News Roundup: Easier access for Chinese tourists to Caesars Entertainment hotels and services through partnership with Alibaba’s Fliggy; more flight options for travellers with Travelport’s new ‘storefront’; an alternative accommodations solution for hoteliers from Travelclick; a travel guide app to discover Malaysia beyond popular destinations
Partnership: Caesars Entertainment unveils flagship store on Alibaba’s Fliggy
(Image credit: Caesars Entertainment)
Caesars Entertainment and Fliggy, the travel service platform of Chinese multinational business conglomerate Alibaba Group, have formed a strategic partnership to give Chinese travellers easy access to Las Vegas resorts via the new virtual Fliggy flagship store.
Through the tie-up more than 700 million consumers across Alibaba’s platforms can now book 10 hotels from the diversified entertainment provider. The hotels are Caesars Palace, Flamingo Las Vegas, The LINQ Hotel + Experience, Harrah’s Las Vegas, The Cromwell, Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood Resort, Bally’s Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas and Rio All-Suite Hotel.
Caesars’ flagship store gives Chinese tourists a frictionless way to plan every step of their travel – from booking to payment and itinerary management. They can use Alipay and Fliggy to plan their itinerary with a points-of-interest map and search for nearby shopping discounts.
Geo-location-based ‘Discover’ functions within the Alipay app help users find nearby merchants and receive promotional information. They are also able to receive after-sales care and follow-up promotional information from merchants after their trip ends.
This partnership follows Caesars’ existing relationship with Alipay, the digital payment platform operated by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services Group. Since December 2017 the entertainment group has enabled Alipay mobile payments for Chinese travellers across 150 locations including its restaurants, retail stores, and attractions.
“Caesars Entertainment is committed to meeting the needs of the Chinese traveller, and Alibaba has been an important platform in our effort to welcome more Chinese visitors to our resorts,” said Annette Weishaar, senior vice president of partnerships and channel marketing at Caesars Entertainment.
Frank Huang, Fliggy’s head of International Hotel Business, noted the company’s partnership with Caesars Entertainment was part of its move to create “new, more personalised travel experiences as our consumers seek new adventures.”
The robust Chinese outbound travel market is expected to continue its strong growth. According to China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Chinese tourists took more than 140 million trips abroad in 2018. Overseas spending by Chinese tourists is forecast to reach more than US$315 billion a year by 2020.
The US National Travel and Tourism Office forecasts tourist arrivals from China to the US to reach 4.5 million visits annually by 2022, with Las Vegas as one of the most popular destinations among the travellers.
Marketing: Travelport’s Next Generation Storefront offers travellers a new way to shop
More flight choices for travellers with the new Travelport ‘storefront’ (Image credit: lauradibiase/Getty Images)
Travel commerce platform Travelport is working with a number of airlines and industry partners to provide the first phase of Next Generation Storefront (NGS) capability.
Developed by industry body ATPCO, NGS is described as an “industry initiative to enable travel agencies to display airfares just like airlines show their branded fares on their own websites”,
Travelport said NGS aims to deliver “a richer and more informed shopping experience for travellers”. The “storefront” allows them to compare and choose between multiple branded fare offers and across different airlines’ flights – all on one screen.
The company pioneered a similar innovation when it launched Rich Content and Branding in 2014, which is now used by 270 airlines.
NGS complements this solution and uses Travelport’s API Trip Services to present airlines’ offerings by fare families and their ancillaries for easy comparison shopping. This allows agencies to display more flight options and information for travellers.
According to Travelport, the new displays show different branded categories such as Basic Economy, Standard Economy and Economy Plus in a single display alongside one another, enabling users to select their preferred branded offer for each leg of their journey.
For example, travellers can book a business class ticket to their destination and an economy class seat for their return, with airport lounge access during a long layover. They can compare fare prices across different airlines and choose their preferred way of travelling. They can also shop for ancillaries like upgrades, baggage and WiFi access.
“NGS will be key in driving a shift from ‘cheapest fare’ to ‘best value’. Displaying multiple options enhances consumer choice and gives airlines upsell opportunities, whilst providing measurable value to all partners,” said Stephen Shurrock, Travelport chief commercial officer.
WhereTo, an online booking tool, and Travel Technology & Solutions (TTS), which develop innovative solutions for the travel and tourism industry, are among the first adopters of NGS.
Ryan Wenger, founder and president of WhereTo, said: “We are committed to enhancing the traveller’s experience and, as we evolve our shopping displays to NGS standards, provide the transparency that will enable them to choose the fare and ancillaries that suit them best.”
For TTS adopting NGS will “allow us to offer structured fare brands concisely in the shop window, providing shopping transparency to our customers,” commented its chief commercial officer Rui Figueiredo.
Technology: TravelClick delivers solution for hoteliers to view competitive alternative accommodations
(Image credit: Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/Getty Images)
TravelClick, part of Amadeus’ Hospitality customer unit, has made available the Alternative Accommodations solution for hoteliers.
Touting the solution as the “first and only of its kind” in a press statement, the company said it focuses on two areas – empowers hotel management to analyse alternative accommodations competition in their immediate area, and help optimise occupancy and rates to be competitive with home-sharing options comparable to a hotel property.
The new solution integrates with Demand360 and Rate360 (two business solutions for hotels) for increased insight, viewable side by side with existing data.
“The lines are blurring between traditional hotel properties and alternative accommodations as we see large brands entering the home-sharing space and vice versa,” said Greg Sheppard, TravelClick senior vice president for business intelligence.
“We believe that hoteliers cannot overlook the pressure of alternative accommodations that are competitive on price, location, convenience and amenities that weigh into consumers’ decision-making.”
Home-sharing continues to rise in popularity globally for both short- and long-term stays. According to research from Transparent, the world supply of alternative accommodations has grown by 33% from 2017 to 2018. This fast growth rate plus rising popularity of this sector presents hoteliers with a new competitive reality that they must be able to respond to in real-time.
Travel: Discover Malaysia beyond the well-trodden paths with this app
Want to explore Malaysia beyond its well-known tourist sights and destinations? A new travel guide app, XTVT, says it has the ability to do that.
The app was developed last December by CiEdge Technologies Sdn Bhd (CiEdge), a cyber security boutique company, to bridge the gap between the often-visited and the less-trodden destinations and also with local activities.
CiEdge found that most tourists to Malaysia tend to make their way to big cities, beach resorts and iconic sites, such as the Petronas Twin Towers, disregarding the lesser-known locations in both the Peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak.
There are 12 categories in the app for travellers to choose where they want to go or what to do including beach, diving, climbing, caving, parks & trails, museums & galleries and more.
Maps and locations services guide users to find nearby activities and attractions, as well accommodation within the app.
Working with affiliated partners such as Klook, Booking.com and Viator, travellers can book hotels, buy tickets for activities or transportation and related services on the go.
There is also a ‘List an activity ‘ section for travellers to share places they have visited or their experiences.
The app is available for download on Google Play and the Apple App Store for Android and iOS devices respectively.
• Featured image credit (Planet Hollywood Resort, Las Vegas): Caesars Entertainment
