The occupancy rate of homestays drops during the peak summer travel season, and young people turn to more unique accommodation experiences

During the peak summer travel season, the occupancy rates of some B&Bs declined instead of rising, and some even “transferred” their properties.

Don’t young people like staying in B&Bs?

Industry insiders believe that the homestay industry is not experiencing a collective cold spell, but is transforming from scale expansion to quality development.

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Young tourists value B&Bs’ unique design, local culture and lifestyle immersion. Expanding the "B&B +" composite business format and increasing non-room income are the future development directions of the B&B industry.

It is only a 5-minute walk from Chongqing Jiefangbei and Shibati. It has a prime location. It is supposed to be "hard to find a room" during the peak tourist season. But until the end of the summer vacation, only 3 to 5 houses were sold every day, and the occupancy rate was less than 50%... On August 31, the last day of the summer vacation, Yan Yekuan decided to reluctantly transfer the B&B that had been operating for three years.

"In the past two years, the rooms were fully booked almost every day during the winter and summer vacations. During the May Day and National Day holidays, the rooms were booked half a month in advance." But this summer, Yan Yekuan saw that the vacancy rate of 12 rooms was more than half every day. He was anxious and puzzled: "The tourism market is obviously booming, why can't the number of room reservations increase?"

The same doubts also plague some B&B operators in other cities. This summer, on social platforms, topics such as “Dali B&B rooms are empty”, “Lijiang B&B hosts are crying” and “B&B prices are plummeting” have continued to ferment, triggering widespread discussions. Don’t young people like staying in B&Bs?

There are so many tourists and the rooms are vacant.

The B&B run by Cheng Xu is close to Fairy Mountain and Nantian Lake, which are one of the popular summer resorts in Chongqing. In the past few years, during summer vacation, tourists who wanted to stay at Cheng Xu's B&B had to book a room at least one or two weeks in advance. This year, even if he lowered room rates, the occupancy rate was barely 50%.

On some social platforms, many B&B operators said that “local tourists gather together, but the rooms cannot be rented out.” He Jingming, who has been running a B&B in Dali for 7 years, told reporters that the business is indeed not as hot as in previous years. Throughout the summer vacation, the occupancy rate of his B&B rooms has basically remained at around 70%, which is a drop of about 20% compared to last year.

‌According to the combined calculations of many domestic travel OTA platforms, the total number of domestic trips this summer reached 1.12 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32.7%. Yan Yekuan told reporters that through the window of the lobby of his homestay, he could see the entrance to the Eighteen Ladders. During the summer vacation, the place was crowded with people every day. "There are so many tourists, but for some reason, the rooms in the store just can't be rented out."

More and more, and more and more like

In the past few years, B&Bs have become very popular, and it is difficult to find a room during holidays. Yan Yekuan decided to run B&Bs because he was moved by the hot market at that time.

According to the "2025 Homestay Industry Data Report", the number of homestay-related companies nationwide increased from 19,000 in 2016 to 375,000 by the end of 2025 - an expansion of nearly 20 times in 10 years.

"The total volume has increased sharply, and at the same time, homogeneity is serious. Tourists are tired of aesthetics and have gradually lost interest in B&Bs." Yan Yekuan analyzed that many B&Bs adopt a "copying" approach, with white wooden walls, panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows, small gardens, exquisite soft furnishings, and Internet celebrity check-in walls... without thinking about differentiated design at all. He believes that this is the main reason for the loss of B&B orders, including his own.

Yuan Lili, born in the 1990s, is a B&B enthusiast and chooses to stay in several B&Bs every year when she travels. In the past year or two, she has clearly felt that no matter which city or scenic spot she goes to, the layout, decoration, and services of B&Bs are the same. “When it first started, everyone felt it was novel, but then they discovered that ‘every store is the same’, so they naturally lost interest.”

In Yuan Lili's view, when choosing homestays, today's young tourists pay more attention to unique and unique design, a sense of local culture and a sense of immersion in life. “I hope that when I open the door of a B&B, I can feel the owner’s intentions.” Yuan Lili said that if B&Bs are built in a template, young tourists are more willing to choose star-rated hotels, at least with stable and reliable service standards and hardware quality.

Zhang Zongjun, director of the marketing department of a travel agency in Chongqing, believes that when hardware conditions no longer become the primary factor in attracting tourists, the industry will fall into price involution - some B&Bs have lowered their room prices to 100 to 200 yuan per night, and the rest are forced to follow suit and cut prices. "Reducing prices means losses. If you don't reduce prices, there will be no orders. This is also the reason why some B&Bs have high vacancy rates."

A B&B owner with 5 years of operating experience bluntly said that the accommodation industry is heavy on asset investment. If the profit margin becomes smaller and smaller, operators will either grit their teeth and carry on, or transfer and stop losses.

From "a room" to "a life"

The relevant person in charge of the Tourism B&B Industry Branch of the Chongqing Culture and Tourism Association pointed out that this summer, the B&B industry is not experiencing a collective cold spell, but is transforming from scale expansion to quality development.

Not long ago, the "2026 Summer B&B Consumption Report" released by Woodbird B&B, the leading domestic B&B brand, showed that this summer, the search volume for specialty B&Bs increased by 120% month-on-month.

"The era of traditional B&Bs with just one bed and one room is going away. Immersive B&Bs with unique cultural themes, interactive experiences and life scenes are becoming more and more popular among tourists," said the above-mentioned person in charge.

Zhang Zongjun believes that in the past, operators could make money by decorating the rooms beautifully and uniquely. Nowadays, having the ability to creatively design life scenes is the key to attracting tourists to come and stay. “What a B&B should provide is a life experience.”

Wushan County, located in northeastern Chongqing, has long faced the situation of "no tourists staying". Since the county upgraded the positioning of B&Bs from simple accommodation to micro-vacation destinations, from last year’s National Day to this summer vacation, the B&B booking rate has remained at around 80%, and the average length of stay of tourists has extended from one day to three days.

Visitors can not only view the Yangtze River and red leaves at the B&B in this small county town, but also experience cliff swimming pools, wilderness theaters, and participate in projects such as the Three Gorges Dragon's Back Hiking, high-altitude via ferrata, etc. The popularity of tourism has greatly increased.

In Fangniuping Village, Cizhu Town, Beibei District, Chongqing, a garden farm B&B covering an area of ​​more than 500 acres is full of guests almost every day this summer. Here, adults can encounter the freshness and comfort of the courtyard, and children can experience the interesting course of "A Farmer for a Day". The intangible cultural heritage handmade projects such as plant dyeing and papermaking launched by the B&B are also very popular.

"Today's B&Bs can't just rely on room fees, but must form a multi-format combination of tickets, experience projects, coffee and afternoon tea, travel photography, theme markets, etc." Luo Zibo, director of the Chongqing Tourism Development Research Center, believes that expanding the "B&B+" composite business format and increasing non-room income is the future development direction of the B&B industry.

Source: Workers Daily reporter Huang Shiqiang