Live-streaming opens new doors for China hotels
With the pandemic serving as a catalyst for reinvention and digitalisation in the hospitality industry, live-streaming has, for some Chinese hoteliers, evolved into more than an alternative sales tool amid the travel slump.
With travel and mobility restrictions in place, Chinese hotel players turned to various online marketing methods, including cloud tourism, live-streaming, and selling vouchers that can be used to redeem future stays. These methods have become the impetus for hotel industry recovery in China, shared Tyrone Tang, CEO, Shimao Star Hotels Group.
Besides harnessing new media, industry players also employed low pricing strategies to obtain much needed cash flow and keep their brands and properties top-of-mind, he observed.
However, moving forward, Tang reckoned that any sales momentum and short-term recovery garnered by price cuts has to be supported by long-term marketing strategies - including product transformation - and corporate structure changes to develop the organisation's competitive edge. Live-streaming could be harnessed as part of such product and business transformation in the long-term.
While hotel players may be concerned about striking a balance between their brand image and boosting live-streaming sales, Tang remarked that the two are not mutually exclusive.
