China's Ctrip Speeds Up “Going Overseas” and Forms Strategic Partnership with Spain's Melia Hotels

Ctrip recently took an important step forward on building international hotel ecosystem. Ctrip announced with the largest Spanish hotel group Melia that they will further strengthen their cooperation on big data, marketing, services, products, and etc.

"Melia is one of the most renowned hotel groups in the world, which naturally complements an international company like Ctrip" said Rong Zhang, Vice President of Ctrip Group and General Manager of Ctrip Hotel Business, "this signals Ctrip's further development in European market. It will provide more diverse hotel options for Chinese travellers when they visit Europe."

To Better Serve the Customers Melia is the largest hotel group in Spain and a sector leader in Europe, with nearly 400 hotels across the globe in more than 40 countries and regions.

"We have maintained a close partnership with Ctrip. It has proven to be very productive, thanks to Ctrip's market leadership. With Ctrip's help, We were able to open our first Chinese location Meilia Jinan and Gran Melia Xian in China," said Jose Maria Dalmau, VP of International Business Development, Melia Group.

Jose continued, "The deepened cooperation between Ctrip and Melia gives us more confidence about future prospects. We look forward to working more closely with Ctrip on our new hotel locations."

The new partnership will focus on creative marketing, service upgrade, and direct system connection, aside from existing service guarantee and sales support, which will help Ctrip to serve both domestic and overseas customers better, according to Rong Zhang.

"With Ctrip's support, we hope to enhance our brand awareness among Chinese travellers. Meanwhile, through the upgrade of hotel facilities, more hotels in Melia Group will join Ctrip's ‘Chinese Friendly' program," said Jose Maria Dalmau.

Jose indicated that it will also launch a new program called "Friends" to offer personalized service to Chinese travellers.

To Further Develop European Market

Industry insiders view the partnership between Ctrip and Melia as Ctrip's further step of "going overseas". Not long ago, Ctrip's destination marketing team just signed a cooperation memo with Communidad De Mardrid of Spain.

Based on Ctrip data, Spain is surpassing traditional popular European destinations like France, Italy, to become an emerging travel hot spot.

Jie Sun, CEO of Ctrip, strongly promoted Chinese tourism during her visit with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to China-EU Business Summit. She said Ctrip was willing to build a "bridge" between China and Europe and contribute to the travel industry development between the two countries.

To achieve the mission, Ctrip's hotel team has made increasing efforts in European markets. In future, Ctrip hopes to offer fast and convenient services to Chinese travellers by establishing local call centers.