From scale to quality, Muniiao, Tujia, and Meituan are shifting towards emotional consumption.

The emotional economy is reshaping the competitive landscape of the homestay industry. From traditional Chinese medicine-themed homestays in Anshun to coastal experience tours in Rizhao, young people are willing to pay a premium for unique experiences, driving strategic shifts among the three major platforms: Muniiao, Tujia, and Meituan. This article will provide an in - depth analysis of how these platforms seize the emotional consumption market by segmenting scenarios, operating rankings, and reconstructing content, as well as the business logic behind the industry's transformation from "competing on scale" to "emphasizing quality."

Homestays in Anshun have opened "traditional Chinese medicine clinics," and tourists from Sichuan, Chongqing, and Hunan are "snatching" bookings for homestays in Yangchang. Rizhao in Shandong has launched homestay + coastal experience tours... Facing a tourism market with increasing quantity but stable prices, young people prefer to pay a premium for "uniqueness, immersive experiences, and emotional value" under the premise of a tightened budget. Homestays are becoming an important part of emotional consumption.

At the beginning of 2026, "emotional economy" and "emotional value" were officially included in the government work reports of many regions. Provinces and municipalities such as Chongqing, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guizhou, and Shanghai have intensively deployed plans, taking emotional consumption as the core measure to expand domestic demand, boost consumption, and develop cultural and tourism industries.

It is estimated that the scale of China's emotional consumption market is expected to reach 2.72 trillion yuan in 2026 and will exceed 4.5 trillion yuan by 2029. As early as the end of 2025, a report showed that the proportion of young people who choose "happy consumption and pay for emotional value/interest" had reached as high as 56.3%, an increase of 16.2 percentage points compared with 2024.

This means that whether in terms of the current scale or future growth expectations, paying for "emotional value" shows strong growth potential and has become an important growth pole in China's consumer market.

How do homestay booking platforms resonate with emotions?

In recent years, homestay booking platforms represented by Muniiao, Tujia, and Meituan have abandoned the pursuit of the number of available rooms and have all embarked on the path of developing characteristic homestays.

Emotional value has become the core competitiveness of homestay booking platforms. Compared with hotels, homestays naturally have the soil for emotional resonance: non - standard and in - depth local cultural experiences. Based on understanding the emotions of young users, how to provide homestay products? In the exploration of homestay booking platforms, characteristic homestays are one of the key words.

Muniiao mentioned in its report during the May Day holiday this year that young people are falling in love with emotional tourism. "Su Chao", "chasing the blue tears", "Shunde chicken casserole", "concerts", "theme parks"... Emotional experiences have become the reasons for more users to travel during the May Day holiday.

In the highly competitive field of internet - famous homestays, Muniiao has been deeply involved for a long time; Tujia has just launched a ranking list to re - enter the market; Meituan wants to enter the market indirectly through cooperation with high - star hotels.

The transformation from "competing on scale" to "emphasizing quality" is becoming more and more intense: the strategic shift from focusing on channels to focusing on products. The essence of the competition among Muniiao, Tujia, and Meituan is to find an "anchor point" that can withstand the test of time in the new user interests.

Data from Guanyan Report shows that in terms of the age distribution of homestay product users, in 2019, people under 40 accounted for 86.2% of the total consumers. Among them, the order volume of post - 90s consumers accounted for about 58.9%, and that of post - 80s accounted for about 27.3%. In 2023, users aged 35 - 39 accounted for only 7%, and users aged 40 and above were even less, only 4%. Homestay consumers are mainly young users aged 18 - 24. Among them, female users aged 18 - 24 are more autonomous in choosing homestays. They usually arrange their trips according to travel guides, pay attention to the characteristics and safety of accommodation, and prefer internet - famous homestays.

It can be seen that in recent years, with the increasing proportion of young users, the consumption demand for characteristic homestays has increased significantly. All three platforms have continued to increase their efforts this year:

Muniiao has set up five segmented characteristic sections on its app. By deepening content scenarios such as "pet - friendly, weekend getaways, popular homestays, and platform - recommended internet - famous homestays", it meets the growing demand of users for in - depth experiences. It has also launched the "Weird Sleep Research Institute" section to promote unique homestays and released the "Wow! Internet - famous Homestay List", conveying to users that they can get unique travel experiences on Muniiao in addition to accommodation.

Tujia has launched another offensive in the field of internet - famous homestays this year. By launching a ranking list similar to that of Ctrip Hotels, it tries to change its brand image dominated by standardized hotel - style apartments. However, the author found that the list is mixed with many standard - product hotels.

Meituan Homestay is taking advantage of Meituan's "upward" strategy in the travel and hospitality industry to attract branded homestays. It also launched the "Popular Homestays" list this year.

The three major homestay booking platforms respond to users' core needs for emotional consumption with their respective content advantages.

The core trend is to promote the in - depth transformation of users from "being attracted by concepts" to "experiencing and falling in love", realizing the transformation from the accommodation function to emotional experience.

This kind of emotional scenario is reshaping user preferences: users are no longer satisfied with the single function of location and price. They look forward to emotional release, emotional sustenance, and a sense of participation during the homestay stay, forming a consumption link of "experience - emotion".

It can be said that these top - tier homestay platforms all have their own unique advantages and are quietly expanding this huge market together.

A new round of explosion is brewing

The development trend of the homestay industry has gradually become clear. Policy support, the shift in users' consumption habits, and the strategic tilt of platforms are all reshaping the competitive logic of the homestay market.

It is certain that since Tujia shut down its direct - operation business in 20 cities in 2020, the era when one could dominate the market by burning money for traffic and relying on channels has less and less room for resurgence.

For Muniiao, Tujia, and Meituan, the current core proposition is to find a more stable "balance" between traffic and characteristics, cost - reduction and experience. However, this is also a great challenge for Tujia and Meituan.

Tujia has faced continuous crises in recent years. In fact, this is not the first time Tujia has tried to enter the internet - famous homestay market dominated by Muniiao.

In November 2022, Tujia first promoted internet - famous homestays as a key point in its products. After a period of effort without results, Tujia shifted its focus to weekly rentals, long - term stays, and villa rentals.

This time, when Tujia returns to the internet - famous homestay market, it not only has to face the dominant C - end supply chain of Muniiao in the internet - famous homestay market. More importantly, Tujia is trapped in the disadvantage of relying on "Ctrip" traffic and is difficult to break through. Its long - term revenue depends on Ctrip's business travel traffic, and its user composition mainly in their 30s does not match the current mainstream user profile. Its brand advantage is gradually weakening, and it is difficult to operate independently. Under the interaction of multiple factors, Tujia has difficulty in making a profit, and self - sufficiency is still far away. Therefore, Tujia's attempt to re - enter the internet - famous homestay market still needs further observation.

Since Meituan Travel merged its transportation and accommodation businesses, the importance of the main - site traffic has increased. Relying on Meituan's local - life traffic entry and brand advantage, Meituan Homestay is more likely to capture traffic in the sinking market.

Meituan Homestay, which expanded its room supply by relying on daily - rental rooms near schools and hospitals in the early days, still mainly offers low - quality homestays priced below 100 yuan. This is very obvious from the waterfall flow on the homepage and the room list page of Meituan Homestay.

In recent years, Meituan's travel and hospitality business has been vigorously expanding its high - quality accommodation products, but it is difficult to change the platform's inherent product structure in a short time. This is also the fundamental reason that hinders Meituan Homestay from changing users' perception. However, with the passage of time, Meituan Homestay may gradually achieve the transformation of its platform products.

Meanwhile, Muniiao, which already has an advantage in the field of internet - famous characteristic homestays, is also upgrading in a more flexible and user - friendly direction.

The homepage redesign is a typical example. Previously, the user - scenario classification in the diamond area, such as special offers for students, internet - famous homestays, and family trips, has shifted to interest - scenario classification represented by pets and weekend vacations. After establishing user advantages on the platform, Muniiao may want to increase the directness of emotional impact through segmented experience classification.

The "Today's Premium" label launched by Muniiao is another attempt from the user's perspective. This label combines the characteristics, price, and service of internet - famous homestays, making it easier for users to find homestays with high cost - performance for same - day check - in under this label.

Behind this, it actually represents the platform's active efforts to adapt to users' consumption habits.

From accommodation to experience will be the new change in the homestay market in the coming period.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Everyone is a Product Manager” (ID: woshipm). Author: Heibai Zhijian. Republished by 36Kr with permission.