Posted on April 4, 2022

Though people in many parts of the world are heading back to the office and kids have returned to school, lockdowns continue across China as the country struggles to contain several Covid-19 outbreaks in line with its zero-Covid policy.This of course leaves parents facing those all-too-familiar challenges many of us dealt with throughout the pandemic – staying on top of work while managing online schooling for the kids.Several luxury hotels in Chinese cities have stepped up to offer a solution: Studycations.The most high-profile of the pack is the Mandarin Oriental Pudong in Shanghai, which has introduced an RMB5,900 ($926) per week Studycation Package.

The famed luxury hotel will accept students aged seven to 16, from Monday to Friday. The rate includes three meals per day and a butler who will supervise the online schooling."After the Shanghai municipal government issued its new policy that all students would have to stay home for online schooling starting from March 12 due to the recent Omicron outbreak, we have been witnessing the responses from our society and understood how difficult it was for the parents who had to juggle between their work and kids," Cecilia Yang, director of communications at Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai, tells CNN Travel.

Hotel staff say children can benefit from the quiet environment and supervision during e-learning hours.

Since launching the promotion on March 16, more than 10 packages have been sold. The first batch of studycation guests checked in on Monday, March 21, says Yang.

"The feedback from both parents and kids are so far very positive. We saw numerous social media postings from the families! And those kids even call themselves 'little fans' after staying with us for five days," she adds.

An adult must be present for a child to stay overnight. Otherwise, the parent can drop off the child every day after 7 a.m. and pick them up before 8 p.m.

If the parents decide to join their children for the studycation, they can take a day off and enjoy the spa at a discount.

Original Post: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/china-luxury-hotels-studycations-cmd/index.html