In the winter of 2015, a public account called "Reclusive Township" posted a set of photos of snowy scenes. The photo was taken in a place called Xiahushuo Village in Beijing's Yanqing District.
The white villages set against the turquoise blue sunlight and vast vegetation in the north are full of strong rural atmosphere. Among them, the yellowstone walls covered with snow and the country houses are a homestay called "Hawthorn Courtyard".
Before the release of this set of snow photos, many people had never heard of Xiahu Village. However, relying on the fermentation of pictures in the public account and circle of friends, Hawthorn Courtyard became popular in the Beijing homestay circle in one fell swoop, and all of them were fully booked for the next three months.
Hawthorn Courtyard was brewed in the summer of 2015. At that time, Chen Changchun, the founder of the "Reclusive Village" brand, took a fancy to this remote village in Yanqing, and the team selected one of the yards, completed construction in three months, and began trial operation at the end of the year. After the snow photos became popular, Hawthorn Courtyard not only became a benchmark for local homestays, but also became a signboard for attracting customers after being hand-brewed into hawthorn juice by housekeepers.
▲ Xiahu called the village snow scene
Starting from the Hawthorn Courtyard, Chen Changchun and the hermit village began to explore a different homestay route. In the following seven years, they traveled to 24 villages across the country, not only designing and operating homestays, but also joining local governments, public welfare funds, and enterprise capital to join a large-scale country house experiment. Many of these homestays have become Internet celebrity tourism projects around the world, and CCTV's "Hello Life" variety show was filmed in its Xishui Wutong Mountain Homestay in Guizhou.
Up to now, they have renovated and operated 260 idle farmhouses, directly driving a total local income of more than 300 million. In the WeChat group they operate, there are more than 200,000 long-term active customers.
Among them, private domain operation based on WeChat ecology is an important means to live in secluded villages. From the early years of public account and friend circle marketing, to the later use of enterprise WeChat, development of mini program reservation, video account activity promotion. In the past 7 years, they have built a complete closed loop from WeChat private domain marketing transformation to orders, communities and secondary repurchases.
B&B is not a good business. Why do they keep making boutique B&Bs? What are the tips for running every village and every homestay?
Behind these 260 secluded courtyards in the countryside hides the "private domain password" operated by the country house.
1
Rural "experiments" in secluded villages
Most of Beijing's early country houses were in Huairou and Miyun districts, which are closer to the city. Yanqing is located in the northwest of Beijing, the area is mountainous, Xiahu Village is hidden in a mountain col surrounded on three sides. The place was once named for the appearance of tigers, and there are no special properties, only hawthorn trees everywhere, which are slightly distinctive.
Before the Hawthorn Courtyard became popular, there were few such characteristic homestays in Yanqing. Despite its beautiful scenery, like most mountain villages in China, few tourists make a special trip because of the lack of characteristic industries and publicity.
But it was this bland local atmosphere that inspired Chen Changchun's team. The renovation of the Hawthorn Courtyard focuses on presenting the overall feeling of the countryside, and the exterior of the courtyard still uses black tile earthen walls, which are integrated with the entire village. There are still traces of thatch and moss on the roof. In autumn, hawthorn fruits fill the yard.
▲ Hawthorn red
In Chen Changchun's view, when urban people come to the countryside, they need to solve five core problems: whether it is cold in winter, hot or hot in summer, clean bathrooms, clean bedding, and delicious meals. In addition, the local character should be preserved as much as possible. Therefore, they are extremely restrained in the renovation design of the small courtyard, in addition to solving the experience problem, they try to preserve the original ecology of the countryside.
This reservation is also reflected in the development of local specialties and the participation of local villagers. Hawthorn is not rare in the local area, and the purchase price is low, and many villagers are reluctant to even pick hawthorn. After settling in the secluded village, relying on the overall operation, they made local hawthorn into hawthorn juice, which was tasted free of charge by every guest who came to the store. Even if a bottle costs 58 yuan, many customers are still willing to take a bottle with them when they leave, and some will even go home to place an order online.
Almost all of the operation and service staff of Hawthorn Courtyard employ local villagers. They make authentic country meals, from a bowl of hand-rolled noodles with local mushroom egg marinade to hand-ground stick porridge. In the secluded village, housekeeper training is given to villagers who are willing to participate, so that they can really participate.
▲ After training, villagers work as housekeepers
This model not only solves the cost of homestay operation, but also brings industry and employment to the village. Before the epidemic, the annual turnover of Hawthorn Small Courtyard B&B reached 3.5 million yuan at its peak, and the dividend to the local village collective reached 1 million yuan, of which the villagers' wages were 350,000 yuan.
This is a good benefit for Xiahushao Village, which has only 82 households and 176 villagers, of which 76 belong to low-income farming households. Hawthorn Courtyard also solved the employment problem of 15 local people.
This "experiment" soon attracted the attention of more local governments and institutions. In the following two years, from the vicinity of Beijing to Hebei, the hermused township quickly cooperated with local villages and towns to develop more than 50 boutique farm houses. Among them, in Nanyu Village, Laishui, Hebei Province, they explored a new model of rural transformation and poverty alleviation with poverty alleviation fund + rural cooperative shareholding.
Similar to Xiahujiao Village, although Nanyu Village is adjacent to Shidu and Yesanpo scenic spots, it is also located deep in the mountains and inconvenient transportation, and few tourists come here.
▲ Nanyu Village, Laishui, Hebei
Before 2014, Nanyu Village was a typical poor village, with 82% of villagers earning an average of less than 3,000 yuan a year. Until 2016, the secluded township and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation planned to promote the development of the area through homestay tourism. The specific model is that the village collective establishes a rural tourism cooperative, each person buys 1 yuan in shares, dividends according to the capitation, and then takes out 15 sets of private houses, and the poverty alleviation foundation contributes 6 million yuan as a renovation fund, and the reclusive township is responsible for the design and transformation and subsequent operation work.
During the site investigation phase of the project, Chen Changchun once visited the village during lunchtime and occasionally smelled a particularly appetite-inducing aroma of rice, and asked the villagers to learn that this fragrance came from a local wild plant called "hemp flower".
▲ "The Hillside of Twist Flowers" micro-movie, the plant in the picture is a twist flower
The plant usually grows between cliffs and is produced in small quantities, and is often used by locals as a seasoning and sauce to marinade. Chen Changchun's team immediately felt that it was very distinctive, so they named the homestay "The Hillside of Twist and Twist".
Because of the successful experience of the Hawthorn Courtyard before, the slope of the twist was soon put on track. Before the epidemic, local farmers relied on the dividends of homestays to reach more than 1 million yuan a year, and helped sell local vegetables and local specialties up to more than 200,000 yuan, just 15 small yards brought more than 2.5 million yuan in annual income to Nanyu Village.
Through homestays, we will create local unique rural industries, and eventually form local characteristic tourism with IP attributes, so as to drive rural economic development and help poverty alleviation and rural employment. This method of "raising people on one side and raising people on the other" has brought opportunities to many poor villages deep in the mountains. The story of "the hillside of twist flowers" has since been reported by many media, and the once unknown small mountain village has turned into an Internet celebrity tourist village, and Duan Chunting, secretary of the party branch who took the lead in promoting the construction of homestays, was also awarded the title of "National Advanced Individual in Poverty Alleviation"
▲ Construction mode of country houses in secluded townships
According to the relevant person in charge of the secluded township, at the beginning of its establishment, the platform wanted to try a new homestay development model, and did not focus on profit, but did it with an "experimental" mentality. But what they didn't expect was that with the success of homestays, more and more institutions and capital were willing to take the initiative to participate. Since the slope of the twisted mountain, they have cooperated with the China Poverty Alleviation Fund many times, including CTS Investment, and PetroChina has also participated in the launch of the rural poverty alleviation homestay project.
In 7 years, from 1 yard to 24 villages and 260 farmhouses, this homestay operation model in the reclusive village has proved its value. But behind this model, recognition from consumers and a steady flow of customers are the basis for all values to be established. Many platforms have done homestay business in various ways before, but what is the difference in the operation methods in the secluded village?
2
The "private password" behind 260 yards
The success of a country house depends on many factors such as the local environment, homestay design, service, marketing and so on. Due to the large investment in residential renovation, most homestays are relatively expensive, and how to ensure a stable source of customers is the key to the success of the project. It's not easy to build a homestay, let alone expand in China's vast countryside.
Compared with other platforms, the secluded village can build 260 homestays in 7 years, and one question is crucial:
● How can we attract customers and keep them spending at different homestays?
In fact, compared with other travel websites and homestay platforms, the secluded village does not have much fame. Even many guests who have visited their homestay do not know much about this platform.
This is because they previously operated each project independently, rather than rushing to bring them together under the same brand. Compared with the overall brand awareness, the private domain traffic of each homestay is obviously more important - homestays need to communicate to the right people, rather than relying on a brand to win everyone's recognition.
This simple truth actually avoids the mistakes that many homestays make in the marketing stage. Homestay tourism is actually an extremely personalized experience, and the aesthetics, service and consumption level of a homestay are likely to only apply to some people. Therefore, large-scale marketing communication in the public domain, although it can increase popularity, does not necessarily lead to conversion and word of mouth.
This is the secret of Hawthorn Courtyard's initial popularity with just a set of photos and an invitation experience. According to the relevant person in charge of the secluded township, the team paid special attention to content and private domain from the beginning. When developing the Hawthorn Courtyard, everyone felt that the local snow scenery must be beautiful, so they paid attention to the weather forecast early and arranged for photographers to wait there. Those who come to consult because of the photo, first of all, with likes and yearning, and then are willing to come here to consume.
Despite being located in a remote countryside, most of the homestays operated in secluded villages take the high-end route, and the weekday pricing is about 2,000 yuan per night, which means that their target users are also mid-to-high-end, and they need more complex aesthetics and experiences to let them come from the city to the countryside for consumption.
Content gimmicks alone are clearly not enough. Therefore, after the completion of each homestay, the secluded village will spend a lot of time planning various activities according to local characteristics and seasons, and constantly enrich the content, such as inviting customers to dig wild vegetables and seared spring cakes on the day of the spring equinox, planting rice fields during the mango season, picking during the autumn harvest, and planning summer and winter camp activities with various themes in cooperation with nature education institutions.
▲ Ideal rice planting festival for rice fields
In addition, for each small courtyard, they have also built an exclusive WeChat customer service group. Through WeChat, customers are classified and managed, creating customer groups with different needs and types, and accurately delivering content and activities. Through these special activities, we will continue to consolidate the unique experience that each homestay can bring to the corresponding customer group.
Accurate customer groups are almost the most valuable resource of homestays. Around 2018, they developed a mini program to book, the entire marketing transformation further to the private domain, in the WeChat ecosystem with the sense of trust with customers, but also brought them the most practical conversion, according to their statistics, the current proportion of bookings through the WeChat ecosystem reached 68.81%, and the room transaction volume accounted for 95%, in addition to 5% of physical goods sales.
The above-mentioned person in charge introduced that the private domain of WeChat can well complete the closed loop, from customer acquisition - docking - order - return visit - repurchase, the whole process has no fault. For homestay operations, one-on-one communication with customers is crucial, and through the combination of WeChat + mini program + official account + community, it can quickly lock in the corresponding customer group, accurately operate, cultivate trust, and promote subsequent orders.
In fact, the secluded township has also tried to spread on some short video platforms, such as finding some Internet celebrities to visit offline stores, but the result is only that the communication data is very good, the actual conversion is not accurate, and some customers will complain that the price is too high after consultation. However, customers they have attracted through channels such as WeChat public account content or friend moments have rarely had such a situation.
In fact, in the early days of Nanyu Village's participation in the renovation of the homestay, the villagers were also skeptical of the project, believing that it was a fantasy for a farmhouse to sell for more than 2,000 yuan. At that time, the village also organized a visit to the Hawthorn Courtyard for research, and did not see anything special.
▲ Twist's hillside guesthouse
But this is precisely the "private domain password" of the homestay, and it is also the soft power of operation. In fact, only if the customer group is matched enough, can we rely on interpersonal and word-of-mouth communication to bring radiation effects, blindly rely on low prices and gimmicks to stimulate sales, which will only lead to more and more blurred positioning.
After all, boutique B&Bs in different places are originally like a dish with a unique taste, and only by finding someone who likes it can you taste its beauty. If it becomes a mass delicacy, it will not only lose competitiveness, but also the huge investment and high cost in the early stage will not be necessary.
3
End
Attaching importance to the private domain, carrying out precision marketing with content as the core, and exploring the homestay development model in the 7 years, the secluded township has actually explored a channel for homestay operation backed by the WeChat ecology. Last year, they also launched a video account, and have completed 30 live broadcasts, further expanding the path of private domain customer acquisition through video.
From 2015, relying on the public account, the circle of friends, to the current video number ecology. A new round of homestay private domain "experiments" began in the secluded township. The content of their video account is currently positioned in the experience scene in the homestay, the scenery of the four seasons, and the surrounding culture. Further convert fans through high-quality content and stronger exposure, thereby driving WeChat sales customer service and mini program orders.
Now, the hermit village is still refining their homestay model. In order to further promote the rural tourism economy, the secluded township established the Northern Homestay School in 2017 to provide fixed-point training to villagers and promote the employment of local homestays, and nearly 1,000 homestay service training sessions have been carried out so far.
▲ "Hello Life" filming location Wutong Mountain Homestay
Since the epidemic, the national tourism industry has been shaken, and the homestays under the secluded township have also been affected, and some homestays have also been temporarily closed due to the impact of the epidemic. In this regard, they have also adopted corresponding strategies, including making incremental spillovers on existing projects, launching "long private rooms" products, increasing the revenue of holiday activities, and finding more excellent companion projects to join.
In this 7-year rural transformation "experiment", the secluded township relied on model innovation and precise content marketing based on the WeChat ecology, and achieved good results. Despite the ongoing epidemic, getting close to nature and returning to the local area is still the original intention of many people to travel, so customers continue to leave messages on their public account for consultation.
Whether it is the small courtyard of hawthorn in the mountains of Yanqing or the slopes of the hemp flowers of Laishui, Hebei, the spring that belongs to them will come again sooner or later.
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