Marriott is elevating both its online and offline travel experience for Chinese consumers with the launch of a redesigned storefront on Fliggy, Alibaba’s travel service platform, and the rollout of Post Post Pay (PPP) functionality across more than 1,000 Marriott hotels.

As part of Marriott’s first phase of service enhancements, its new storefront on Fliggy will elevate the digital experience for Chinese consumers. The new storefront will feature approximately 6,000 hotels from across Marriott International’s global inventory of 30 brands, presented in a Chinese traveller-friendly layout. Through the storefront, Fliggy’s innovative PPP functionality 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 the Asia Pacific region, 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” programme, designed to provide travellers from China a warm welcome and the comforts of home anywhere in the world they may go.

In August 2017, Marriott International and Alibaba Group formed a joint venture aimed at redefining the travel experience for the hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers travelling domestically and abroad every year. It utilises industry expertise, local customer insights and technology to empower travel companies to foster an innovative customer experience for Chinese travellers. The global rollout of PPP, an innovative credit-based hotel payment service developed by Fliggy, reaffirms Marriott’s commitment to enhancing the travel experience of Chinese consumers. It 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.

“China is the leading market for mobile payments. Sixty-five percent of Chinese tourists have used mobile payments on their most recent trips overseas,” said Peggy Fang Roe, chief sales and marketing officer, Asia Pacific, Marriott International and Board Member of the joint venture. “Offering PPP will be a key competitive advantage for Marriott International hotels, connecting our global portfolio of brands with Chinese travellers. Combined with Marriott’s exclusive Li Yu programme, we are extending the comforts of home to Chinese travellers, from payment methods to a suite of amenities and services tailored for Chinese habits, preferences, and appetites as they travel the world.”

Marriott’s redesigned storefront on Fliggy now features its global inventory of hotels with a localised, 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, VIP member experiences and other exciting innovations as Marriott International continues to elevate the outbound travel experience for Chinese consumers. - TradeArabia News Service