How to prevent chaos in Spring Festival homestay rentals; the fundamental issue is the supply and demand imbalance | Hot Finance

Recently, the surge in hotel room prices in Shantou during the Spring Festival has continued to attract attention. Media reports indicate that the average nightly rate for basic room types at several chain hotel brands generally exceeds 1,000 yuan, which is three to four times, or even higher than, regular days. It is understood that, in response to pricing issues in the accommodation sector, the Shantou Market Supervision Administration has recently conducted special inspections and lawfully prosecuted a number of cases involving illegal pricing practices, including price fraud and unmarked pricing.

The issue of hotel prices in Shantou is not unique to the city; it reflects a broader national trend. It recurs almost every year in popular tourist destinations. The “line-drawn price” set by the accommodation industry is usually the “market price,” “guidance price,” or “platform listing price,” often used as an anchor price and as a promotional tool. However, under industry price comparison competition, some merchants may temporarily hike prices during holidays and then set a line (for example, selling at 158 yuan normally, temporarily marking 1407 yuan with a “save over 1000 yuan” label, but the 1407 yuan price has never actually been transacted), creating a false impression of discounts and stimulating tourists to book, which constitutes price fraud.

The intervention by the Shantou Market Supervision Bureau was timely and necessary, safeguarding tourists’ rights and helping compliant local businesses maintain a fair competitive environment. Behind the buzz that “hotel prices in Shantou are more expensive than in Shenzhen,” the real questions are not just whether merchants are unscrupulous, but how a rising tourism city can uphold business ethics and long-term reputation under extreme supply and demand pressures.

Legal measures can regulate false pricing but cannot address supply shortages. According to tourism platform statistics, during this Spring Festival holiday, Shantou, Jieyang, and Chaozhou ranked among the top ten emerging domestic destinations, with tourism order growth rates reaching 186%, 162%, and 135%, respectively. A large influx of tourists, combined with the concentration of returning hometowns of Chaoshan residents, led to a surge in accommodation demand in the Chaoshan area. However, local hotels and homestays in Shantou have limited capacity, resulting in a prominent supply-demand imbalance. For merchants, the rising costs of procurement during the holiday and higher overtime wages for staff also push up room prices.

In other words, even if all merchants strictly adhere to the law and operate honestly, hotel prices in Shantou during the Spring Festival are likely to remain high—probably very high. This is a market law, not evidence of malicious intent. The real issue is that when a city’s peak season prices exceed normal expectations, negative emotions among tourists can accumulate, leading to a label of “unsightly” behavior at the destination. This is precisely what emerging cultural and tourism destinations like Shantou cannot afford to lose.

For long-established destinations like Dali and Sanya, which have long borne the reputation of “expensive,” tourists are psychologically prepared; but for a city like Shantou, newly rising on the “black horse” list, visitors come with a mindset of novelty and discovery, willing to pay above expectations for a memorable experience. They expect more than just an overnight stay—they seek emotional value and meaningful memories. If the city’s response is merely “supply and demand determine prices,” the resulting experience gap could turn into negative word-of-mouth.

Therefore, cracking down on price fraud is just a baseline measure. Shantou needs to do much more. Short-term supply and demand conflicts cannot be eliminated overnight, but measures such as publishing reference hotel prices, guiding time-based reservations, and encouraging compliant homestays in non-core areas can help smooth out price spikes. More importantly, tourists should feel that behind the high prices there is quality service, genuine hospitality, and the warmth of the city.

Text and photos | Reporter Qi Yaoqi