Buying a card is easier than booking a room. Who will solve the idle cards such as annual residence in Cheng Min?

"After I bought the card, I found that the appointments were all full."

In recent years, with the rapid development of tourism, homestay tourism has gradually become a hot market that people pay attention to, and some merchants have also turned their attention to "homestay cards". However, with the increase in the number of people using prepaid cards in homestays, some "routines" have emerged.

At the same time, in order to ensure that new members of the card can make reservations, a platform has locked the reservation rights of some old users in the background. According to Mr. Guo (pseudonym), an old member of Rucheng, "Searching for vacant rooms, the number that our old customers can book is less than half of that of new card customers".

"Living willfully within one year" became empty and shouted slogans.

You can use it when you buy it, and similar products are more affordable. There are also free tours of Erhai Lake and tourist routes. The whole platform covers 50+ tourist cities, 130+ quality holiday homestays, mainly hotels in Sichuan and Chongqing. These different propaganda words from different platforms look really attractive, but in fact, most of the hotels you want to stay in can't be booked.

At the beginning of the incubation, the founder Zuo Zhijian gave a reply to the lack of platform housing. "In fact, there have been many vacancies on the platform. According to our observation in the past two years, the so-called reservation can't be made, mainly because consumers can't book the ideal area and time, unlike so many choices on OTA. It is difficult to book in the tourist season, easy to book in the off-season, difficult to book a good room, and easy to book an ordinary room. After all, there are not so many hotels on the platform. Because we match houses of fixed size according to the number of members, we must ensure sufficient occupancy rate when buying rooms in advance. The core of our business model is to concentrate on buying a large number of idle nights and then let members live for free. This will not only increase the occupancy rate of the hotel by 4-5 times, greatly improve the efficiency of the hotel industry, but also allow those members who are familiar with the rules to enjoy 4-5 times the discount. For new members, we have launched the fast reservation area since last summer. Only new members can make reservations, and they can make reservations quickly. We hope to gradually restore the market in this way. "

In fact, the B&B card itself belongs to the platform membership system in the form of prepayment. Booking rooms requires paying the deposit for each room in advance, which invisibly adds more benefits to the platform, making some consumers' prepaid high deposits stay in the platform account for several months, which adds a lot of negative experiences to consumers.

Some insiders pointed out that it is possible for the platform to carry out financing through this prepayment method. In this regard, Zuo Zhijian said, "Our sales revenue comes from the continuous purchase of new houses. Today, there are nearly 350 homestays on the platform. As a pioneer in the industry, our business has been relatively stable and sustainable. In the list of shareholders, there are leading VC institutions in the industry, and many people host them. "

Tourists should be careful when buying cards.

According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 20 domestic platforms selling this hotel card, and new platforms are constantly joining. However, the current situation of B&B membership card making system is obviously not enough to satisfy consumers. The so-called membership card can't be just a "one-shot deal", and some false and exaggerated propaganda of B&B platforms will be exposed sooner or later. In order to make the membership system sustainable, enterprises should get rid of the "routine" and sincerely provide tangible services to consumers.

Gu Huimin, president of beijing international studies university Tourism Science Research Institute, said that B&B cards do have "small traps", but it still depends on whether the merchants are honest. However, in the long run, the consumption pattern of B&B cards will not have long-term vitality. The current design is a consumption trap to some extent, and the private owner does not stand in the consumer's perspective and bring benefits to consumers. In addition, Gu Huimin also reminded consumers that in order to rationally purchase such consumer card products, before purchasing B&B cards, we must carefully study whether the B&B cards themselves can bring value that matches their own conditions. At the same time, consumers should also understand that there are many restrictions at the same time as price concessions, and they should be wary of the "killing" mode of the Internet.

Zhu Lixin, a partner of Beijing Yu Hui Law Firm, said that the B&B platform should make relevant agreements with consumers in advance when selling B&B cards. If there is a clear agreement, it shall be implemented according to the agreement. If there is no agreement and you can't get the room, then the B&B platform violates the consumer protection law and infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Since consumers have bought a card, they should enjoy the corresponding rights and interests within a reasonable range. Merchants should estimate the reception capacity of the corresponding number of cards sold in advance. If the consumer can't make an appointment because of insufficient reception capacity, then the consumer has the right to ask the platform party to refund the card purchase fee in full and terminate the contract relationship.

It can be seen that the B&B platform needs to operate according to law and protect consumers' rights and interests, so as to develop new consumption patterns.

In addition, Zhu Lixin also made several suggestions to consumers: First, consumers must keep their eyes open when purchasing relevant card coupons to ensure their legitimate rights and interests. Secondly, consumers must carefully understand the rules of use when purchasing card coupons. For places where the rules of use are not clear, it is necessary to communicate with merchants according to daily experience and leave evidence through recording or electronic platform communication. If necessary, it is best to confirm by written agreement. Finally, we should actively take measures to protect consumers' rights and interests, complain to consumers' associations, report to tourism and other relevant authorities, and ask businesses to rectify.