Mr. Patrick Basset, COO of AccorHotels Southeast and Northeast Asia, announced a new booking engine loyalty program that provides a single platform for all bookings and loyalty benefits, along with an enriched premium status and new brand identity.
China Overview
1.4 billion people
400m people in the middle-class. Set to increase to 550m people by 2025
Middle class defined as earning US$3.6k-US$36.4k per year
1.4% inflation
GDP of US$11.8T (+6.5%) in 2017
751M internet users
4% unemployment
China is today the largest emitting outbound travel market globally. With a population of 1.4 billion people and nearly 150m outbound tourists in 2018. Latest statistics estimate annual spending to be approximately US$260 billion (2017).
A total of 200m Chinese people are expected to travel internationally by 2020
About China Travel Market:
16% of Chinese travel is spent internationally
122m visitors spent US$260 billion in 2017
85% of international travel is within APAC
Chinese outbound travelers will reach 200m by 2020 (Chinese National Tourism Administration)
70% of travel related bookings are made through mobile.
650m WeChat users (used for purchases, messaging, booking taxis, booking hotels)
Online booking engines are dominated by local players:
CTrip (46% market share)
Fliggy
Meituan
OUTLOOK:
By 2020 China online travel market will hit US$108 billion
By 2020 mobile bookings will hit US$83 billion
China is moving from an investment-driven economy to a consumption driven economy. This is positive for outbound travel as a growing middle class with more generous spending habits.
About China’s consumption-driven economy:
35% of income spent on international travel by Chinese millennials
The IMF forecasts that the Chinese economy will expand by 42% between 2017 and 2023. Expected to be the same size as the US economy by 2026.
The world’s largest middle class, fueled by income growth, will reshape consumption. By 2027, consumption is expected to grow 6 percent annually on average, boosting outbound travel.
Hotel chains and starred hotels are the accommodation of choice for almost half of Chinese travelers. Chinese guests are attached to their culture, customs and traditions so hotels must have Chinese-specific products or services for international trips.
Safety, comfort and Chinese-specific services are critical to capture Chinese travelers: 60% of Chinese travelers consider the safety of their destination as a critical factor for their travel decisions.
About Chinese Travelers
Chinese guests are attached to their culture, customs and traditions
Hotel chains and starred hotels are the accommodation of choice for almost half of Chinese travelers
Hotels must have Chinese-specific products or services for international trips
Safety, comfort and Chinese-specific services are critical to capture Chinese travelers
60% of Chinese travelers consider the safety of their destination as a critical factor for their travel decisions
37% of Chinese travelers consider the history and heritage sites as a critical factor for their travel decisions
29% of Chinese travelers consider the cuisine of their destination as a critical factor for their travel decisions
China’s Digital Innovations and Trends
54.5% of China’s population use the internet
China is the world’s largest e-commerce market
By 2020 it will be larger than the combined US, UK, Japanese, French and German e-commerce markets
724m mobile internet users
Mobile internet time-share represents 80% of total internet usage
China is the world’s largest e-commerce market. By 2020 China online travel market will hit US$108 billion with US$83 billion via mobile bookings.
Hotels must offer mobile-friendly booking platforms.
Accor has developed a strategy to establish Accor as a leader in hospitality across China’s domestic and outbound travel markets.
This strategy is focused around:
Guests – ensuring Chinese guests feel a sense of welcome and security whenever they stay at an Accor hotel
Hotels – ensuring hotels are equipped to deliver the appropriate services to Chinese travelers
Owners – demonstrating our expertise in the Chinese market and ability to deliver incremental revenue to hotels
Accor has developed 22 initiatives with 15 key IT developments to drive greater loyalty and leverage innovative Chinese digital technology.
Our 4 main priorities at Accor are to:
Capture the Chinese travel market to drive domestic and outbound revenue
We are developing a point-of-sale system specifically for Accor’s booking platform in China
We are boosting our connectivity with distribution partners
We are ensuring we have complete capabilities to accept multiple payment solutions
Develop our Chinese loyalty member base
The launch of ALL, our new lifestyle loyalty programme
Make our Chinese guests feel welcome around the world
Ensure hotels have the training to manage the expectations of Chinese travelers
Sharing unique preferences of our guests with our global network via ACDC
Leverage innovative Chinese digital technologies for Accor globally
Strengthen our technology partnerships in China
Le Club AccorHotels and Accorhotels.com are merging to create ALL – Accor Live Limitless.
From the end of 2019, customers will be able to book on All.accor.com and their loyalty program will be ALL-Accor Live Limitless.
One single, user-friendly platform for all our customers – both business and individual customers.
Bookings, points, experiences, events – everything is available on one single website and its app.
Because we always offer more:
More brands (50+ including 38 hospitality brands)
More services
More personalization
More loyalty
More partners
More touchpoints