A song from Chengdu revived a closed-down pub.

Hearing Su Fan's words, Ye Yao asked, "But there are already many established home textile brands on the market. Why would consumers ignore those brands and choose bedding from a hotel?"

Su Fan countered, "If you saw an unfamiliar pillow in a shopping mall, and the salesperson told you it was exceptionally comfortable, would you believe them?"

"uncertain."

"But what if you've already slept on this pillow for a night, and actually slept quite well?"

Ye Yao immediately understood what he meant: "Consumers believe not in advertising, but in their own experience."

"This is the biggest advantage of hotels. Traditional brands have to spend a lot of money to convince customers to believe in their products. Hotels are different. Every guest is a potential experiencer. Hotels don't sell a sentence like 'This pillow is good,' but rather the customer's judgment on comfort after actually sleeping on it last night."

Ye Yao quickly thought of a new problem: "If hotel staff are in charge of sales, will it affect the service experience? After guests check in, the front desk can't exactly keep asking them if they want to buy pillows."

"Of course not. This model is most averse to forced sales. Guest rooms are not shopping malls, and hotels cannot become home furnishing stores. Product information is there for interested people to look at themselves, and those who are not interested can check in normally. The entire purchasing process should be undisturbed. There is no need to pile up goods in the room. Guests scan the QR code to place an order, and the warehouse delivers it directly to their home. The hotel uses trial products, and what is delivered to customers must be brand new and sealed."

Ye Yao picked up a pen and jotted down a few lines on the paper: "Which product categories should we start with? Mattresses, quilts, sheets—all at once?"

"We can't start with too large a scale. We should start with pillows and comforters, as these are the two categories that customers notice the most and are relatively easy to transport. Although mattresses have a higher average order value, delivery, returns, and after-sales service are all troublesome. We can wait until the brand is more established before making mattresses."

Ye Yao nodded thoughtfully: "Then do we need to build our own factory?"

"There's no need. Find established manufacturers to do the manufacturing. Tengfei will be responsible for product design, material selection, and quality standards. What you really need to master is not the production line, but user needs, product standards, and sales channels. Let's start by piloting with a few stable hotels. Each room will be equipped with the same batch of products. After guests check in, they can rate their sleep experience on Dianping. We can quickly see which pillows have high ratings and which blankets are frequently asked about. Once we have real data, we can decide to expand production. This way, we can control inventory and avoid tying up too much capital at once."

Ye Yao's eyes lit up slightly: "Can Dianping directly link to the purchase page?"

"Of course, customers can book rooms when they see the hotel in the live broadcast room. If they like the bedding after staying at the hotel, they can continue to purchase related products. The hotel is responsible for providing the experience, Dianping is responsible for completing the transaction, and Tengfei is responsible for the products and supply chain. These businesses can be directly linked together."

The more Ye Yao listened, the more valuable this idea seemed.

The hotel's revenue has always been limited by the number of rooms.

A room can only be sold once a day.

Even if the hotel is fully booked all year round, there is a clear upper limit to income.

But the bedding is different.

Guests can still repurchase pillows, blankets, and other sleep products after leaving the hotel.

Once the brand is established, consumers can continue to make purchases even without needing to stay at the hotel again.

She paused for a moment, then asked the most crucial question: "If there are quality issues with the products, won't that damage the hotel's brand? The more bedding we sell, the greater the risk of complaints and after-sales problems."

"The fact that you thought of this shows that this project can really be entrusted to you. The hotel provides trust in the product, and if there is a problem with the product, it will definitely damage the hotel's reputation. Therefore, this matter cannot be handed over to the purchasing department to just find a manufacturer to rebrand. From the fabric and filling to the production batch, a complete quality traceability system must be established. During the pilot phase, it is better to sell less than to rush to pursue profits. First, let customers feel that Tengfei Hotel's beds are indeed comfortable, and then let them believe that the sleep products sold by Tengfei are equally reliable."

"I think I understand now. On the surface, we are selling bedding in hotels, but in reality, we are building a sleep brand by leveraging the real-life hotel setting."

"To be precise, it's not about selling bedding, but about bringing the sleep experience that guests have in the hotel back to their homes. The transaction ends after one night in the hotel, but if the guest buys the pillows and blankets and takes them home, the Tengfei brand will enter their daily life. In the future, when they need to book a hotel for business or travel, they will be more likely to think of Tengfei."

Ye Yao's mind was completely opened.

Bedding can gain an experience and trust through hotels.

Hotels can also use bedding to extend their connection with customers.

The two businesses drive traffic to each other, ultimately forming a hotel group that no longer relies solely on room revenue.

Ye Yao closed her notebook, her tone more impatient: "I'll organize people to do market research tomorrow and select a few hotels for pilot testing."

Su Fan cautioned, "Don't think about how much money you can make right away. Focus on making a good product first, and then collect real feedback from guests. If this project works, its future potential may be greater than opening a few more hotels."

……

The model that Su Fan proposed to Ye Yao is exactly the path that Atour Hotel on Earth once took.

Its core is not simply about placing a few items in a hotel.

Instead, the guest rooms are transformed into an immersive experiential space.

Whether a pillow is comfortable, a blanket is breathable, or a mattress can relieve fatigue, consumers don't need to listen to sales staff's introductions; they can simply stay in a hotel for one night and they will naturally have the answers.

After the experience is complete, guests can purchase the same products they used directly through guest rooms, the lobby, and online platforms, with the products then shipped from the central supply chain.

In this way, the hotel serves as both a place to stay and a store to experience the products.

The guest rooms themselves serve to showcase, test, and build trust.

Online channels are responsible for completing transactions and subsequent repeat purchases.

Atour has launched a series of products, including pillows, comforters, and mattresses, focusing on the sleep experience.

It also combines the hotel experience with digital retail.

By 2024, Atour's retail revenue had accounted for 30.3% of its total revenue.

This means that bedding is not just a souvenir sold casually in the hotel lobby.

Once the product, supply chain, and sales channels are truly integrated, it can completely break free from the limitations of room revenue and grow into an independent business line.

Ascend Group owns a large number of hotels and can complete online transactions through Dianping, so it naturally has the foundation to replicate this model.