E-sports hotels a fast-growing option for Chinese fans

On Saturday night, a team from the Chinese e-sports club EDward Gaming, won the 2021 League of Legends World Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. During the night, a large number of Chinese e-sports fans chose to watch the games with their friends at e-sports hotels, and demand for such hotels is booming in China.

IElectronic Sports Hotel, founded in 2019, focuses on providing accommodations for e-sports fans. On Saturday night, the hotel's 25 branches nationwide were all fully booked because of EDward Gaming.

Suzhou-based online travel agency Tongcheng-Elong made an investment in iElectronic Sports Hotel in June. The investment value exceeded tens of millions of yuan, an estimate as the company didn't disclose the specific amount. The OTA also cooperated with other entities in organizing some e-sports games.

To meet the demand of viewers, some e-sports hotels have set up large screens in the public areas for fans to watch games. Since many people watch games at night, those hotels also have different checkout policies compared with traditional hotels.

"E-sports have been loved by many young consumers in China. We hope to better communicate with the younger generations through e-sports investments, and thus further expand our brand impact among young people," said Bai Zhiwei, vice-president of Tongcheng-Elong.

This year, the total number of e-sports hotels in China is expected to hit 15,000, and the number is foreseen to exceed 20,000 by 2023, fueled by increasing popularity of e-sports and the diversification of the hotel sector in China, according to a report by Tongcheng-Elong's research institute.

Compared with customers who book regular hotels, those who choose e-sports hotels usually stay for a longer period of time, and their annual frequencies of staying at such hotels is also higher, the report found.

E-sports hotels have been a result of development of diversified operations for hotels in China. Such hotels also helped fueled new opportunities for further popularization and sustainable development of the e-sports sector in China.

Besides e-sports hotels, there are also many other types of hotels available, including movie hotels and hotels for live action role-playing games.