Skyscanner Is Propelling Ctrip's International Growth
Skift Take
Ctrip, along with its partially owned sister brand Qunar, dominates Chinese online travel sales, but it has begun to lean heavily on its recently acquired flight search company, Skyscanner, to boost overseas sales.
China's largest online travel agency, Ctrip, reported financial results for the third quarter, but some investment analysts listening to the earnings call were most interested in a different Chinese e-commerce platform, Meituan-Dianping.
Two weeks ago, the Priceline Group invested $450 million in Meituan-Dianping, a marketplace that aims to grow its hotel bookings, ride-hailing, and restaurant reservations.
The move surprised some observers. Priceline already had an investment in Ctrip, which it didn't double down on. Priceline holds 9 percent in equity and convertible debt in the Chinese giant, to quote Skift Research's A Deep Dive Into Ctrip and the China Online Travel Market 2017 report, published this summer.
A few analysts asking questions on an earnings call Thursday in Shanghai with executives asked about the investment. Their questions were met with generic answers about how Ctrip had confidence in its own pr
