Marriott Partners With Alibaba to Court the Chinese Travel Market Even More
Skift Take
Smart move, Marriott. Given the growth of the middle class worldwide will be led by China, it's incredibly insightful on Marriott's part to be doing all it can to establish loyalty and brand recognition with this crucial market sooner than later.
Marriott International and Alibaba Group have formed a new joint venture specifically developed to help Chinese travelers see the world. The partnership leverages Marriott's portfolio of 30 hotel brands spread out over more than 6,200 properties worldwide, combining it with Alibaba's digital retail expertise to provide a suite of travel services to more than half a billion Chinese travelers.
Alibaba is often compared to as the "Amazon of China" and rightly so. The new partnership between Marriott and the e-commerce giant will focus on Marriott's storefront on Fliggy, Alibaba's travel service platform which was formerly known as Alitrip, and will include targeted marketing campaigns to Alibaba's customer base. They will also link to both both companies' loyalty programs.
Marriott hotels around the world will also receive content, programs, and promotions customized for the Chinese traveler.
How the Joint Venture Came About
Reaching the Chinese traveler market is something nearly every global travel brand is hoping to do, and Marriott is no exception. The company has been experimenting with a variety of different digital and marketing strategies specifically tailored to the Chinese market as far back as 2012 and had already established the use of Alipay as a form of payment at select hotels in China and throughout Asia in 2015.
"Marriott and Alibaba have been working together for some time now as partners in the travel space," Stephanie Linnartz, Marriot's global chief commercial officer, told Skift. "Of course, we have our inventory on their website thru Fliggy, which is their travel services platform. We've had a relationship for some time with Alibaba, and this was quite a nice and quite a natural evolution to take this partnership to another level. We know each other well and work well together and we respect and understand our respective strengths and what we each bring to the table."
Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson, speaking during a second quarter earnings call, noted that a targeted marketing program that Marriott laun
