Chinese car rental companies need to explore supplementary distribution avenues
Travel suppliers are increasingly becoming adept at meeting the overall trip requirements of their customers. Brands are diligently trying to ensure that the traffic that reaches their direct channels identifies with the travel products that are relevant to customers’ journey, and hence ends up bu [...]
Kuoni responds to digitalisation, China a key market in new scheme of things
The commencement of 2015 paved way for a major change in the course of The Kuoni Group’s history. The group chose to sell the tour operating business, and leverage the strength of its B2B businesses.In the 2014 financial year, Kuoni Group generated turnover of CHF 5 508 million (2013: CHF 5 66 [...]
Air China sets its sight on top level personalisation
You log on to an airline website, search for a fare, and abandon the site. You log in again – so how well the website knows you to support you from where you left?It’s a critical question as airlines are refining their merchandising strategy in order to differentiate their product. There is talk [...]
Making a foreign site click in China – it’s a game of technical and commercial issues
Website performance, particularly site speed, is an area of opportunity for foreign operators to consider. ChinaTravelNews assesses how foreign entities can improve upon their respective websites.Garnering attention of a prospective traveller early in the booking funnel and converting them on the br [...]
Hotels in China need to embrace cloud based offerings in distribution technology
The mindset of hoteliers in China is changing towards integrated solutions with one source of data flowing in real time between systems improving distribution efficiency and enhancing the guest experience through the booking process.Hotel organisations are constantly looking at automating their dist [...]
Post-Accor partnership, HUAZHU targets expansion, sharpens IT and distribution
Major hotel groups in China are eyeing a bigger slice of the fragmented market. ChinaTravelNews assesses how HUAZHU Hotels Group (also known as China Lodging Group, Nasdaq: HTHT） is planning to strengthen its network as well as direct sales capability, which currently accounts for 90% of its booki [...]
Hotels need to sort few issues to optimise their ties with meta-search
Hotel organisations are grappling with issues when it comes to making the most of their relationship with meta-search engines. And these aren’t just related to competing with OTAs.Are hotel organisations astutely capitalising on the increasing prowess of meta-search in the battle to garner the att [...]
China enjoying golden era in travel as e-commerce soars
China’s e-commerce sector continues to shine. According to the Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China, the trade volume of China’s e-commerce in the first half year reached 5.66 trillion yuan, up 30.1% year on year. Online retail market reached 1.1 trillion yuan, up 33.4% year on year [...]
Ctrip asserts leadership with product investments and focus on service
If there is one entity in the Chinese travel e-commerce category that stands out for its sustained investment, operational efficiency and profitability, then it has to be Ctrip.While international brands struggle to establish a feasible business model, Ctrip is expanding its reach with sustained pro [...]
Mobile product development – learning how 3 intermediaries are excelling
What makes a mobile app a lightning-fast proposition? It’s quite intriguing to assess how design and development teams accomplish the task of facilitating a hotel reservation or on-demand car service in less than one minute. When Apple recently introduced its new programming language in Swift, I [...]
