France/China: Accor has partnered with Chinese online retail giant Alibaba Group, to develop apps and loyalty programs to appeal to Chinese consumers.
Alibaba has around 700 million consumers – its travel arm called Fliggy will facilitate consumers booking hotels, catering services, and entertainment offerings through Accor. Customers will be able to use Alipay, a digital payment service operated by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial.
Accor, which has around 4,900 hotels and residences in 110 countries, said it would spend $255 million on a new loyalty program called ALL – Accor Live Limitless.
Alibaba is assisting Accor with the rollout of the new program by offering digital marketing and other capabilities.
“China’s importance to the world’s tourism industry and this key collaboration with Alibaba will symbolically strengthen economic ties between China and France, while giving Chinese travellers access to exciting events and benefits through ALL – Accor Live Limitless,” said Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin.
In June this year, Accor developed a program specifically for Chinese consumers called Haoke.
“Our consumer-facing business facilitates and stimulates consumption, of which travel consumption is an important segment,” said Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang. “Through the Alibaba Business Operating System, we enable tourism industry partners such as Accor to fully digitise their business operations, from sales to marketing, brand building to member management and service innovations.”
