Hotels and Chinese Tourists: The Most Passive Relationship in Tourism
83% of Chinese tourists check hotel social media before booking. Only 22% of international hotels have a Xiaohongshu account. That gap is not an accident. It’s a decision. A passive one.
Hotels are waiting for Chinese tourists to find them. Chinese tourists are looking. Somewhere else.
The data on what Chinese guests actually expect
91% of Chinese guests say a Mandarin welcome letter would improve their satisfaction. 91%. That is not a niche preference. That is almost everyone. And 8% of hotels provide one. Eight percent.
Hotels with WeChat Pay integration report 3 times more Chinese bookings compared to those without. Three times. Not 10% more. Three times. WeChat Pay is how Chinese tourists pay for everything. It’s connected to their bank, their daily life, their trust. When you don’t offer it, they either leave or feel like a second-class guest from the moment they check in.
The average hotel response to a Chinese tourist inquiry: an email, in English, three days later. Source: COTRI hotel behavior studies, Statista accommodation surveys, McKinsey China consumer data. Three days. In 2026. For a guest who made their decision in 20 minutes on Xiaohongshu.
What you’re doing wrong
Your hotel has a TripAdvisor listing. Your Chinese guest uses Ctrip and Mafengwo. Your hotel has a Facebook page. Facebook is blocked in China. Congratulations on being very active on a platform your target audience cannot open.
You have a Chinese translation on your website. Done by a translation service in 2019. The character encoding broke on mobile and half the page shows as symbols. You haven’t checked it since. Chinese tourists have. They left.
You offer a “Chinese New Year package.” Once a year. That’s your China strategy. One seasonal promotion. And then eleven months of complete silence on any platform Chinese tourists actually use.
You have a WeChat QR code on your reception desk. For guests who are already there. That’s not marketing. That’s barely hospitality. The decision happened six weeks ago on Xiaohongshu when a creator posted about a competitor hotel that actually engaged with Chinese travelers.
Your staff doesn’t speak Mandarin. That’s fine. Plenty of hotels succeed without it. But you also have no WeChat contact, no Mandarin welcome materials, and no Chinese-language instructions anywhere in the room. You’ve made it clear the guest is an afterthought.
What the hotels who get it actually do
- They maintain an active Xiaohongshu profile with real guest photos, Chinese-language captions, and responses to comments. This is where their future guests are making decisions right now.
- They have WeChat Pay enabled and display it clearly at check-in and booking. Not hidden. Prominent. It tells Chinese guests immediately: we know you’re here, we prepared for you.
- They send a Mandarin welcome message via WeChat or SMS before arrival. Three sentences. The guest’s name, the check-in time, a direct WeChat contact. That’s it. Costs almost nothing. Changes everything.
- They work with a hotel marketing agency that knows China to run campaigns on the right platforms before the booking decision is made, not after check-in.
Stop guessing. Get a partner.
The hotels filling rooms with Chinese guests didn’t stumble into it. They worked with people who knew what Chinese travelers want before they arrive, during the stay, and after checkout when they post their review. Visit our hotel marketing agency China page or contact us. Your competitors are already there.
About Marcus Zhan
Marcus Zhan is a Chinese digital marketing specialist. 12 years in the Chinese market. Still surprised by how many brands try to figure this out alone. Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuszhan/
