Articles tagged “ctrip”

China slowdown? Meituan rivalry? Naaah, Ctrip had a fab 2018. Domestic travel remains strong, but it is international travel growth that’s exciting. Now we know what drives its latest partnerships with TUI’s Musement and Rezdy.

After low cost carriers, the next big thing that will change the way Asians travel could be rail. A rail-volution is in the air and online travel platforms want in. But it’s not that easy. Here’s why.

Ctrip has been able to spend most of its 15-year history riding a rising travel tide in China while buying out much of the competition to blunt their challenges. For 2019, Ctrip will have to stand up and get moving to recapture momentum and investor attention.

It appeared several years ago that Ctrip had locked up the Chinese online travel market when it took control of Qunar and Elong, but that ship has sailed. The emergence of Meituan and now Tongcheng-Elong's initial public offering make it clear that many players will scramble for market leadership.

Ctrip's revenue growth has remained in line with forecasts, but its costs are rising. More interestingly, the online travel giant has branched out into hotel management by providing data services and marketing support to franchisees for a new brand, Rezen.

Supplemental flight data like Wi-Fi availability and seat pitch is slowly coming to online search. Ctrip's entry may accelerate that.

China's travel market is fast-growing enough that it could support a competitor to current leader Ctrip. That day may arrive soon, too, given that Meituan-Dianping is showing surprising traction in hotel booking.

Ctrip sacrificed some revenue growth to defend its market share in hotel bookings from rivals like Meituan. The competition shows no sign of abating.

Online travel's two most influential female executives, Ctrip's Jane Jie Sun and Booking.com's Gillian Tans, will now deliberate around the table together at Ctrip board meetings. Ctrip felt the need to announce that the two companies are strengthening their ties after Booking's 2017 investment in Ctrip rival and IPO-bound Meituan-Dianping.

TUI Group is slowly building up quite a formidable cruise operation. How long before it starts to consider buying out joint venture partner Royal Caribbean?