China’s Luxury Hotels Take to the Streets to Stay Afloat
Udumbara
China’s luxury hotels are increasingly taking their catering businesses to the streets in a bid to survive the ongoing wave of “consumer downgrading,” as consumers nationwide turn to affordable, value-oriented products over premium goods.
The sight of starred hotel chefs working behind makeshift street stalls has gone viral on Chinese social media since late June, when several high-end hotels and restaurants in the central provinces of Henan and Anhui began selling hotel-quality food at budget prices outside their doors, while their dining rooms sit largely empty.
In July, the five-star Meixi Lake Hotel in Changsha—the capital of Hunan province and one of South China’s largest cities—surprised locals when it launched a street-vendor service. The hotel, ranked among the city’s top 10 premium hotels on Trip.com, began offering budget-friendly breakfast sandwiches and coffee in the morning, and transformed into a barbecue stall at night.
Another five-star hotel in Changsha, the Xiaoxiang Huatian Hotel, also joined the trend, moving its catering team outside to serve popular street food. In a July 9 interview with the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, hotel staff said they tailored a special menu for quick and affordable street consumption, including braised meats and dim sum dishes, aiming to attract customers who wouldn’t normally dine in a five-star hotel.
According to the report, the prices range from 8 yuan ($0.80) for cold noodles to 60 yuan ($8.30) for about a pound of braised duck intestines, far cheaper than the several hundred to even thousands of yuan typically charged for a formal banquet.
“If the guests won’t come in, then we'll go out to them,” a hotel staff member told the newspaper.
Just how profitable these ventures are remains unclear. No five-star hotel has disclosed whether the street stalls can cover their labor and operating costs. However, Xiaoxiang Huatian reported that its stall once sold 10,000 yuan ($1,390) worth of food in just two hours.
Chinese netizens have responded with mixed feelings. While many expressed excitement at the chance to try hotel-prepared food at street prices, others voiced concerns about potential downsides. Some fear the trend could devolve into a price war, squeezing out traditional street vendors and leading to a decline in food quality.
“If this is about turning a profit, quality will inevitably suffer,” he added. “As competition intensifies, it will become a race to the bottom. Only the cheapest, lowest-quality options may survive.”
Adding to the strain are recently tightened rules restricting government and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials from dining out in groups. These officials traditionally have been major patrons of upscale dining.
In May, the CCP revised its anti-extravagance guidelines—originally introduced in 2013 as part of Party Secretary-General Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign—to include a blanket ban on alcohol and cigarettes at official receptions.
A restaurant manager in the northeastern Liaoning province told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times that the alcohol ban had hit the industry even harder than the COVID-19 lockdowns from 2020 to 2023.
“Ordinary people don’t have money to eat out, and officials who do have money aren’t allowed to,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guangming Daily, a CCP mouthpiece paper, praised the trend as a creative response to challenging conditions, calling it “an attempt by businesses to launch a more affordable product line.”
“Only by being keenly observant and embracing change can one gain a firm foothold in fierce competition and carve out a broader space of their own,” it said.
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