Text/Huang Yulu

"In the forest, in Concord, Massachusetts, on the shore of Walden Pond, in the wooden house I built with my own hands, far from any neighbor One mile, just relying on the work of my hands to support myself.”

In China, many B&B owners have similar ideals to the American writer Thoreau: to decorate or even decorate themselves next to charming scenery or heavy ruins. The B&B is self-sufficient in time and finance, but the way of making a living is different - Thoreau farming, B&B hospitality.

A major "epidemic" has put the ideal of "poetry and distance" in homestays into dust. Some people even say that "the homestay industry is the first industry to completely return to zero under the epidemic." Within three months, contrary to the tranquility of chopping firewood, feeding horses, and hiding in the city, a large number of B&B operators had to "work hard", or change their businesses, or change their businesses. Of course, there are also some people who are waiting in the empty valley. Under the epidemic, the reality of business is obviously greater than the initial feelings.

Entering May, during the short holiday, homestays in some areas are slowly recovering. Big data reports from many OTA platforms show that domestic homestay bookings during the May Day period increased by 2 to 3 times month-on-month. However, there are still Affected by "natural and man-made disasters", B&B operators are unable to open their operations and have to find another way out.

Bai Ge’s three B&Bs are located in Lugu Lake and “Little Kenting” along the coast of Fujian. Feifei’s inn is located in the beautiful and rugged Yangshuo Valley, and Shopkeeper Lin’s is located in the bustling old town of the ancient city of Quanzhou. They ran a B&B brand in the alley. They had similar original intentions, but they had to face the unfavorable circumstances of the passing years. They all decided to temporarily switch to another track to survive. After ten years, a dream in the distance became a lens, refracting It reveals the similar experiences, difficulties and expectations of hundreds of thousands of B&B practitioners.

A collapsed building "drags" B&Bs across the province

After two weeks of continuous spring rain and the business was closed again for more than a month, the weeds in the courtyard of Quanzhou Manju Carambola Mansion are growing rapidly. , in early April, shopkeeper Lin spent two afternoons to complete the yard. "In the past, guests planted this courtyard, but now the yard is so barren that grass grows on its own. It's really ridiculous."

Even if the courtyard and guest rooms were tidied up, the mansion could not open the reception in an "open and honest manner" at that time - - On March 7, the Xinjia Hotel in Quanzhou, which served as an isolation hotel, collapsed, killing 29 people. Fujian Province has launched a comprehensive investigation and rectification of production safety and hidden safety hazards since March 10, with Quanzhou area bearing the brunt. Not only the three B&Bs owned by Manju, "in the entire Fujian, except for B&Bs that meet hotel standards and have special industry licenses that can be opened, almost all other B&Bs cannot be opened due to the collapse incident, and they were all abandoned in March and April."

So far, the holidays have arrived, and Manju has still not officially reopened. With every plan in mind, Manju has been closed for nearly three months since late January. "From New Year's Eve to the second day of the first lunar month, there are still two or three groups of guests whose schedules have not been cancelled. After the reception, they were closed and have been closed until now."

Shopkeeper Lin revealed that before the epidemic, three of Manju's restaurants The annual average occupancy rate of B&Bs and 30 guest rooms exceeds 70%, and data from third-party B&B management systems show that the annual average occupancy rate of B&Bs nationwide in 2019 is 39.1%.

More than 700 years ago, Quanzhou was the "biggest port in the East" described by Marco Polo. There was a poem in the Tang Dynasty that said Quanzhou was "people from ten continents" in ancient times. History has left many monuments to Quanzhou and also brought opportunities to every survivor in the tourism ecology. For example, Manju's three B&Bs are all located near Quanzhou's old town and core scenic spot West Street, within 2 kilometers of historical sites such as Kaiyuan Temple. The locations are prime, and they have both Southern Fujian style and B&B services. In addition, they are located in an eastern coastal city, which is very popular among tourists. The sources mainly come from Fujian Province and economically developed regions such as Zhejiang and Guangdong. The occupancy volume is relatively balanced throughout the year, with no obvious distinction between low and peak seasons.

Photo provided by the interviewee of Manju B&B

Since its establishment in 2017, Manju has quickly developed from an independent B&B to a rare chain brand in the region. The three B&Bs have mid-to-high-end brands. The room price is usually more than 200 yuan per day. Shopkeeper Lin said that Manju mainly relies on OTA to cultivate customers and accumulate word-of-mouth, rather than spending heavily on marketing to create internet celebrities, with a repeat rate of 30%.

However, the COVID-19 epidemic, which will go down in history, has dealt a heavy blow to the homestay industry.

Shopkeeper Lin roughly estimated that during the three months of closure, Manju's direct and indirect losses exceeded 500,000 yuan - rent and other costs were about 90,000 yuan, not to mention profits. The two B&Bs opened in 2018 and 2019 had an initial investment of 1.2 million to 1.5 million yuan, and the investment return period was 2 to 2 and a half years. Although the investment in the Yangtao Mansion, which opened in 2017 and was renovated on an old building, did not exceed one million Yuan, but "repair and maintenance costs are high, and it will take three years to recover the cost." In order to save costs, Manju fired the "big cleaning lady" first, and the brand team of seven or eight people received a basic salary of 60%.

However, new gaps in the survival of B&Bs have also been opened by the epidemic. In mid-March, in order to subsidize daily expenses, the Manju team, which went out of business for the second time and was "too busy" at home, decided to "change business" to sell tea. "First, it is consistent with the customer base, and tea is also the direction of our future development." Soon, the team found cooperative tea factories in Anxi and Wuyishan to launch Tieguanyin and black tea, with simple packaging with brand logos, priced at 300 to 500 yuan per kilogram. Shopkeeper Lin, who was originally "a bit embarrassed" to post advertisements in WeChat Moments, also started selling tea online in a fancy way.

The income from selling tea is very limited, and can only cover half of the three-month rent in three B&Bs. "Anyway, it's better to have something than nothing now." As for testing the waters during this window period, shopkeeper Lin and his team did not have high expectations for income. "It is considered to be a warm-up for our upcoming teahouse."

In comparison, the main investors of Manju have other industries and incomes. Shopkeeper Lin even worries those B&B owners who once had beautiful dreams: "Most people enter this industry because they think it is very profitable. But when the money is actually invested, there are some people who open B&Bs because of their feelings, but most of them don't know the profit points. They may be very romantic in the early stage, but they can't make it in the later stage. This is often the case in the B&B circle. All kinds of transfers."

Undoubtedly, the epidemic period "just happened to be a big washout". In the view of Shopkeeper Lin, "the bad B&Bs may be washed away." For Manju, branding will persist and diversification will continue to be attempted. Manju Teahouse is being renovated. As for when it can officially welcome guests, it is still unknown under the shadow of the epidemic and the collapse incident. If we want to return to the epidemic situation, The current reception volume will “almost reach around the National Day.”

By then, the carambola tree in the yard of Manju Carambola Mansion, which is more than 50 years old, will go through a growth cycle of three seasons before it can usher in the moment when its branches are full of fruits.

The monthly loan repayment is 40,000 yuan, and a working capital of 200,000 yuan is needed

“Most B&B hosts are very difficult at this stage, because the main source of income is the income from B&Bs. "As Shopkeeper Lin said, no longer compared to chain brands and hotel groups, under the current epidemic, independent B&B operators are under unprecedented pressure. Feifei, the owner of Feilai Inn in Yangshuo, Guangxi, is one of them.

In late April, Feifei drove to downtown Guilin and visited three banks to submit his loan application. It was still unknown whether he would be approved. "Now I basically have to repay more than 40,000 yuan every month, and I have to live on the soil." In 2018, Feifei took out the savings she had accumulated over more than 10 years of work and took out loans from banks and online loan platforms. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the management of Feilai Inn. She has to repay the initial loan for another three months. She estimates that in the worst case scenario, if the passenger flow can be restored during the National Day, she will need at least 200,000 yuan to cover it.

Also starting from the first month, Feifei fell into despair. There are still receptions on the first day of the Lunar New Year, but all refunds will be made on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Travel in Yangshuo is restricted on the third day of the Lunar New Year, and the cultural and tourism department has informed us that we will no longer accept guests. Some small B&Bs are still taking orders secretly, "because the Chinese New Year is the peak season." Feilai Inn, for example, has an average annual occupancy rate of about 50%. It also has income from selling lines. The revenue from the two golden weeks of Spring Festival and National Day can account for the entire year. 80%, but Feifei took no chances. Soon, suspected cases appeared in a small B&B where tourists were picked up privately, and "all the people in the inn were quarantined, including staff and tourists." After that, except for the hotels designated by the government for observation, the county's B&B hotels were close to being shut down.

By mid-April, the relevant departments officially informed that it could open for business. For more than two months before that, the inn had basically zero income. In Yangshuo, similar to Feifei, many B&B owners are in the dilemma of "running out of food" and still having to repay their loans. "I'm still in the entrepreneurial stage. I'm about the same age as me. I basically use bank loans to open a B&B, and I repay the loan every month." Feifei said.

They are not a minority in the B&B industry who are under great pressure on capital turnover.

According to a survey by Maidian Research Institute, more than 78% of the hotel and B&B operators surveyed have cash flow and capital turnover problems, ranking first in the proportion.

Feifei did some calculations and found that the operation and maintenance cost of a single B&B does not seem to be high, mainly in labor and rent, but the initial investment in decoration and renovation is a "huge sum", such as the renovation of Feilai Inn It cost about 900,000 yuan, and an additional 50,000 yuan was needed for early promotion. "Unless the B&B has been in business for more than five years and has repaid its initial investment, it will not have any pressure."

As a long-established scenic spot, the rent for local B&Bs in Yangshuo is actually not low. "Guilin's landscapes are the best in the world, and Yangshuo's landscapes are the best in Guilin." In 2018, Yangshuo received approximately 17.52 million tourists throughout the year, which is 2.5 times that of Licheng District in Quanzhou City, where Manju Hotel is located. Feilai Inn is located in Yangshuo County, about 800 meters away from the busiest West Street Scenic Area. It is a 5-story private building with 14 rooms and an annual rent of more than 100,000 yuan. "I rented this from my best friend." Feifei said that just last year, she and her friends jointly opened another "Feilai Second Store". They chose a building with 20 rooms and the annual rent was more than 200,000 yuan.

The rent deposit of RMB 50,000 for the new B&B has been handed over to the landlord. The investment is expected to be RMB 3 million, and some furniture has even been purchased. The epidemic has completely disrupted Feifei’s plans. Feilai Inn originally expected to recover its capital within 2 years. The schedule was also forced to be postponed. Feifei said she didn't calculate how much income she lost during the more than two-month gap. "I don't dare to forget. I'm worried to death every day. Wouldn't it be even sadder if I forget?"

The sorrow is gone and the life is easy. In order to increase income, the local Yangshuo even started to "mutual poverty alleviation" outside the epidemic. New platform. "Those farmers are really pitiful. They look forward to a good harvest all year round and sell money. However, when the epidemic hit, sales were stagnant and they were miserable." Feifei said that seeing the farmers' difficulties, local operators in Yangshuo set up an online platform to help B&Bs "poor little ones" "They" connect with farmers and manufacturers of agricultural and sideline products, and B&B owners bring unsalable agricultural products online. Although the commission is low, they also help fruit farmers and sell at least hundreds of thousands of tons of fruit.

Feifei also helped with sales, but she promoted Wogan on WeChat and sold 3 pounds for more than 40 yuan, "only earning 3 yuan." Pre-sales of guest rooms are "of no use". The most useful thing is to sell anti-epidemic supplies. She uses the supply and customer sources accumulated from more than 10 years of marketing work to sell masks, thermometers, and goggles. When the epidemic was at its worst in February , earning 10,000 yuan in half a month. The trend is fleeting, so Feifei plans to build an independent e-commerce brand for snail noodles with a few friends. The popularity of snail noodles has surged again during the epidemic, and she wants to seize the foreign business opportunities of this "epidemic".

Tear down fire sale”. In Yangshuo, "at least half of the B&Bs will change hands." After all, if they can't be restored until the National Day, high rents, low incomes, and even more serious losses, it's better to stop the losses in time. But in Feifei's view, "a crisis is also an opportunity," and some workers are disheartened. On the contrary, she "still wants to work for a big company again" and if she loses all her money, "it's the worst possible outcome to go back to work."

Feifei has no regrets about giving up her once-successful career and fully joining the B&B business. This was an idea she had had since graduating from university. Running a B&B also gave her the freedom she wanted, except during peak seasons. 3 and a half months, the rest of the time is relatively free. She put a lot of thought into decorating and taking guests around. Previously, the inn's business and reputation were good. The room rate for a single room was more than 200 yuan per day, and Ctrip's evaluation was close to full marks.

Photo provided by Yangshuo Feilai Inn

In Feifei’s view, the impact of the epidemic can help the highly saturated Yangshuo homestay market purify itself. In 2018, there were more than 2,000 hotels and 800 B&Bs in Yangshuo. On average, there was one hotel in less than 1 square kilometer, and even an alley was crowded with hotels and B&Bs. The number of B&Bs in Guilin that cost 150 yuan or less per day accounted for up to 63.47%. Feifei has also witnessed a lot of plagiarism and vicious competition.

The author took the photo in Yangshuo County in August 2019

Feifei finally got over the most difficult hurdle, but the business recovery was not satisfactory. One week after opening, "only 20 customers were received." "There are many people, and they are just regular customers on May Day." The rooms are not full, which is far worse than the same period last year. She is still "carrying on the scalp" and is looking forward to strengthening the "Feilai" brand and creating a new theme.

"The heart is very important. I am not afraid of death!"

Without the epidemic, the B&B business would have been "unhappy"

Compared to Feifei, who is complacent and ambitious, he is struggling in the B&B circle. Bai Ge, who has been here for 11 years, is already tired. He is one of many business owners who plan to sell B&Bs, but the transfer information had been released before the epidemic.

The epidemic has made Bai Ge "very nervous". After all, he has invested and operated three B&Bs on his own, one of which is located in the Sichuan area of ????Lugu Lake, called "Darwin House"; the other two are in Zhangzhou, Fujian The new Internet celebrity attractions "Zhenhaijiao" are respectively named "Desolate Island B&B" and "Baiyu B&B".

Zhenhaijiao Baiyu B&B Photo provided by the interviewee

Operating a B&B is also Bai Ge’s main source of income. From the end of January to the present, he has barely eaten a grain of rice. The reception volume during May Day is not optimistic either. “People’s desire to travel is not strong, and the local government is using various measures to discourage tourists from coming.”

The homestay industry, which has been knocked to pieces by the epidemic, was like mushrooms in spring 11 years ago. As long as the water and soil are suitable, spores can bloom everywhere. Bai Ge is an early sower who entered the industry. With only 10,000 yuan, he started his 11-year B&B career.

In 2009, Bai Ge, whose hometown is in Shangrao, Jiangxi, was still teaching in a middle school. As a geography teacher, he wanted to use his footprints to measure the world. Winter and summer vacations were far from being able to satisfy his desire to travel. When he came to Zengcuo'an, Xiamen, he saw an old-style southern Fujian courtyard house built with four bedrooms and one living room made of stone. He "liked it very much". He also expected to achieve the goal of having more time and financial freedom by operating a B&B, so he took out I spent all my savings of 10,000 yuan to rent and renovate an old house.

"I built a bathroom and shower room, a small kitchen, and a large washbasin, then painted it and pulled the wiring." Then I bought bedding and furniture and renovated the three old rooms. The room was transformed into a brand new guest room. With his savings of 10,000 yuan already depleted, Bai Ge had no choice but to use his credit card to buy an air conditioner. The total renovation cost for the entire small inn did not exceed 20,000 yuan. He also mocked himself as "the owner who invested the least in the B&B industry."

But small inputs and big outputs - 11 years ago, Zengcuo'an was far from being a place for Xiamen Internet celebrities to check in. It was just a quiet small fishing village that attracted some tourists with its simple "fishing village flavor" , literary and art lovers and operators, there are only "a dozen or so" inns and B&Bs, and the competition is far less fierce than it is today. At that time, OTA was still in its infancy. There was no Weibo or WeChat, and bidding ranking was not popular. Bai Ge used Douban groups and posts to attract customers. There was an endless stream of tourists, and the rooms were full every day. He quickly made back his money, and held the Dragon Boat Festival in 2009 After he started to receive guests, he "quit" in August. In September, he had traveled for more than three months with the money earned from the B&B. After that, he relied on the income from the small inn to open a B&B, with rooms with private bathrooms. This condition was very rare in Zengcuo'an at that time, and it soon brought Bai Ge a generous travel fund.

The calm was quickly broken. Bai Ge recalled that by 2010, the number of B&Bs in Zengcuoan had increased to thirty or fifty. Restaurants also proliferated, and the small village began to be unable to carry the flow of people. By 2013, Zengcuo'an began to undergo drastic renovations, and a year later it became "the most artistic fishing village". Bai Ge witnessed Zeng Cuoan's fame from childhood to great success, and also witnessed the rise in rents and prices. He once opened a cafe in Zengcuo'an, which was "in a very good location." Other merchants "pried" the house away. The landlord had to pay liquidated damages, but he was very happy to compensate. "Because when I rented it, it was 700 yuan a month. When the landlord subletted it to the next owner, the rent increased by 20 times, and the monthly rent reached 14,000 yuan!" Bai Ge said.

More and more businessmen are crowding into Zengcuo'an to open B&Bs, and capital is pouring in. Bai Ge said that around 2012, the investment of 300,000 yuan in the renovation of other B&Bs was already a "huge amount of money." However, around 2014, it usually cost 500,000 to 600,000 yuan. After 2015, it started to cost millions of yuan. "In the end, the pursuit of The creation of Internet celebrities is a complete overhaul, and promotion costs are also rising.

Bai Ge, who successively opened four or five B&Bs in Zengcuo'an, finally chose to leave. Private capital entered in large amounts. "Our market is even smaller." "The property is not our own, so we can't make money." The rent will make you go away.” As of 2019, data shows that the number of B&Bs in Zengcuo'an, which covers an area of ??only 1.25 square kilometers, has exceeded 400.

However, Bai Ge always insists on cost control and does not pursue hot products. He has traveled to more than 30 countries. He is convinced of his taste and the way of "making friends with customers". He also likes to be the first to discover Pioneers of new markets and new attractions, such as Zhenhaijiao. After 11 years in the industry, the first guests who stayed at his B&B are still following him to explore new territories and experience new attractions and B&Bs. Bai Ge currently owns three B&Bs all designed by him. He even did the decoration and furniture himself, and the modification cost did not exceed one million yuan. "I spend 500,000 yuan on decoration, and I can achieve the effect that others spend 1 million yuan on." He said, "The Nordic style and IKEA style, which have become popular in recent years, I installed them in Xiamen 11 years ago." The design fee for B&Bs on the market starts at 50,000 yuan. Over the years, “I have saved 100,000 to 300,000 yuan on design fees.”

Bai Ge also saw the bubble: "I invest alone, and I have a performance of tens of thousands of yuan every month. I am relatively free financially. Their kind of investment requires at least two to three million yuan." Although the B&B has a monthly revenue of 50,000, 60,000 or even over 100,000 yuan, the shareholders actually get very little, and they don’t know when they will get their money back.” He doesn’t like that the B&B is becoming more and more homogeneous. In his view, the value of small but beautiful B&Bs is that B&B owners provide personalized services, enriching regional culture and ecology, while over-capitalization makes it difficult for individual B&Bs to survive. Either be annexed or forced to fall.

But what makes Bai Ge feel even more tired is that B&Bs have always been difficult to obtain legal recognition. The living environment under pressure from many parties has made B&B operations even more difficult. So far, many homestays in China are still unable to obtain the most critical special industry license. The method of obtaining this special license is mostly based on the standards of large-scale accommodation industries such as hostels and hotels, such as fire protection requirements. According to the "Basic Requirements and Evaluation of Tourism B&Bs" issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, B&Bs often reflect The quantity is relatively small, meaning "the guest rooms for business use shall not exceed 4 floors, and the construction area shall not exceed 800 square meters. The owner shall participate in the reception and provide tourists with small accommodation facilities to experience the local nature, culture, production and lifestyle."

Bai Ge said that because the work of clarifying the legal status of B&Bs in most places is still being studied and has not yet been implemented, "your operation is legally embarrassing. Many B&Bs in Xiamen are called ' There is no "landed B&B".

Since the 1990s, inns similar to farmhouses have gradually appeared in mainland China, which are considered by the industry to be an early version of homestays. Later, with the rise of tourism and learning from the homestay industry in Japan and other places, the number of homestays in China increased year by year. A report jointly released by Beijing International Studies University and the Chinese Culture and Tourism Big Data Research Institute showed that there were approximately 66,405 homestays in mainland China in 2019. , while there were only 30,231 in 2014. The B&B industry, which has sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, has been seeking "legal status." In 2017, the former National Tourism Administration also announced the "Basic Requirements and Evaluation of Tourism B&Bs," but so far only a few provinces such as Zhejiang have introduced regulations for certification of B&Bs.

"Without this special industry license and 'legal status', your operation will be very passive." Bai Ge said that even in areas with fierce competition in the industry, it is easy for B&Bs that cannot obtain a license to operate. Become a victim of vicious reporting. In 2016, Bai Ge successively opened new country B&Bs in Zhenhaijiao and Lugu Lake. He also faced the trouble of dealing with a wide variety of departments. "Maybe you were notified that you can't open it because of some governance activities today." Faced with various fees charged by units such as village committees, it is difficult to find out what the charging standards and regulations are.

Over the past 10 years, I have opened a total of 8 B&Bs. I am often in embarrassing positions. I often need to negotiate with multiple parties and even pay unexplained fees. All kinds of back and forth have made Bai Ge, who is "uninhibited and indulgent and loves freedom", feel uncomfortable with it. Running a B&B is physically and mentally exhausting. In addition, the passenger flow in some parts of Lugu Lake in Sichuan is not that of Yunnan, and the off-peak and peak seasons of rural B&Bs in Zhenhaijiao are obvious. On average, the occupancy rate of the three B&Bs in a year is about 30%. Although they can maintain an income of more than 200,000 yuan a year, he found that the Being an outdoor tour leader and taking guests out for a walk is "more fun", so starting from 2019, I will shift my focus to customized tours on the Yunnan-Tibet line. I plan to sell two B&Bs and keep only one. Although the income from customized tours is not as stable as that of homestays, "it's still 70,000 to 80,000 yuan a year. The main thing is to make yourself happy."

However, the epidemic disrupted Bai Ge's plan.

From the end of January to now, the three-month rent and other costs for the three B&Bs have been around 60,000 yuan. Fortunately, the full-year rent was paid in advance before the year, and the B&Bs cannot be sold for a while. Similar to Manju, after all When it will officially reopen remains uncertain.

Bai Ge did not let himself be idle. He picked up the tools again and polished another table. He was also renovating the B&B that he was going to run by himself and recruiting colleagues in his circle of friends. He plans to set foot on the Yunnan-Tibet line again after May Day and explore a new journey on the road, among the snowy mountains and wilderness.