Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity of Hotel Daily Rates under the Temporary Lockdown in Xi’an City of China

Keywords: spatiotemporal heterogeneity, coronavirus restrictions, pricing strategies, geographic weighted model
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 6

Abstract

The hospitality industry has been attacked greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic, and pricing strategies have become an important way to cope with the crisis. Past studies have identified the spatiotemporal effect of how the hotel classes, facilities, and other factors influence the hotel daily rates. However, the existing studies neglect the emerging tendency during Covid-19. This empirical study aims to investigate the spatiotemporal effect of contributing factors of hotel rates and its fluctuation before and after the outbreak. China has locked down 13 million people in Xi’an city since December 23rd, 2021 to halt the coronavirus outbreak. This study has monitored the hotel daily rates data of Xi’an city since September, 29th from elong.com, a Chinese online travel agency. This study compares the time series model, spatial econometric model, and geographic weighted model to identify the optimal way to depict the spatiotemporal patterns. The preliminary results indicated that hotel ratings and the distance from scenic spots, city center and transportation hubs have a significant impact on hotel daily rates before the lockdown restriction. This study will move further to compare the patterns after Xi’an reopen. This study will contribute to understanding hotels’ pricing strategies under the outbreak of COVID-19.