Articles tagged “alibaba”

Chinese e-commerce players are racing among themselves to provide technology solutions to hotels. Alibaba fires the latest salvo with a prototype of the future hotel, FlyZoo.

Unlike some of its hotel peers, Marriott isn't giving up on its hopes of being the world's favorite travel company.

Meituan has an advantage in travel over some of its competitors because it is a platform company, offering an extensive array of retail services, although food delivery is its core business. The Chinese hotel market is clearly in flux with Meituan and, to a lesser extent, Alibaba, nipping at Ctrip's heels.

There are a couple of ways Starbucks Delivers could go wrong. First is Starbucks' efforts are tied to two completely different companies. The possibility also remains that by growing its store footprint too quickly in the U.S. and China, the chain could be shooting itself in the foot.

Starbucks is only concerned with delivery both in the U.S. and China. At the same time, the coffee chain is growing at an unprecedented rate. Time will tell if it's actually moving too fast.

The trick to getting more U.S. businesses to invest in mobile payments will be to convince them that more demand will also soon come from U.S. travelers, who are still largely cash and card-carrying consumers for now.

China is a huge market for retailers and one that plenty of travel companies want to crack. However, not everyone has been successful.

Shiji is a Beijing-based company that provides hotels and restaurants with operational software and hardware. It was already on an overseas acquisition spree before this new funding. Global leader Oracle Hospitality should be on guard.

Despite the popularity and discussion surrounding the Chinese consumer in recent years, it is still a developing market worth watching and studying for nuanced changes and opportunities.

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.