On September 25, 2023, law enforcement officials sealed off a “stairwell” in Beijing after they found it did not meet fire safety standards.Photo: Beijing Daily
A fast-chain hotel in Beijing was selling “open-air rooms” to consumers during the National Day holiday, but they reportedly did not meet fire safety standards and were temporarily suspended by authorities. The incident sparked a wide discussion among netizens about rising hotel room prices as domestic travel recovers strongly during the upcoming holidays.
Local fire authorities received a report that one of the hotels in the GreenTree Inn Express chain was offering “stairwell rooms” for sale that were just 6 square meters in size and had closed windows. . According to media reports, authorities acted quickly on Monday to suspend reservations for these rooms.
This room can accommodate one single bed with a width of 1 meter. You can only use the nearby public restrooms. You also have to go down some stairs to reach the bed. According to media reports, reservations were available on some booking platforms for up to 650 yuan ($88.92) each night during the holiday period. After that, the reservation information went offline.
Big rooms at chain hotels were booked for about 360 yuan a night on Tuesday, according to Trip Data.
All three rooms are currently vacant, with no beds and only one air conditioner, according to media reports.
A hotel manager told the media there were security issues in the rooms and they were currently working on resolving them. The rooms were opened in July for budget travelers at prices ranging from 100 to 200 yuan per night, the person said.
Experts say this type of room violates fire codes and poses a public safety risk.
A recent report from Trip confirms a strong recovery in domestic travel for the upcoming holidays, with bookings up 88% from the previous week as of September 13, more than four times the same period in 2022. increase, indicating a positive trend in travel. tourism industry.
With the country's travel fever on the rise again, many Netsians have discovered that most hotels have increased their prices during the holidays. For example, rooms at a five-star hotel in Sanya, southern China's Hainan province, which were booked for about 700 yuan each night on Tuesday, were only available for 2,000 yuan each night on October 1.
In Lishui, eastern China's Zhejiang province, a homestay owner discovered that a booking platform had unknowingly adjusted his room, originally priced at 680 yuan per day, to a special holiday price of 2,780 yuan. I was shocked. The owner quickly removed the room listing because he didn't want people to think he was trying to scam customers.
As of this writing, the topic has received more than 240 million views on China's X-based Sina Weibo, with many netizens calling for stricter regulations on booking platforms and related businesses.
“Experts say that unreasonable price increases can include copyright infringement and fraud. In cases of fraud, consumers could seek compensation equal to three times the purchase price. “There is,” he said.
Some local governments have stepped up inspection activities to take appropriate action against hotels found to be in violation of regulations, in order to protect consumer rights and create a consumer-friendly business environment. .
On September 22, Zhoushan city authorities in Zhejiang province issued a reminder that prices must be truthful and accurate, reflecting the actual cost of the services provided, ensuring fair and transparent pricing in the tourism industry. uttered.
