HONG KONG, July 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the Hong Kong Hotel Playbook Seminar, jointly organized by Xiaohongshu and the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, focusing on sustainable business growth for Hong Kong's hotel industry was held at Xiaohongshu's Hong Kong office. The cross-border business team of Xiaohongshu Business held in-depth discussions with participating representatives on how Hong Kong hotels can seize growth opportunities amid the new wave of Hong Kong-bound tourism.

From Decision-Making Hub to Transaction Hub: New Strategies for Hong Kong Hotels to Attract China Mainland Tourists

Xiaohongshu boasts over 400 million active users every month, including more than 130 million monthly active outbound travel users. Over 90% of users actively search for travel-related content, with YOY growth of 38% in travel-related search volume. The platform has become the top destination for outbound travel decision-making, supporting users' full journey of "browsing guides → searching content → finalizing travel plans". As an increasing number of cultural and tourism consumption decisions are made on Xiaohongshu, the platform's unique value for the hotel industry has become increasingly prominent.

(Data source: Xiaohongshu Lingxi Platform data from January 2025 to December 2025; all data has been desensitized)

Currently, Hong Kong's hotel industry faces three structural challenges: high OTA commission costs, steep labor and customer service costs, and difficulties in building long-term branding recognition. Meanwhile, the customer base in hotel sector is increasingly dominated by international and China Mainland independent travelers, who heavily rely on content-driven seeding to make travel decisions, which perfectly aligns with Xiaohongshu's core user's logic, laying a solid foundation for the platform to deeply fuel sustained growth for Hong Kong's hotel industry.

Addressing these challenges and opportunities, Dodo KWONG, Regional Head of Xiaohongshu Commercial Cross-border Asia & Middle East, stated at the seminar: "Demand for Hong Kong-bound travel is booming, with shopping, city walks, short getaways and other travel topics surging in popularity. However, cross-border merchants face longer conversion funnels and greater hurdles when trying to understand Xiaohongshu's users and drive bookings, requiring consistent content refinement and ad testing. Xiaohongshu will always grow alongside brands across all industries. Moving forward, we will continue to launch market and industry-exclusive campaigns to empower cross-border merchants to deepen their presence in the outbound travel sector, boost conversion efficiency and scale up revenue."

Precision Segmentation and Targeted Approach: The Two-Way Engagement of Content Seeding

According to HKTB's FY24 report related to visitor source, independent travelers account for 74.5% of all guests at Hong Kong hotels. Mainland overnight leisure travelers make up 60% of this group, while North Asian visitors represent 78% of high-value content-driven customer segments.

(Data sources: HKTB FY24 Report, HKTB Visitors' Purpose of Visit by Major Market Areas Jan-Mar 2026)

Combining HKTB visitor data with Xiaohongshu's travel user profiles, the platform divides Hong Kong hotels' core target audiences into three key groups: 1. young mainland travelers from tier-one cities with medium-to-high spending power, willing to pay for unique travel experiences; 2. business travelers prioritizing prime locations and administrative amenities; 3. families and concert-goer groups with women aged 30–45 as primary decision-makers.

(Data source: Xiaohongshu Lingxi Platform data from January 2025 to December 2025 (desensitized); Xiaohongshu Data Center, June 2026)

Xiaohongshu has developed a three-step decision funnel to precisely capture each audience segment: 1. Browsing: Grab attention with visually striking cover images and short videos to spark travel interest; 2. Searching: Capture active user inquiries with guide-style and review-style notes; 3. Deciding: Secure final bookings through authentic user recommendations and pinned posts on official brand accounts. Precise alignment between audience segments and content touchpoints creates a complete closed loop from initial interest to confirmed bookings, significantly lifting conversion rates from brand exposure to actual reservations.

Yingu, Platform Expert of Xiaohongshu Commercial Cross-border, commented: "Rising travel demand has extended users' decision-making cycles, with travelers adopting more comprehensive evaluation criteria when selecting hotels. To adapt to this shift, merchants must build content strategies around four core user pillars: travel milestones, target audiences, travel scenarios and unique experiences. Premium content acts as a bridge, while targeted advertising amplifies reach—together, they open up the full conversion funnel of 'seeding → consultation → lead generation' to drive sustained revenue growth."

From Brand Hub to Word-of-Mouth: Building Xiaohongshu Business Ecosystem for Hong Kong Hotels

Based in-depth market research on Hong Kong's hotel industry, Xiaohongshu shared a complete end-to-end operational framework at the seminar, covering official brand account setup all the way to private message conversion support. This operational model has delivered verifiable results for multiple Hong Kong hotel brands, offering replicable practical strategies for more hospitality operators.

Caspar TSUI, Executive Director of The Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, remarked in his speech: "Through this seminar, we aim to help member hotels fully grasp the latest travel trends among Xiaohongshu users and learn how to leverage the platform to boost marketing performance and attract ideal visitors. As Hong Kong-bound tourism continues to heat up, the Xiaohongshu content-driven growth model will unlock new business streams for more Hong Kong hotel brands and facilitate deeper, long-term brand collaboration between both sides."