DEVELOPMENTS - Ctrip.com offers 25,000 hotels to China

TTGasia, Oct 20 - 26, 2006 / No.1499

BEIJING – Ctrip.com, China’s leading travel service provider of hotel accommodation, airline tickets and packaged tours, has added 25,000 overseas hotels to its reservation platform, a move generating mixed reaction among the country’s trade.

It signals the start of major changes in the local hospitality industry and comes at a time when hundreds of international hotels are opening their doors across China.

Hilton Beijing director of business development, Mr Harald Feurstein, said this was the only way forward for the industry in China. “More business is being conducted via online booking agencies. While travel agents are here to stay, their model of business will have to evolve...For online reservation systems, connectivity will be key. A successful reservations centre must have direct connectivity to the hotels they are booking, as the agents do now.”

But China agents TTG Asia spoke to were more sceptical. UTS Travel domestic wholesale manager, Mr Guo Feng, said: “The booking market in China is dominated by travel agents. Changes will happen very slowly. Some individuals may pick up online reservations, but most companies will continue to use agents. Businesses have good relations with agents and will not want to jeopardise this.”

Beijing School of Tourism Management analyst, Mr Li Xinjian, said: “Things are going to change – however slowly. More international hotels are calling China home, and their extensive sales and marketing networks will force local changes to both booking systems, and the way hotels are managed.”

Mr Guo added: “Most Chinese-managed hotels have a lot going for them – good locations, good connections, and of course the backing of the government. But most are ill-equipped to compete with international chains in terms of management and service. Competition will push (them) to join forces with international management teams.”