After announcing a joint venture with Alibaba Group Holding in August 2017, Marriott International has finally begun to share details of what that partnership will look like going forward.
As part of Marriott’s first phase of service enhancements, the company has rolled out updates to its new storefront on Alibaba’s online travel site, Fliggy. Beginning in April, the storefront will feature approximately 6,000 hotels from across Marriott’s global inventory of 30 brands, presented in a Chinese traveler-friendly layout.
Through the storefront, Fliggy’s PPP (Post Post Pay, a credit-based hotel payment service) will be offered to qualified Fliggy users at more than 1,000 hotels globally, including more than 270 hotels in the greater China region, where the service is already available, and in high-demand locations throughout Asia Pacific, such as Australia, Japan, the Maldives, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
To complement these enhancements, Marriott expects to certify over 1,000 hotels globally in its “Li Yu” program, aimed at streamlining Chinese travelers experiences abroad.
According to Marriott, the offering of PPP functionality is a big step forward in courting the Chinese guest. The service enables qualified Fliggy users to book hotels without paying a deposit, have a comprehensive wallet-free experience during their stay and enjoy an express check-out service. Room charges and incidental expenses are automatically settled afterwards, providing a seamless, wallet-free payment experience for both customers and hotels.
The PPP program was introduced in March 2015 as part of Fliggy’s strategy to reshape the hospitality industry through internet-based innovation. More than 100,000 hotels across mainland China have joined the program since its launch. Marriott International is the pioneer in rolling out this innovative experience on a global scale.
Peggy Fang Roe, Marriott chief sales and marketing officer, Asia Pacific, and a board member of the joint venture, said offering the PPP will be “a key competitive advantage” for the hotel giant.
Marriott’s redesigned storefront on Fliggy now features its global inventory of hotels with a localized, mobile-enhanced, user-friendly layout. It includes a search functionality that is more intuitive to Chinese consumers, along with experiences and offers geared to their usual preferences – particularly for leisure – and hotel-level information curated to help them make more informed decisions on where they want to stay. Marriott loyalty members have access to special members-only rates through the storefront, and can also see which hotels have been “Li Yu” certified and which hotels accept PPP.
Initiatives to be unveiled in the coming months include travel planning services in Mandarin and VIP member experiences.