When it comes to travel, it’s returning to its original essence — a simple, pure, and joyful experience.
In first- and second-tier cities, more and more people are opting for independent travel, family trips, or getaways with neighbors and friends. As a result, a variety of innovative travel-related services have emerged like mushrooms after rain.
Here, we’re sharing insights on how to make smart choices for your travel accommodation, especially as the peak travel season approaches.
Why Vacation Apartments Are a Smart Choice
“If you’re still choosing hotels for your vacation, it just means you’re not stylish or smart enough.” The featured speaker is Tujia.com (www.tujia.com), an online rental platform for high-quality vacation apartments that has been live for over a year.
The terms “Tujia.com” and “vacation apartments” often appear together and are increasingly recognized, accepted, loved, and even recommended by word of mouth. In fact, the concept of vacation apartments was introduced and popularized in China by Tujia.com.
Why are vacation apartments a smart choice?
If asked this question directly to travelers, Luo Jun, co-founder and CEO of Tujia.com, could talk for a whole day. To summarize briefly, he shares four key advantages of vacation apartments — first, the homely feel with the ability to cook and do laundry, allowing travelers to enjoy a home-like experience; second, a rich variety of room types including one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom, and villas, so travelers can choose the right space based on group size; third, prices are about half of those of nearby hotels, offering genuine savings; and fourth, vacation apartments offer more privacy and freedom.
“Without comparison, travelers may not realize the difference. Take our listings in Sanya, for example. Everyone knows the five-star hotels near Yalong Bay. Standard rooms there cost at least around 2,000 yuan in January and February. But we have a semi-detached villa in Yalong Bay that can accommodate six people, and it’s priced at less than 1,700 yuan. To put it simply, six people staying at a hotel would cost about 6,000 yuan, while choosing a vacation apartment could save you two-thirds of the expense,” said Luo Jun.
Luo Jun added, “The room rate is the visible expense, but another often overlooked travel cost is food. Let’s take Sanya again as an example. If you dine at seafood restaurants, not to mention overcharging issues, it’s normal for a family to spend one or two thousand yuan. But if you buy fresh seafood yourself from the market and cook in your vacation apartment, you can eat to your heart’s content for just a few hundred yuan.” The answer is obvious.
Off-Peak Travel Is Also a Smart Move
It’s easy to imagine that during the current peak travel season, popular domestic destinations such as Sanya, Xiamen, and Lijiang will still be bustling with the usual crowds.
In fact, off-peak travel is also a smart move.
“Off-peak includes both time and location. During the Spring Festival holiday, if you choose not to travel and instead spend the time with family, it might not be a bad option. Usually before the Spring Festival break, many white-collar workers use their accumulated annual leave to travel during less crowded times — whether abroad or on a domestic holiday, it’s a smart move. Similarly, during the Spring Festival, destinations like tropical islands and Southeast Asia tend to be more popular, making flights and accommodations relatively more expensive. Choosing to go to places like Australia, New Zealand, or European countries such as France and Germany can also help you secure better deals,” said Luo Jun, adding that this mindset has become common among many savvy travelers.
At the same time, we’ve learned that Tujia.com (www.tujia.com) vacation apartments in Sanya are in extremely high demand during the Spring Festival, often fully booked. However, there are still some available units before and after the holiday period. Outside of Sanya, popular cities including Xiamen, Chengdu, and Lijiang are also seeing increasing bookings.
“Inventory is limited, so either book early or travel off-peak — both are wise choices,” believes Luo Jun, who thinks travelers who opt for off-peak travel are smart ones.
Smart Choices for One-Stop Travel Services
As an emerging travel accommodation option, vacation apartments help travelers feel at home and subtly enhance the joy of the trip.
“We’ve been thinking about how to bring more enjoyment to travel. Recently, we noticed that on our official Weibo and product review sections, many travelers have asked if we can offer flight booking or car rental services. In reality, consumers have a simple idea — they want to resolve flights, car rentals, and accommodation all through one service provider, as long as the quality remains high,” Luo Jun believes that “one-stop travel services” are another smart choice for travelers.
To meet this demand, Tujia.com quickly partnered with two industry players — Qunar Travel and Yidao Yongche — launching an online campaign tailored for Spring Festival travel. The three companies jointly invested resources worth millions, and the campaign is now in full swing.
Seamless cooperation across segmented markets in the travel industry truly benefits the travelers.
So, being a smart traveler is simple — just start by choosing vacation apartments from Tujia.com.
TIPS:
Tujia.com website: www.tujia.com
Tujia.com customer service hotline: 400-188-1234