A hospital employee is sent to sterilize the lobby of Ai's hotel.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He then hits the grocery store to pick up fresh food for his guests.

"I have to buy food myself, because I need to make sure the quality is good and that medical workers have good nutrition after a hard day's work," Ai says.

Ai then joins his employees in cleaning the hotel and sanitizing everything. In addition to conventional disinfectants like ethyl alcohol, Ai has bought four ultraviolet sterilization devices. The goal is good housekeeping, he says.

At the end of a day, Ai drives his employees home and then comes back to sleep in his hotel before doing it all over again.

In late January, he was keen to go to Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. "I wanted to help."

Ai considers Wuhan a home away from home after studying at the Central China Normal University there.

"It is a beautiful city and holds good memories of my youth," he says, adding that he still misses the cherry blossoms at Wuhan University.

"I learned important things in the city, and many of my classmates are still there."

Ai worked for a year in Wuhan after his graduation and returned to Liaoyuan, his hometown, after the local government announced incentives for young graduates to start their own businesses in 2008. He first got into a building materials business, before opening his hotel in 2013 after sensing a potential in local tourism.