Hotels' student service packages split opinions

Some hotels have launched student companion services for families affected by pandemic-induced school closures, an innovative approach that has drawn encouragement as well as concern.

Recent COVID-19 outbreaks in parts of the country have forced some primary and middle schools to shift to online teaching.

Working parents who cannot be with their children during daytime have been quick to embrace hotel services for young students who need to take online classes or those who simply want a quiet space to study.

On March 18, online travel agency Ctrip saw the number of searches for such packages jump by more than 200 percent compared with the previous day, Beijing Business Today reported. It said these single-day or multiday packages, including meals and companion services, cost between 588 yuan and 11,664 yuan ($92 and $1,830).

The Purple Palace in the city of Nanjing, one of the hotels offering such packages, had received more than 300 phone inquiries by the morning of March 17 since the promotional poster came out the day before, Bao Guanjun, executive deputy general manager of the hotel, told Yangtse Evening Post.

After a booking is made, Bao said a designated hotel staff member will send his or her health information and proof of a negative COVID-19 test result to the guests, and discuss with them the child's schedule for the next day. The staff member will supervise the child during online classes and take away the electronics when the class is over. The parents can also get involved via video link.

Such services will be a good choice for parents who can't work from home, a mother surnamed Li told Beijing Business Today. The first thing she will look at is what COVID-19 precautions the hotel has in place and the second is the price, she said.

A father surnamed Zhu told Yangtse Evening Post that it would be great if these services could be more affordable.

Zhang Zhining, deputy director of the center for strategic studies at the Ctrip research institute, told Chinese tourism news site ctnews.com.cn that such services can satisfy parents' needs to balance work and family as COVID-19 protocols become part of everyday life.

"The demand for such rooms might be temporary, but the need for 'hotel plus X' packages is ever present," Zhang noted, adding "hotel plus X" packages are expected to boost both supply and demand in the tourism industry.

Gu Huimin, dean of the Tourism Science Institute at Beijing International Studies University, expressed concern over children's safety in hotels and hotel staff's qualifications as student companions.

She told Beijing Business Today that such services were an emergency product launched by hotels to respond to pandemic-generated demand and were in need of relevant rules and regulations.

In some regions, such services were halted by local governments over health or regulatory concerns.

The education authority in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, issued a notice on March 21 requiring that such services be discontinued as places of business, such as a hotel, were considered to pose a higher risk of infection, local newspaper Haixia Daobao reported.

A hotel in Nanjing offering school subject tutoring services was ordered to cancel them because it failed to comply with the country's "double reduction" policy, which aims to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students.