An experiential portrait of economy hotels in China

This study describes the economy hotel sector in China based on the authors' lived experiences with 20 economy hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. Most of the hotels stayed were members of emerging economy hotel chains in China. The study identified five pertinent issues, including location, online booking, pricing, room design and facilities, and supporting service features and facilities and illustrated the current status of these issues from authors' observation and reflection while staying in those hotels. The experiential perspective adopted in this study could provide valuable information regarding an emerging and fast growing sector of China's hotel industry.