Marriott International joins hands with Alibaba

Alibaba Group and Marriott International announced the launch of a joint venture to redefine the travel experience of Chinese consumers traveling both abroad and domestic. This venture entails drawing on both Marriott’s and Alibaba’s resources in a way that Marriott’s storefront will be managed and marketed to Alibaba’s customer base on Fliggy, Alibaba’s travel service platform. It will also provide a link between Marriott’s and Alibaba’s loyalty programmes and support Marriott hotels with content, programmes and promotions customised for Chinese travellers.

China’s travellers are expected to take an estimated 700 million trips over the next five years. Marriott’s owners and franchisees globally will benefit from the joint venture by capturing a greater share of this growing Chinese travel market and having lower distribution costs.