The Simple Solution to Hotels' Chinese Marketing Concerns

In 2013, 97 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad — less than 5 percent of the total population — making the demographic the top international spenders for the second year in a row. As the country’s outbound traveler population grows, it also slowly becomes more sophisticated.

For example, more Chinese travelers are researching and booking travel online as well as leaving tour groups for independent adventures.

Global hotel brands and independent hoteliers are already seeing the impact of this growth and hungry to attract and build a reputation among this customer group.

According to Hotels.com survey of more than 3,000 of the website’s hotel partners, more than half of respondents have seen an increase in Chinese guests and just over 10 percent say Chinese traveler now account for up to 10 percent of their business.

Hotels, overwhelmed by the opportunity presented by China's growing outbound traveler population, can begin to focus their marketing efforts on a single gender.

The report outlines several statistics that all suggest Chinese women are traveling more frequently, more independent when making booking decisions, and spending the most.

On average, Chinese women spend $385 more than men during international trips.

Chinese women travel more frequently for leisure than men (4.86 trips abroad vs. 4.49 for men in the past five years) and are starting to take more trips (4.86 vs. 3.61 for 2013).

They are more likely to travel abroad to visit friends (27% v. 22% for men) and for vacation (90% vs. 85%), making them more likely to spend money on sightseeing, dining, and shopping that men (sightseeing 74% v. 72%, dining 67% v. 61% and shopping 60% v. 51%) who are more likely to travel for business and educational purposes.

Chinese women are also prime targets for hotels’ marketing campaigns as they are more likely than men to book independently (68% v. 65% for men) and more likely to take advantage of deals (33% v. 29%) and blogs (24% v. 20%) when making a holiday decision.