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How Independent Scandinavian Hotels Can Compete With International Hotel Chains in Attracting Chinese Visitors

Tor Kjølberg

October 30, 2020

How Independent Scandinavian Hotels Can Compete With International Hotel Chains in Attracting Chinese Visitors

Not every hotel is born equal. By nature, international hotel chains have the resources and experience to target outbound travelers from China. Most of these chains are already operating properties inside China, establishing their brands and they have big budget marketing teams to promote their overseas properties. Read how independent Scandinavian hotels can compete with international hotel chains in attracting Chinese visitors.

Having said that, it does not mean independent hotels should give up competing for a share of the potential. In fact, 55% outbound independent Chinese travellers prefer to stay at independent hotels to enjoy a unique local experience. The challenge for us is to give independent hotels the confidence to attack the market, show them why the China market is different, how to market effectively, and how to retain guests’ interest pre-visit and post-visit.

1. Potential of the China outbound market
According to COTRI (China Outbound Tourism Research Institute) based in Germany, there were 170 million border-crossings from Mainland China, out of which 74.5 million went to Great China (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan), and 95.5 million travelled overseas.

The misconception of the potential is spending power. All marketeers are aiming for the huge population of 1.4 billion Chinese. The old saying “if each one of them spends $1 on my product, I will be a very rich man” is misleading. In reality, according to the Chinese Premier, there are 0.6 billion Chinese with a monthly income below Rmb1,000 (U$500). The spending power focuses on citizens from the first tier and second tier cities.

Therefore, we have to show hotels that their marketing activities should be focused on these cities and do not fall into the misleading concept that China is one huge market. In fact, there are over 35 markets inside China. Each of these have GDPs similar to a nation. For example, the city of Chengdu (not far from where you can find pandas) has a similar GDP to that of Norway! For an independent hotel, it is not possible to target all these areas. We always advise them to focus on southern China, the Pearl River area including Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

2. Marketing in China is a totally different ballgame
When we speak to hoteliers, a common misconception is that they believe they have ticked the box with their website translated into Chinese (similar to what they have done for the French, Spanish and German markets).

However, Google may be blocked in China (like TLS 1.3 and ESNI) which means a hotel website may not even get through the Great Firewall of China. In terms of the content, the Chinese audience may be looking for something that western hotels tend not to focus on their websites.

We advise our hotel partners that they need a China focused website (totally independent of their corporate one), have it structured with content provided in the Chinese way and have the website hosted inside China in order to overcome the barriers mentioned above.

A hotel’s marketing personnel will typically say the usual means of digital marketing such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube have all been deployed. Again, for the majority of the Chinese audience who do not use VPNs to tunnel through the Great Firewall, they will not be able to see hotel’s activities on these western platforms because they are banned.

China has its own online marketing platforms that hotels must use in order to reach potential travelers.
Most people will have heard of WeChat, which is a Super App and a complete ecosystem when it comes to affecting the daily life of Chinese. The situation is different in the west.

However, because WeChat is a closed system, instead we advise our hotels and help them set up Weibo accounts and we run these accounts for them instead. Weibo is an open platform and any posts by hotels will reach a wider audience.

Apart from WeChat and Weibo, popular social media sites such as Little Red Book, Bilibili, Mafengwo,Tick-Tok (Duo Yin) should also be utilised and we handhold our hotels through this maze of an unfamiliar landscape.

3. Every Step of the Way
According to our own research, a typical young traveller goes through the following phases from inspiration, planning, validation, booking, staying and sharing.
Each of these steps require marketing focus in the appropriate channels.

Inspiration
Potential travelers are inspired by emotional connections from social media posts (40%), friends and relatives (33%), and by KOL (Key Opinion Leaders) 22%

Planning
Young Chinese use Mafengwo, Little Red Book, Ctrip and Weibo as their main online platforms to plan overseas trips

Validation
72% Chinese will search and review short-listed hotels’ websites to validate information

Booking
84% young Chinese book overseas hotels via Ctrip, Mafengwo, offline agencies etc., and only 16% indicates they will book direct on hotels’ official websites

Staying
This is when they share their experience instantly to inspire their friends and relatives

Sharing
After sharing, the top three platforms they will share their experience are WeChat, Weibo and Little Red Book

4. Reaching out to independent hotels in Scandinavia
Our team has been sharing the knowledge above with hotels at trade shows, seminars (both online and offline), giving keynote speeches at HSMAI events and so on.

We have also engaged highly respected veteran hoteliers to promote our services to independent hotels in the area. We also aim to expand the network further.

I have found it particularly useful in using LinkedIn to communicate with like-minded colleagues in the industry.

In addition, we have set up a FaceBook group called “ChinaReadyHotels” where we share articles and news on China Outbound with members. All hoteliers are welcome to join the group.

Through our efforts we are being recognized as the go-to people when independent hotels and smaller hotel groups wanting to be successful in tapping into this market.

These efforts have brought us the following awards recently:

** Seven Stars Luxury Hospitality & Lifestyle Award Winner 2019
** CTW Silver Award Winner at ITB China 2019
** Winner of Top Travel & Hospitality Solutions Provider 2018 & 2019

In addition, we have co-founded the LN Hotel Alliance with China Southern Airlines (biggest in China), LN Hotel Group (one of the biggest hotel group in China) and GZL Travel Services (the biggest tour operators and facilitators in China). This Alliance enables us and our hotels tap into over 46 million Chinese frequent travelers.

5. Feedback from our hotel partners
Here is an example from one of our hotels in Finland:

“I have a very positive experience with Compass Edge. I now appreciate the complexity of the Chinese outbound market. For us the GoChina service is very cost effective and we have very good exposure via Chinese social media, engagement with KOLs and from our localized website. The icing on the cake is our membership with the LN Global Hotel Alliance where we can target their 46+ million loyalty members.” Joni Hakkarinen, VP Sales & Marketing, Naantali Spa Hotel & Resort

6. The effect of Covid-19
While we are all struggling in the western world, China is the first to have recovered from the pandemic.

During the last October 1st Golden Week Holiday, 637 million trips were made domestically and tourism had recovered to 79% of the level set in the same period in 2019.

Chinese travelers are ready to travel abroad again as soon as the borders are re-open. However, emphasis will change and as hoteliers, we need to pay attention to:

a) Communicating hotel’s preventive measures to guests (hygiene regime);
b) Be flexible on the guest’ travelling plan (non-refundable advanced booking rate is out);
c) Offer online check-in/check-out
d) Improve in-room entertainment
e) Provide reasonably priced F&B room service
f) Ramp up room service menu
g) Rearrange restaurant seating to facilitate social distancing

At this challenging time, a lot of hotels are thinking short-term which is understandable. However, building a hotel’s brand in China takes time and continuous efforts. Branding is everything there. If we cut off communications and promotional posts on Chinese social media platforms and on hotel’s own Chinese websites, people will soon forget them. They may conclude that these hotels are not interested in their business anymore.

To us, this “quieter time” is the best time to reach out to the target audience and maintain progress made before the pandemic.

These travelers will be desperate to travel the world when the it is deemed safe to do so and when airline capacities return.

Will they choose your hotel?

How Independent Scandinavian Hotels Can Compete With International Hotel Chains in Attracting Chinese Visitors is written exclusively for Daily Scandinavian by Cho Wong, Managing Director Compass Edge Europe. Cho is a seasoned practitioner in international business, hospitality services and digital marketing in China. Currently, Cho is the MD of Compass-Edge Europe, offering support and advice to hoteliers in the region to attract Chinese independent travelers. Prior to that, Cho was the MD of Supranational Hotels, a well-known GDS distribution company based in London.

All illustrations © Compass Edge Europe

Meet Locals in Scandinavia

Tor Kjølberg

October 29, 2020

Don’t let a guidebook tell you what a city’s best restaurants, bars and clubs are. No one knows a place better than its locals. Red how to meet locals in Scandinavia.

Find a local in Scandinavia to show you around. The concept of Showaround is one of those very few travel-related services, a sort of an AirBnB for touring places you visit. When it comes to travel, you can spend hours poring over guidebooks or trawling through Google results, searching for the best places to go. But there are so many recommendations on the internet that it makes it really difficult to choose. Only genuine advice from a local can help you to see and do things in a new city that truly interest you.

Related: Sociable Gothenburg in Sweden

Everyone who has ever traveled know about package deals; sightseeing trips with tourists taking that obligatory selfie in front of a famous statue. But how can you find the real heart of a destination, the one only locals know about and get to see?

Showaround is a really good service when you’re traveling to a new country or city where you don’t speak the local language or don’t know much. Showaround is a network of passionate locals offering tailor-made tours, In just three years the number of registered locals has grown to 129360 across 11989 cities worldwide. From artists to bankers, you may choose your specialist local and discover the secrets they have to offer. Many even give tours for free!

Founder Linas Sablovskis saw an obvious gap for locals to act as tour guides in their own cities and give travelers a more tailor-made, intimate experience. “In brief, Showaround allows locals to earn some extra money by showing travelers around their city,” he says. “In other words, it is a marketplace for private tours with locals who are ready to show you the best their cities have to offer, and then tailor activities to your interests,” he adds.

Also, for solo travelers, having a local around is even better as they provide not only knowledge, some maybe less touristy attractions and educated insights, but also company. Once you have set up an account, finding a local is easy. Just enter a destination in the search bar and you’ll be shown a list of people available in the area, with a profile that shows not only what activities they can offer, but also highlights their personality and interests, so you can find a like-minded local. You can even chat to them beforehand, to outline your expectations and interests for the tour.

There is also a feature called Trips, whereby you can create a trip to your next destination and receive offers from locals with suggestions for your visit. This is an easier and effortless way of planning your trip as you simply choose which offers you like. However, it does not limit you to only those offers rather than seeking out someone potentially more suited.

A review system informs travelers about the experience of others. But have in mind that Showaround is not a dating app of sorts, camouflaged behind an apparent service provider. You are really going to meet people who will be your guides for the period of time you have booked.

However, Showaround provides an easy way to meet local people and make new friends, meaning you’ll feel at home wherever you are. You’ll see the city through a local’s eyes and stay away from pricey tourist traps. It’s suitable for all, from business travelers and backpackers, to families and groups.

Realize that there are a lot of search options that you have to customize your search and make sure that you find guides based on your interests or what you’d like to see and do, saving you some time on guides that are too expensive or who wouldn’t be able to meet your demands.

Get to know a new city better than you could have ever imaged with this platform. After all, some of the most interesting spots, don’t always make the guidebooks.

The founders are currently based in Malta and Greece, while their team is located in Lithuania.

Photo credits:
Woman and reindeer: Photo by Ugur Arpaci on Unsplash
Couple at waterfall: Photo by SaiKrishna Saketh Yellapragad
Beach: Photo by Jonas Jacobsson on Unsplash
Kid in snow: Photo by ?? Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Feature image (on top): Woman at Aksla viewpoint, Ålesund Fjord Norway photo: Samuel Taipale Visitnorway.com

Meet Locals in Scandinavia, written by Tor Kjolberg

Scandinavian Asparagus

Tor Kjølberg

October 28, 2020

Asparagus has always been an expensive treat, a vegetable for the rich, who could afford either to grow or to buy it. The average Scandinavian was too hard-working to have the time to cultivate asparagus, a slow and labor-intensive business. Read more about Scandinavian asparagus.

Green asparagus has been popular in Scandinavia for only 30 years or so, which is why all traditional recipes use the white version. White asparagus spears are the pale, fat queens of May and June, with a consistency so beautiful and a taste so refined that they must be truly unique among vegetables.

Appearance and taste
Green asparagus tastes very much like a long, tender green pea. It has as delicious, fresh and distinctly ‘green’ taste. White asparagus, on the other hand, has a definite sweetness, paired with a slight bitterness, and a pervading flavor that spreads its loveliness over other foods that come into close contact; add it to a salad or stew and the dish will taste as though it consists of nothing else, a quality the white asparagus shares with artichokes.

Related: The Norwegian Asparagus Island

How it grows
The spears of wild asparagus, which can be found growing in sandy soils in southern Scandinavia, are very thin, and are even tastier than cultivated asparagus. White asparagus is grown widely in areas of sandy loam, though this is not easy. Asparagus is extremely time-consuming to grow, and a huge investment if you grow more than a few. The crowns must grow undisturbed for three to four years before they can be harvested, and after that you work from light until noon for three months during the harvest in April, May and June.

The paleness of white asparagus is achieved by excluding all light, which is done by piling up soil over the plants as they grow. All weeding much be done by hand, so as not to damage the still-invisible spears, growing undergrown. When they are ready to harvest you venture into your asparagus patch very early in the morning with a sharp long-handled tool to cut the spears before the sun’s rays turn them green. It must be inserted at ground level, and you work blind, as only the very upper up of the asparagus is poking through the soil.

Green asparagus is grown in the field and can be cut at any time of day, as long as it’s every day because, the spears grow at an alarming rate and are short and tender for only a day or two. If you miss the moment, they will be very long and tough.

Related: Scandinavian Cabbage & Kale

Buying and storing
Asparagus is pricy, but not irresponsibly so considering the growing conditions. You can buy relatively cheap white asparagus, which is too finely to peel but perfect as a base for soup, and even big fat spears for much less than a mediocre, small piece of meat. The thickness of green asparagus is not importamt, but the white needs serious peeling, and if the spears are too thin, there will be nothing left. Thin white asparagus tempt you to slack off when it comes to the peeling, and that is not a good idea. They can be used as they are for stock and are good buy for that purpose, as thin spears are much cheaper.

When buying asparagus, the most important thing is to check for freshness. Begin by checking the bottoms (which are often wrapped) as the spears dry out from the bottom up. They must be freshly cut, and the whole stalk must be juicy and firm, without signs of wrinkled old age, and the heads should be tight and not beginning to stretch. If the spears are not fresh, don’t buy them, even if they are cheap, as the taste alters with age and they will disappoint you. Our advice is to limit yourself to buying asparagus only during their brief season in May and June, when you can gorge on them at their best and then long for them until the next season.

Asparagus can be stored wrapped in a clean damp tea towel in the fridge for no more than two days. If you are not going to use the peels straight away, they can be frozen and used for stock later.

Related: Scandinavian vegetables

Culinary uses
Both types of asparagus are beautiful in stews, salads, or simply steamed and eaten with fish, as a starter, or veal, chicken or smoked and salted meats. Remember always to add a little sugar to balance the bitterness of white asparagus.

Before you even consider cooking your white asparagus, the spears must be peeled. Rest them in your hand and peel from the head down. When you think you are done, try to bend the asparagus a little, and any traces of peel will show as long, shiny strands. It’s heart-breaking to watch your asparagus shrink, but any trace of peel will be a nasty experience. Asparagus are extremely fibrous, and in the past, you were forced to eat asparagus when you had swallowed a sharp item as the vegetable’s fibers curl themselves around anything in your stomach, guiding it safely on its way out. (Nowadays, they give you cotton wool to eat instead).

The woody ends and peel from white asparagus can do magic in the kitchen, in stocks, sauces and vegetable stews. If you boil the peels in water, then add the cooking liquid to your dish, you will find a satisfying asparagus flavor that suits anything. The woody ends of green asparagus are also useful in stocks and soups.

Green asparagus can be eaten raw, but a fast blanching will make its flavor much more intense.

White asparagus must be cooked, but not for a second longer than necessary. A few minutes in the pot are enough. If you want to eat the asparagus whole, boil them in a wide, shallow saucepan, with a little water, and the lid on, rather than in a huge pot of boiling water.

Asparagus soup
Asparagus soup used to be a Sunday special, and was often served as a starter at confirmations and weddings coinciding with the asparagus season. Serve with crusty sourdough bread.

500g thin white asparagus
2 celery sticks
1 bunch of new onions with green tops
1 sprig of tarragon
1 small bunch of chervil
1 small bunch of parsley
200ml white wine
4 garlic cloves, or a small bunch of ramsons (wild garlic)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon sugar
200ml whipping cream
1 small bunch of chives, chopped

Serves 4-5 portions

Rinse the asparagus and cut off the tips. Save the latter and chop the rest into small pieces. Rinse and chop the celery and onions including the green part. Pick the leaves on the herbs and save for later.

Put the wine, garlic, bay, leaf, salt, pepper and sugar in a pan along with the vegetables and herb stalks. Boil slowly until the vegetables are very soft. Fish out the bay leaf, then whizz the soup in a food processor until smooth. Push through a fine sieve, making sure than only inedible fiber is left in the sieve.

Reheat the soup with the cream and reserved asparagus tips, and adjust the seasoning. Serve with the reserved herb leaves and the chopped chives on top.

Feature image (on top): Asparagus from Hvasser. Photo: Gartnerhallen

Scandinavian Asparagus, written by Tor Kjolberg