Marriott’s Alibaba Joint Venture in China Is Part of Its Direct-Booking Strategy
Photo Credit: The W Xi'an hotel in northwest China is shown here. Marriott International has a joint venture with e-commerce giant Alibaba. Marriott International
Skift Take
Marriott could do a lot worse than tying its fortunes in China to the e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba. Rest assured that this won't be the last big partnership for Marriott in the country. These are, after all, early days.
About a year and a half after Marriott established a joint venture with e-commerce giant Alibaba in China, the collaboration is enabling the hotel giant to make inroads with a relatively new customer base — leisure travelers, a majority of whom are female and younger than 40.
And an official said the joint venture's distribution model is breaking new ground for the chain.
Marriott considers its storefront on Fliggy, Alibaba's travel division where it sells its global hotel inventory, to be a direct-booking channel with costs that are lower than going through online travel agency distribution, said Peggy Fang Roe, Marriott's chief sales and marketing officer, Asia Pacific. Customers can pay for rooms using Alipay after their stays.
As with Marriott's other brand.com websites, Alibaba users who access the Marriott storefront on Fliggy can take advantage of lower loyalty rates if they are program members. They can also earn both Fliggy and Marriott Bonvoy points.
Fang Roe is
