Marking a major development in the travel and tourism sector, Marriott International and Alitrip have joined hands to simplify hotel booking for Chinese travellers. Under this partnership, the room inventory of Marriott International hotels portfolio will be made available to Alitrip users through a directly operated on-line flagship store.

This business agreement is not the first of its kind by Marriott International. Two months back Marriott International signed a partnership agreement with Ant Financial Services Group, a related-party of Alibaba Group, for rolling out Alipay to Marriott International’s hotels and resorts.

Talking about Marriott’s partnership with Alitrip on hotel bookings for Chinese travellers, Craig S. Smith, the President and Managing Director of Marriott International Asia-Pacific region, quoted:

“With 19 Marriott International brands, including JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Hotels, and over 4,000 hotels available through Alitrip, Chinese travelers will see a major increase in the number of rooms they can book through Alitrip… The agreement illustrates Marriott International’s continued efforts toward the creation of a complete and effortless online- and mobile-powered travel experience for our guests. We aim to be the favorite global brand for China’s hundreds of millions of Internet users, who may be looking to travel both inside and outside of China.”

Quoting on the same business development, Li Shaohua, President of Alitrip, stated:

“We are excited to partner with global hotel chains such as Marriott to broaden our hotel offerings to customers. Alitrip is the go-to platform for Chinese travellers looking for a full range of choices and customized travel experience, and this cooperation with Marriott will make travel planning easier than ever for our users.”

Both the brands plan to explore ‘Post Post Pay’ service launched by Alitrip for further enhancing the user experience. ‘Post Post Pay’ service allows eligible customers to book hotel rooms through Alitrip without paying any deposit and using express check-out service which further smoothens the operational efficiency of hotels.

The number of Chinese outbound travellers has increased exceptionally in the past few years. China has the world’s largest group of outbound travellers. According to China’s National Tourism Administration these travellers topped the 100 million mark last year. In the first six months of this year China’s outbound travel increased by 12.1% when compared with the same period last year. The number of Chinese outbound travellers is expected to grow to 200 million by 2020.

This business partnership between Marriott International and Alitrip will prove quite beneficial for Chinese travellers as they will have more travel options. Marriott International might partner with other Chinese travel brands realizing the potential of Chinese travel market in the times to come. This move should definitely strengthen the position of Marriott among Chinese travellers and drive more guests to the luxury hotel chain.

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October has been an interesting month for the travel industry. Brands got into festive mood, investors poured in funds, unicorns grew bigger, interesting startups came up, established players started fighting for market share and some major events were held. We looked back at the month and picked out our most popular stories. Here is a short roundup just in case you missed them:

#1- Conversation with Stephen Ho, President APAC, Starwood Hotels

Asia is the fastest growing travel market and the habits of Asian travellers are changing fast. Hotels are adapting to the change to stay competitive with new businesses pouring in. We got a chance to have a conversation with Stephen Ho, the man at helm of Starwood Hotels in Asia to know more about these industry trends. Read the full story: “We have to constantly keep evolving & innovating”- Stephen Ho, President, APAC, Starwood Hotels.

#2- OTAs block OYO and ZO Rooms from listing

With the kind of pace OYO Rooms picked up while expanding its footprint, it was very clear that they will be a threat to the OTAs in future. With more players joining the game, the OTAs couldn’t just wait. They finally decided to block OYO Rooms and ZO Rooms, two of the biggest budget hotel aggregators from listing on their platforms to save their market share. Earlier some OTAs also launched their own budget hotel brands to compete in the fast growing space. Read the full story: OTAs hit back at the hotel startups, block ZO and OYO Rooms from listing.

#3- Sherri Wu on the future of Alitrip

Alitrip, the travel business of Alibaba quickly gained momentum in the Chinese market. At this point, almost every global travel brand is trying to woo the Chinese travellers because of the fast growth that market has been experiencing. Sherri Wu spoke during Web In Travel Conference 2015 in Singapore about the journey of Alitrip and their future growth plans. Read the full story: “What we want to do is: Innovation, Innovation and Innovation” – Sherri Wu

#4- Jonathan Hardy on Adara’s plans for South-East Asia

Big data is the most commonly used phrase in travel industry these days. Business are exploring the possibilities of serving their customers better by offering tailored options by utilising big data. Adara is one company that is helping them analyse customer data and derive strategic insights. We had a chat with Jonathan Hardy about Adara’s expansion plans for this region. Read the full story: Travel Data Company, Adara has big plans for South-East Asia & Pacific

#5- FlyZilla: Flight metasearch that drives direct bookings to carriers

On metasearch websites, the results are usually flooded with options from OTAs. TripZilla introduced flight metasearch engine FlyZilla which offers results from airlines only and drives more direct booking to their website. It could be something disruptive in the metasearch space which has been largely dominated by the heavy bidding OTAs until now. Read the full story: TripZilla introduces flight metasearch engine FlyZilla to drive direct bookings to airlines

The post October 2015 Round-up: Best in travel and web appeared first on TravHQ.

The Singapore Tourism Board on October 21 launched a comprehensive suite of digital and mobile services for the Chinese market. Chinese travellers form a large volume of inbound tourism for Singapore and thus it is a significant market for them. The new services will make it easier for the Chinese travellers to look up information about Singapore. To do so, STB has joined hands with four different partners, online travel services Alitrip and Tuniu, and social review websites Mafengwo and Dianping. These partners will curate and distribute compelling content about Singapore to promote Singapore as a destination among Chinese travellers.

(From left) Mr Edward Chew, STB; Mr Anson Ling, Baidu; Mr Donald Yu, Tuniu; Mr Lionel Yeo, STB; Mr Lu Gang, Mafengwo; Mr Tony Duan, Alitrip; Mr Leong Yue Kheong, STB; Mr Tang Hao, DianPing; Mr Quek Choon Yang, STB and Ms Low See Peng, STB

(Image credits: Singapore Tourism Board)

WeChat is very popular in China and a large number of brands use the service to engage with their audience. To cater to the Chinese travellers, STB has also launched a YourSingapore WeChat account. Baidu also offers services similar to WeChat with Baidu Connect. STB will use it along with WeChat so that the travellers can have real time location based services on their smartphones.

Mr Lionel Yeo, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board said: “The digital and mobile revolution has drastically changed the way visitors research for and consume travel products, and underscores how we much stay ahead of the curve to adapt to the changing needs of our visitors. Only by doing so, we are able to ensure Singapore remains top of mind as a destination. Visitor centric experiences and marketing are both integral to our drive towards quality tourism; this expansion of digital services for China is a strong illustration of our commitment.”

The new partnerships and marketing activities won’t affect the existing channels. STB will continue to conduct its regular trade marketing workshops with the local industry to give digital platforms a boost.

With this new partnership with Alitrip, Singapore will have a dedicated Alitrip microsite. Leveraging Alibaba’s eco-system and big data, Alitrip will be able to curate the best offerings for the travellers thus allowing them to select products that best suit their preferences.

The MOU signing took place during the ITB Asia which is a part of TravelRave. You can find more stories from TravelRave here.

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