Hotel Rooms Sell Out As China’s College Entrance Exam Nears

　　Less than one week away from China’s university entrance exam, high school students are scrambling to finish their last-minute preparations.

　　With their children buried in their books, parents are doing their part to ensure that their sons and daughters arrive to the exam early and well-rested.

　　For those who leave nothing to chance, that means booking a room at a nearby hotel.

　　In Beijing, while exam locations for this year’s gaokao, as the exam is commonly known, have not yet been announced, anxious parents are already reserving rooms close to schools frequently chosen as testing sites in previous years.

　　“In the past hour, we’ve gotten four or five similar phone calls asking about reservations for June 6, 7, and 8,” said a receptionist at the Mingyuan Hotel, located 0.33km from the Beijing Number Eight Middle School.

　　According to Beijing’s Legal Evening News, rates at economy hotels within 2 kilometers of likely exam sites have doubled for the three-day gaokao period. Despite prices as high as 800 yuan a night, hotels in these sought-after locations are more than 90 percent booked, the newspaper reported.

　　Outside China’s capital, demand is no less fierce. At Chongqing’s Green Tree Inn, located near the city’s prestigious Xiejiawan Primary School, rooms during the gaokao have been completely booked since early May.

　　While business and economy hotels have been overwhelmed with reservations, fewer parents are choosing high-end hotels, the Chongqing Business News reported.

　　Staff at one luxury hotel told the newspaper that in previous years, they had provided a special breakfast and exam day transportation for student guests. Currently, they said, there were no plans to offer similar services this year.

　　But elsewhere, upscale hotels continue to cater to gaokao parents with money to spend. For 1,666 yuan per night, exam-takers staying at Hangzhou’s Wyndham Grand Plaza Royale are provided with breakfast, snacks, discount laundry service, and a free set of summer clothes to prevent heatstroke.

　　And luxury hotels are not the only ones enticing customers with special gaokao promotions.

　　The Hanting Seasons Hotel, a nationwide mid-market chain, is offering “Zero-stress rooms” designed to give students the most comfortable rest before exam day. Equipped with memory foam mattresses and pillows, the rooms are priced at 20 yuan above Hanting Seasons’ standard rates.

　　The influx of students has put additional strain on hotels already bracing for the increase in tourists and conventions that typically begins in early June. But veteran hotel staff say it could be worse.

　　“Last year, the gaokao fell right in the middle of the Dragon Boat Festival, and a lot of rooms were taken up by travelers from out of town,” said one Shanghai hotel worker. “This year the Dragon Boat Festival comes at the end of June, and the exam period also doesn’t include the weekend, so there won’t be many ordinary guests.”

　　Still, parents are being advised to take precautions to ensure their coveted room is secure. “If you’re looking to reserve a room for the gaokao, it’s best to come and put down a deposit ahead of time,” warned one hotel in the southwestern city of Guizhou.

　　“Otherwise it’s not easy to guarantee that space will be available when the time comes.”