This week’s OTA & Travel Distribution Update for the week ending Friday, May 15, 2020 contains a wide variety of stories – from the tried and true to the truly bizarre. I hope you enjoy.
(“IHG Announces Partnership with Trip.com Group’s Ctrip,” May 14, 2020 via Hotel News Resource)
For some time now, many of the largest hotel companies have operated flagship stores on Trip.com’s Ctrip. This past week, seeking to take advantage of the rebounding domestic China market, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced a broad partnership with Ctrip, including the addition of a new IHG flagship store. What’s most interesting about IHG’s announcement, however, is the planned “cooperation” between the two heavyweight’s loyalty programs. Users of the IHG flagship store will be able to enroll in IHG’s Rewards Club. Direct membership matching – whereby elite members of Ctrip’s loyalty program can apply for elite membership in IHG’s program – will also be offered. As part of this new partnership, it will be interesting to see whether IHG will offer its loyalty program rates through the flagship store or provide IHG loyalty program members who book through the Ctrip store membership benefits. The last time we saw that level of cooperation between a brand loyalty program and a distributor was the headscratcher of a deal between Expedia and Red Lion from 2016.