CHICAGO—As Chinese travelers continue to gain momentum as the world’s strongest outbound travel spenders, Preferred Hotel Group showcases its commitment to this key market with the launch of China Ready. This one-of-a-kind program will make the travel planning process more streamlined, personalized, and inviting for Chinese travelers and help the company’s portfolio of 650 member hotels attract and retain this influx of business with the introduction of a simplified Chinese website, dynamic marketing and social media campaigns, new distribution channels, and, for participating hotels, a certification initiative.
“Preferred Hotel Group is proud to declare its readiness for the Chinese traveler,” said Ananya Narayan, executive vice president of Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa for Preferred Hotel Group, a global provider of sales, marketing, and distribution services to independent hotels. “China is a key focus market for our brands and for our hotels, and the launch of China Ready is designed both to support the country’s outbound travel needs and to bring new exposure to our members in China and around the world.”
Effective immediately, all of the company’s 650 member hotels will be represented on Preferred Hotel Group’s new Chinese website, which is hosted and managed in China. Addressing the unique needs of Chinese travelers, this dynamic site features attractive images, innovative booking functionalities, strategic search engine optimization, and a direct connection to the country’s most popular social media platform, Sina Weibo, to facilitate impactful user engagement. The new site will complement Preferred Hotel Group’s expanded connectivity to popular Chinese distribution channels, such as TravelSky, CTrip, and eLong, and will extend further benefits to travelers through Preferred Hotel Group’s relationships with key marketing partners in the country.
Member hotels looking for deeper engagement with Chinese travelers have the opportunity to join a dedicated China Ready marketing initiative. This program requires that participating hotels meet dozens of certification standards, ranging from on-property programing such as offering Chinese tea and kettles in guestrooms to having Mandarin-speaking reservations and front desk staff. Preferred Hotel Group supports the efforts of China Ready-certified hotels with additional tools, such as increased visibility on www.preferredhotelgroup.cn, direct engagement with travelers through Preferred Hotel Group’s Sina Weibo page, and booking connectivity with key OTAs and China’s global distribution service (GDS). Hotels that have already received China Ready certification include The Landmark in Bangkok, Thailand; The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass.; The K Club in Dublin, Ireland; and Hotel du Collectionneur Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
China Ready is the latest initiative from Preferred Hotel Group that showcases the company’s commitment to the Chinese market. Over the past six months, the company has established a new sales office in Beijing to complement the efforts of its Shanghai office, and appointed Blaise Jing as Regional Director for Global Sales & Development for China. During this time period, Preferred Hotel Group also welcomed five new member hotels, bringing its total portfolio in the country to 18 properties.
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