katie herself, and the experience of being a mother has been incorporated into the design of the homestay. There are many small details in the B&B, which are especially suitable for parent-child families, such as having a children's space to sleep and play, replacing beds with soft cushions, installing anti-collision corners in table corners, cabinet corners, etc., and toilets with toilet seats, small benches, faucet extenders, baby bath tubs, non-slip mats, etc. "This is also one of the advantages of running a parent-child homestay, as a mother of two children, I know the needs and pain points of parent-child travel. ”
Being a homestay landlord is not as simple as you think, and there are many trivial things. According to Katie, the stress of working in the service industry keeps her on the tension at all times, "I keep an eye on my phone whenever a guest checks in, making sure to respond and resolve issues in a timely manner, even on holidays and when I'm away with my family." In addition, each guest has a unique preference, for example, some guests don't like to turn on the heating, and Katie and her husband once carried a four-bed quilt to the guest's room in the middle of the night. "During the day, when my children go to school, I not only focus on my work as a home blogger, but also pay attention to the daily maintenance and supply of the homestay. In the evening, I was busy preparing dinner and picking up the kids from school, and at night until the kids fell asleep, I continued to finish the day's unfinished work. ”
But for Katie, running a B&B is more rewarding and allows her to find a balance between family and career. "Many guests still ask me for advice on where to buy certain bedding or home furnishings after they leave, and I can say that the B&B is my best work. ”
Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Qu Xiaoyi.
Edited by Li Zheng.
Proofread by Zhao Lin.
* Courtesy of the interviewee.