Trip.com’s international business maintained rapid recovery, with the overall air-ticket bookings on global platforms increasing over 100% year over year.

Its total net revenue increased by 29% year over year and increased by 72% quarter over quarter to RMB6.9 billion (US$969 million), mainly driven by the robust recovery in China’s domestic market and overseas markets.

• Accommodation reservation revenue was RMB2.9 billion (US$408 million), representing a 32% increase YoY or 114% increase QoQ
• Transportation ticketing revenue was RMB2.6 billion (US$369 million), representing a 44% YoY or 49% QoQ
• Packaged-tour revenue was relatively stable at RMB387 million (US$54 million) compared to the same period in 2021. Packaged-tour revenue increased by 217% from the previous quarter
• Corporate travel revenue was RMB370 million (US$52 million), representing a 9% YoY or 76% increase QoQ

Net income for the third quarter of 2022 was RMB245 million (US$34 million), which improved from a net loss of RMB868 million for the same period in 2021 and a net income of RMB43 million for the previous quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2022 was RMB1.4 billion (US$198 million), representing a 164% increase from RMB537 million for the same period in 2021 and a 300% increase from RMB355 million for the previous quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA margin was 21% for the third quarter, compared with 10% for the same period in 2021 and 9% for the previous quarter.

As of 12:00 on 8 December, the travel search popularity for 2023 last week had increased by more than 900% compared with the same period last year. Within two hours after the release of the New Year’s holiday schedule on 8 December, the search volume of Trip.com’s air tickets and hotel products increased by 6 times and 7 times respectively from the same period the previous day.

83.0% of its average MAUs was attributed to Tencent-based platforms with the majority of the traffic coming from WeChat Pay portal and the dropdown list of users’ favorite or most frequently used mini-programs.

The average MPUs increased by 84.5% year-to-year from 14.8 million in the same period of 2020 to 27.3 million, mainly attributable to its stable traffic on WeChat channels. Read our WeChat Mini Programs Insights 2021.

Paying users for the 12-month period ended March 31, 2021, increased by 12.9% year-on-year from 149.9 million in the same twelve-month period of 2020 to 169.3 million. And, Tongcheng Elong’s paying ratio recovered to 11.7% for Q1 2021.

Revenues increased by 60.6% year-to-year to RMB1,613.8 million from RMB1,005.1 million in the same period of 2020.

Compared with Q1 2019, it has achieved 45.0% growth in its domestic room nights sold, with more than 70.0% growth in lower-tier cities, around 20.0% increase in domestic air ticketing volume, and nearly 150.0% increase in bus ticketing volume.

Its total GMV increased by 83.0% year-on-year to RMB33.3 billion.

The adjusted EBITDA increased by 162.7% year-to-year to RMB417.4 million from RMB158.9 million in the same period of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased from 15.8% in the same period of 2020 to 25.9%.

The adjusted profit for the period increased by 279.5% year-to-year to RMB296.3 million from RMB78.1 million in the same period of 2020. The adjusted net margin increased from 7.8% in the same period of 2020 to 18.4%.

Tongcheng-Elong cooperated with short video platforms to promote its hotel and tourist attraction products. Besides, it has commenced cooperation with a leading e-commerce platform in China by providing its travel-related products and services on the platform, to explore new traffic sources and further penetrate into lower-tier cities market.

It also cooperated with hotels to set up QR code scanning function to convert traffic from offline to its WeChat mini-program.

Mini Program platforms 2021: WeChat vs. Alibaba vs. Baidu

Airbnb released a report last week on Airbnb China’s women community. According to the report, as of February 10, 2020, 53% of active Chinese landlords are female, and China is one of the top 10 countries with the largest number of female landlords on the platform.

Among them, the millennial generation (Generation Y) and generation Z female landlords are the main players on the Airbnb platform. About 67% of female landlords are post-80s, post-90s and post-00s.

In 2019, Airbnb’s global female landlords are expected to earn US$14.9 billion (about 104.3 billion yuan) through shared accommodation, of which China ranks eighth in the world.

The year 2019 registered 6.01 billion domestic tourists person-trips in China, up by 8.4 percent over that of the previous year. Read more here.

Among the global landlords who receive at least 150 person-trips, more than 37% of the five-star rated female landlords are from China.

In 2019, the five-star rating of Chinese female landlords is 88%, higher than that of global female landlords (83%); the average rating of Chinese female landlords is 4.81, higher than that of global female landlords (4.77).

67% of the team leaders of Airbnb Chinese community are women.

The top ten cities with the largest distribution of female landlords are:

• Shanghai
• Beijing
• Chengdu
• Guangzhou
• Chongqing
• Hangzhou
• Shenzhen
• Xi’an
• Qingdao
• Wuhan

Last year, the top ten types of accommodations most favored by Chinese female tourists based on Airbnb report were: Inn, boat house, resort, island, farmhouse, country house, hotel apartment, boutique hotel, hotel, and apartment.

Among the top ten popular destinations most favored by global female tourists, China occupied four seats, namely Changsha in Hunan, Sanya in Hainan, Lijiang in Yunnan, and Beihai in Guangxi.

Among them, single-person travel is more and more popular with Chinese women. In 2019, the proportion of Chinese female tourists traveling alone in China increased by more than 1.6 times.

Characteristics of China outbound travelers in 4 segments

Simply pigeonholing people into presumed lifestyle and pursuits by their age and geography can no longer work the same as in the past few years. Quite remarkable changes have taken places in the preference, behavior, and consumption habits of Chinese travelers.

Of the 1,000 respondents surveyed by Hilton and Nielsen who spent in the past year at at least one high-end hotel:

• 83% prefer exploring local customs
• 82% are willing to treat themselves to pay for the premium experience
• 77% hope to have a deep understanding of local culture and get to know people there
• 77% are in pursuit of unique experiences.

Apart from that, they expect hotels to be cultural, comfortable, social, and unique.

Some deem this as a miniature of their lifestyle and attitudes to life. It also influences what they want during traveling. Above all, everything during the trip should be comfortable. And then they turn attention to cultural, explosive, and unique requirements.

As regards their attitudes to consumption, 67% of respondents thought it is vital to enjoying the moment without worrying about the future. Among them, 54% are looking for hotels that can provide something exciting.

69% of respondents said that they are willing to be seen and known of what they like. Among them, 50% prefer a hotel decorated with local styles; 48% are more likely to be attracted by hotels distinctive in design and fashionable in style.

63% of respondents thought travel give them a chance to withdraw themselves from routines and enjoy the pure happiness in daily life. 50% care about how hotels can fulfill their lifestyle requirements.

China saw 5. 68 billion person-trips in 2018, 5.539 million of which were domestic tips and 141.2 million were inbound trips.

Rising outbound travelers from lower-tier cities in China

China’s shared accommodation market generated a total transaction of 14.5 billion yuan (US$2.27 bn) in 2017, up 70.6% from a year earlier, according to State Information Center of China.

A total number of 78 million people were involved in this market, among which 76 million were tenants. This market had developed roughly 3 million domestic housing resources and raised near US$540 million in financing, up 180% over last year.

Chinese millennials were the main user group of shared accommodation platform. Around 70% of them had received undergraduate or further education. Female landlord accounted for 60% of the total. Tenants aged between 18 and 30 accounted for 70% of the total tenants.

First-tier cities and some second or third-tier cities like Chengdu, Chongqing, and Xi’an are the mainstream markets of shared accommodation. Landlords from top 10 ranking cities accounted for near one-half of the total housing resources.

The transactions of shared accommodation market are expected to reach 50 billion yuan (US$7.83 bn) by 2020 with 6 million housing resources offered and over 100 million tenants.

[REPORT] China outbound tourism trend 2018; the beauty and uniqueness are the primary consideration

The number of people in China using social networking and communication sites or apps rose modestly in the first half of 2017, with 84.3% of internet users using WeChat Moments and 65.8% using QZone.

Weibo’s penetration into the internet market continued to grow, increasing by 1.6 percentage points to 38.7%. Vertical social networks, such as Douban (an interest- or hobby-centric chat site) were used by 8.6% of users.

As of June of 2017, 514 million people made purchases and shopped online in China, an increase of 10.2% over the year prior; of these, 480 million used mobile shopping platforms, an increase of 9.0%, accounting for 66.4% of all users.

Food delivery services grew rapidly, albeit from a somewhat lower base; in June of this year 295 million users ordered food online, an increase of over 86 million users from 2016, representing growth of 41.6%. Of those, 274 used mobile apps to place an order, an increase of 41.4%.

China’s online travel booking industry experienced some growth, with the number of users rising to 334 million in the first half of 2017, up by 11.5% and 34.4 million users from 2016.

The number of people booking train tickets, plane tickets, hotels, and vacations online rose by 37.6%, 19.1%, 20.5%, and 9.3%, respectively. Of the 334 million online booking users, 299 million (41.3% of all internet users) used mobile booking apps, an increase of 14.2% from 2016.

Download the details in the updated China Internet Insights report here.

eLong, Home Inns, and Booking lead China’s mobile hotel booking apps market in March 2017. eLong and Home Inns both recorded over one million monthly active users. Airbnb also ranks the sixth with 126% growth YoY.

The MAU of China hotel service mobile apps is 4.35 million with a decrease of 25.9% YoY in March 2017.  The majority of users (over 50%) in this mobile app category are 30 years-old or younger. The top three by growth rates are Pod Inns, eLong, and Meituan Hotel.

China online travel market totaled 602.6 billion yuan (US$87.46 bn) in 2016 with an increase of 34%. It’s estimated to exceed 1 trillion yuan (US$147 bn) in 2019.

The OTA market in China reached 30 billion yuan (US$4.33 bn) in 2016 and will grow to 53 billion yuan (US$7.69 bn) in 2019 according to iResearch.

Online ticketing remains the largest section of China’s online travel market(56.8%) in 2016.

China’s domestic travel market reached 4.44 billion person-trips in 2016, an increase of 11% YoY. The corresponding revenues totaled 3.9 trillion yuan with a growth of 14% according to China National Tourism Administration. See China travel market overview 2016 »

Accommodations accounted for about 20% of total online travel transactions in 2016 and have the potential to reach 100 billion yuan according to China Housing Sharing Development Report 2017.

The number of users sharing accommodations was only 35 million in China in 2016 according to the report. Total transactions of China’s accommodation sharing market reached 24.3 billion yuan with over 2 million users providing such services.

The top online platforms for short-term accommodations in China include Tujia.com, Mayi.com, Xiaozhu.com, and Airbnb. Tujia and Mayi have the highest brand awareness in China (over 70%), followed by Xiaozhu and Airbnb (40%-70%) according to iResearch data.

Search engines, social ads, and web portals are the top channels for China online users to become aware of short-term accommodation platforms.

Short-term accommodation market in China reached 8.78 billion yuan in 2016 with a growth rate of 106.1%; it’s estimated to grow by 42.6% and 35.5% to reach 12.52 billion yuan and 16.96 billion yuan in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Close to 60% users in China booked short-term accommodations for family trips. Traveling with friends (17.5%) is the second largest user group.

Over 60% users book short-term accommodations 2-3 times per year. And, over half (50.6%) stayed an average duration of 3-4 nights.

Apartments are the most selected room type (50.6%) for short-term accommodation market in China in 2016, followed by inns (23.2%) and farmhouses (12.3%).

43.6% charged an average daily rate of between 200 and 300 yuan, which is about the price of economic hotels in China. 36.9% between 301 and 500 yuan.

Unlike hotel bookings on Ctrip or eLong in China (most require no payment for bookings), over one-third of short-term accommodations require full payment for booking and 40.6% charge deposits. Users are currently not comfortable with this; over one-third of users expect no payment at all for booking rooms.

Having more rooms for selection is the top factor for Chinese users to choose a specific short-term accommodation platform; photos, reasonable pricing, and customer service are also important factors.

Mobile clients are the top channel for online bookings of short-term accommodations.

84.6% short-term accommodation users prefer to book their stay around scenic spots; 61.6% in business districts; 46.2% near airports; and, 32.4% near subways.

Over 60% short-term accommodation users in China are between 26 and 35 years-old. Near 80% have a degree; and, over one-third have a monthly family income of between 15K to 20K yuan.

Also read: An Overview of China’s Local “Airbnb” (Xiaozhu, Tujia, Zhubaijia…)

Following the rising success of Airbnb, China’s short-term accommodation market is also booming during the recent years and reached 24.3 billion yuan in 2016. Players leading this market include Tujia.com, Mayi.com, Xiaozhu.com, and Airbnb.

Tujia Short-term Accommodation, Tujia.com

Founded in December 2011, Tujia acquires bulk and standard new housing sources working with real estate developers and room owners. And, it standardizes the management and operations of the rooms. It offers the most comprehensive room selections in the short-term accommodation market, over 400,000 rooms across travel destinations and key cities in China.

Xiaozhu, one of its main competitors, mainly targeted at first-tier and second-tier cities while Tujia mainly at tourism destination cities market, which was similar to HomeAway.

In terms of the business operation model, HomeAway and Tujia are totally different. Tujia cooperated with about 80% of China’s top 100 real estate developers, providing design ideas and solutions of houses to make it more in line with consumers’ expectations. The standardization of new houses could solve the shortage and quantity problems of Tujia.

In addition to renting houses from the developers, from the management point of view, Tujia would also support short-term hotel accommodation by standardized services and a large number of houses. In the future, Tujia would further integrate online and offline resources and transform to a combined model of both B2C and C2C.

Ant Short-term Accommodations, Mayi.com

Mayi.com, founded in November 2011, offers beyond 300,000 short-term accommodations including tickets of tourists attractions, car rentals, and etc. Mayi was acquired by Tujia in 2016.

It focuses on family customers and 80% of its bookings came from family travelers.

Xiaozhu Short-term Accommodation, xiaozhu.com

Launched in August 2012, Xiaozhu.com platform provides about 140,000 rooms. It advocates personalized accommodation space to encourage the landlord to share their own life experiences, allowing users to enjoy deep and unique experiences.

China’s “Airbnbs” actually began from online classified information platforms, such as mayi.com, muniao.com and etc. Xiaozhu short-term accommodation was the closest in concept and business model with Airbnb. However, the exact clone of Airbnb model may not work well in China as proved; Xiaozhu had to adapt to localize its business.

By accelerating the growth of the supply end, Xiaozhu is devoted to building an order platform for C2C model. As of July 2015, the platform covered more than 200 cities, and the number of accommodations exceeded 50,000 and about 10,000 individual house owners. The number of transactions has increased by four times compared with that in early 2015.

Related: China Outbound Travel Forecast 2016-2021

Zhubaijia Short-term Accommodation, zhubaijia.com

Founded in March 2012, Zhubaijia focuses on outbound tourism market with over 250,000 rooms across 70 countries. Over 60% of its revenues came from overseas short-term accommodations in 2016.

Zhubaijia was a special existence in China’s short-term accommodation market. It targeted domestic outbound tourists who would rent houses abroad for a short period, which is different from Xiaozhu and Tujia.

Zhubaijia was originated from the Asian office of Wimdu in October 2012, formerly known as the “European Airbnb”. After Airbnb entering China, it first expanded the needs of Chinese outbound tourists, which was almost coincident with the strategy of Zhubaijia. However, many houses and services from Airbnb couldn’t be guaranteed and suitable for the Chinese, which was just the superiority of Zhubaijia.

Zhubaijia had its own set of access and audit standards of houses: the platform would follow the Putonghua proficiency level of landlords, attitude towards Chinese, reception of Chinese tourists, response speed, cleanliness, traffic, facilities and so on to search for good accommodation sources. In addition, Zhubaijia would supply a series of services including consultancy, language services, delivery, dispute resolution and others.

Most short-term platforms including Airbnb generate revenues by charging a commission while Zhubaijia does not charge any from users or landlords. The future business model of Zhubaijia would be to generate revenues through related outbound travel services and might support personalized services for different users.

With the development of the online travel market and the popurity of the tourism, short-term accommodation would usher in new development opportunities. And to gain profits, China’s short-term accommodation operators must change to meet with China’s unique situation; or they may be out of the market.

Also read:  China Travel Market to Reach $617.4B in 2015

Total transactions of China’s online travel market reached 162.76 billion yuan (US$23.59 billion). OTA revenues totaled 8.19 billion yuan (US$1.19 billion).

China’s online travel market totaled 162.76 billion yuan (US$23.59 billion) with an increase of 11.8% QoQ or 28.4% YoY. Online travel transactions via mobile apps continued to grow to 62.2% in September 2016 from 59.2% in June 2016.

Total revenues in China’s OTA market reached 8.19 billion yuan with a growth rate of 38.7% YoY.

Air tickets booking accounted for 53.6% of China’s online travel transactions in Q3 2016; accommodations 21.8%; and, holiday booking 18.8%.

Qunar was ranked the top generic travel booking app by coverage in September 2016 according to data from TalkingData, followed by Ctrip and LY.com apps.

12306, China Railway’s official app, remains the top choice for train tickets booking. Spring Airlines made it to the top among airlines booking apps with 0.43% coverage, followed by apps from Eastern Airlines (0.27%), China Southern Airlines (0.2%) and Air China (0.15%).

Among accommodation booking apps, Home Inns, eLong and Airbnb are the top 3 by coverage. Airbnb, Tujia and Mayi are the only three homestay network platforms in the top 10 while the rest are for hotel bookings.

Huawei, Samsung, and Xiaomi smartphones are the most popular Android brands among travelers during this year’s National Day holiday.

The top mobile apps for travel information by coverage are Mafengwo (0.58%), TripAdvisor (0.48%), Travel Translator (0.31%; by Mafengwo), Qyer (0.26%), and Breadtrip (0.22%).

On average Chinese outbound travelers spent 17% less per day in a twelve-month period than the previous year – from RMB3,324 (US$508) to RMB2,849 (US$436) according to a survey from Hotels.com.

Top Chinese spenders cut back by 68%, from RMB13,800 (US$2,111) to RMB8,228 (US$1,258). That meant the majority settling on three star rather than more luxurious hotels. However, the survey also indicates the spending is expected to rebound in the next year, with one-third of travelers planning to spend more.

The survey pointed out two biggest challenges facing those providing accommodation to Chinese travelers: a lack of Mandarin-speaking staff and of China UnionPay card facilities.

When planning their next trip, Chinese travelers are particularly taking into account safety, sightseeing, dining and ease of visa applications, with the currency of the intended country not generally a factor.

According to hotel room demand on the Hotels.com China website, the most popular countries for Chinese travelers to visit in the last two years were the USA followed by Thailand. In 2015, Japan overtook Hong
Kong in third spot and Australia climbed from eighth most visited to sixth on the list.

In terms of cities, Hong Kong followed by Bangkok remained the top two from 2014 to 2015. Tokyo climbed from the ninth to fourth most visited city from 2014 to 2015 and Chiang Mai entered the top ten list in 2015.

When it comes to a wish list of countries to visit in the next 12 months, Australia came out number one at 15%. Also high on the intended travel list were Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and the Maldives.

The number of outbound Chinese tourists surged during the Chinese New Year holidays in 2016 and many countries and regions have been ready to meet the Chinese tourist shopping tide. Japan, Thailand, and Australia were popular outbound destinations.

Chinese outbound tourists to Japan was predicted to reach a record high of 6 million person-trips during CNY in 2016 according to Japan Tourism Organization. Japan was the second popular outbound destination of Chinese tourists during CNY. The most popular destination was Thailand.

The Japanese retail industry faced a large number of shopping Chinese during CNY in 2016. Famous Japan travel attractions were crowded with Chinese tourists. Hotel accommodation fees increased and China to Japan airplane tickets also increased.

Japan’s official statistics showed that Japan’s tourism revenue turned to profitability in 2015 for the first time in 53 years. However, the increase of Chinese tourists visiting Japan has slowed since the second half of 2015.

Australia was also popular among Chinese tourists. China had more than 10 million people applying for a visa to Australia in January 2016, which has set a new monthly record high. Although Chinese tourists were still enthusiastic in shopping, they were more rational towards goods.

Also read: China Outbound Travelers Shopping Overview 2015

Offline merchants hoped to get more consumers and profits by accessing to the O2O platforms in China in 2015. Tier-3 and tier-4 cities have been a new expanding regions for the O2O platforms. Meituan maintained a prominent position in the less developed cities.

China O2O companies were busy expanding to tier-3 and tier-4 cities in 2015 as more consumers accessed to the service according to Tencent. For example, 36.8% of total transaction values of Meituan came from tier-3 and tier-4 cities in early 2015 and over 80% once came from tier-1 cities in 2010.

China O2O market entered a white-hot competition period in 2015 and companies tried hard to win consumers. The number of merchants on Meituan was only 780,000 in 2014 and the number increased to 1,600,000 in 2015.

Major catering O2O apps were Meituan, Dianping, and Nuomi in China in 2015. Penetration of Meituan in tier-3 and tier-4 cities was far higher than that of other catering O2O apps.

About 50% users would use catering apps less than five times per month according to Tencent and the usage frequency of tier-1 and tier-2 city users was higher than that of tier-3 and below city users in 2015.

About half users spent 100 yuan to 300 yuan each time. 35.4% tier-3 and below city users spent less than 100 yuan and 28.7% tier-1 and tier-2 city users spent less than 100 yuan when catering with O2O apps. However, 10.4% tier-3 and tier-4 city users spent 300 yuan to 500 yuan higher than 8.7% of tier-1 and tier-2 city users.

Competition among food-delivery O2O market also was fierce in 2015. Meituan played a more prominent role in tier-3 and tier-4 cities and the penetration rate surpassed others with a large gap. Penetration rate of food-delivery O2O apps didn’t have much gap in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.

The monthly usage of food-delivery apps came more frequently in advanced cities than less developed cities in China in 2015. The overall usage frequency of food-delivery O2O apps was fewer than the catering O2O apps.

Ctrip was more active in tier-1 and tier-2 cities and Meituan was more active in tier-3 and tier-4 cities when booking hotels online.

36.0% couples in tier-3 and tier-4 cities would reserve hotels online for dating and 38.2% users in tier-1 and tier-2 cities would book hotels for neighboring travel.

Low price, rich hotel resource, and perfect function of hotel O2O apps was the major reasons for users to reserve hotels online in China in 2015.

The increasing travel needs boosted the intense competition of hotel O2O apps. The top seven travel apps were Ctrip, Qunar, Meituan, Alitrip, Tuniu, CY, and eLong.

Rich resource was more important towards tier-1 and tier-2 city users than the less developed city users. Tier-3 and above city users concerned more on low price than other city users.

Catering O2O market developed into a mature stage in 2015. 72.0% merchants surveyed engaged in the catering industry in China in 2015.

The recent two year had witnessed the fast development of the O2O market. 63.0% merchants accessed to the O2O market in 2015 and 21.0% accessed in 2014.

42.0% of offline merchants surveyed accessed to the O2O platforms because of the large orders online and 13.0% because of the quick payback speed. Promotion of salesman was also an important reason for the merchants to access to the O2O platforms.

By accessing to the O2O platforms, offline merchants hoped to get an increase in turnover, profit, and brand public praise.

About 50% of merchants surveyed believed their turnover increased by 10% to 30% after accessing to the O2O platforms and 32.0% believed their turnover increased by 30% to 50%.

Some merchants terminated their cooperation with the O2O platforms. 50.0% terminated because of the loss of consumers and 33.0% because of the decrease of turnover.

The current cooperation mode of merchants and O2O platforms is subsidy plus discount which is expected to upgrade to maintain and draw more merchants and users. The O2O platforms could bring in more traffic and consumers for merchants while how to manage the merchants is still a severe challenge for O2O platforms.

Also read: China B2B Market Insights 2016

China major luxury hotels were located in relatively advanced regions. Male users accounted for 60.5% and users with monthly income of 5,000 yuan (US$762.8) to 10,000 yuan (US$1525.6) accounted for the bulk. Ctrip and Qunar led China’s online luxury hotel booking market according to Analysys.

Travel and business were two major reasons for online luxury hotel users reserving luxury hotels online in 2015 accounting for 96.6% in total. China’s online travel market reached 122.23 billion yuan (US$19.07 billion) with an increase of 18.0% QoQ and 45.9% YoY in the third quarter of 2015.

Online reservation has become the major method for luxury hotel users. 91.5% users reserved luxury hotels online in China and 32.8% reserved through mobile devices in 2015. Most luxury hotel users reserved in advance while 1.4% still reserved at hotel receptions.

Ctrip and Qunar which led China’s luxury hotel online booking market accounted for 50.2% and 22.6% of market share in 2015. 14.1% users reserved hotel on hotel official websites.

Mobile app users were influenced by PC end users and the mobile user experience. Ctrip and Qunar saw significant advantages on mobile app users based on their large number of online users in 2015.

China online luxury hotel subscribers paid more attention to true hotel information and the number of available hotels when purchasing on online platforms in 2015. Authentic reviews and ratings were also among the influential factors.

China online luxury hotel users were more friendly towards automated information from hotels. 65.6% luxury hotel users were willing to receive automated e-mails or messages in 2015 and only 17.2% were not willing.

Online luxury hotel users were more satisfied with online hotel reservation platforms compared with general hotel users in China. Only 0.3% users were not pleased with service of the online luxury hotel reservation platforms in 2015.

The overall satisfaction of China online luxury hotel reservation platform was 29.2% in 2015. Ctrip, Qunar, and eLong maintained higher satisfaction than the overall in 2015.

The number of overseas luxury hotels were more compared with domestic like hotels among popular luxury hotels in China. Hilton, Shangri-la, and IHG were most popular among China’s online luxury hotel users in 2015.

China major luxury hotels were located in relatively advanced provinces and cities. Location of luxury hotels was affected by regional economic level. Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong and other advanced cities owned more luxury hotels.

Among China online luxury hotel users in 2015, 18.6% reserved hotels in America, 15.7% reserved hotels in Singapore, and 12.7% reserved hotels in Korea. Destination countries were basically the same with popular outbound travel countries.

China online luxury hotel subscribers paid more attention to hotel location and transportation facilities when choosing hotels online. Wi-Fi has become a necessity to attract China’s hotel users.

68.9% of online luxury hotel users stayed in hotels for less than 3 days in 2015, 28.9% four to six days, and 4.9% seven to nine days. Only 1.1% users lived over 10 days.

41.1% of users spent over 1,050 yuan (US$160.2) per day on average on luxury hotel rooms in 2015. Users spending less than 1,050 yuan on hotel room every day accounted for the majority.

76.8% of online luxury hotel users came from tier-1 cities in China in 2015. Users from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan accounted for 46.2% in total and users from principal cities and direct municipalities accounted for 30.7%.

Male users accounted for 60.5% of China online luxury hotel users in 2015 and the female accounted for 39.5%.

Users aged 31 to 35 years old were the driving force of online luxury hotel users in 2015. Only 19.9% online luxury hotel users were under 25 years old in 2015.

In generally, China online luxury hotel users had received high education. 68.5% had college background and 14.6% had master and above educational background.

Corporate junior managers (34.3%) were the major users of online luxury hotels in 2015, followed by corporate staff (32.1%) and civil servants (14.5%).

The average monthly income of 52.7% online luxury hotel users was above 10,000 yuan in 2015. Users with monthly income of 5,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan accounted for the bulk.

Also read: China Short-term Accommodation Market Overview 2015

China 5-star hotels gained 19.07 billion yuan (US$2.95 billion) in Q3 2015 although the number of 5 star hotels only accounted for 7% of total number of star hotels in China according to China National Tourism Administration.

12,037 out of 12,982 star-hotels in China tourism board registry have passed reviews by tourism administrations of corresponding provinces, among which the number of 2-star, 3-star and 4-star hotels together accounted for 92%.

Operating income of star hotels totaled 52.922 billion yuan (US$8.19 billion) in Q3 2015 in China. Food and beverage revenues reached 20.841 billion yuan (US$3.23 billion) accounting for 39.38% and room revenues were 25.381 billion yuan (US$3.93 billion) making up 47.96% of total revenues.

796 5-star hotels generated 19.07 billion yuan (US$2.95 billion) revenues making up over 34% of total revenues in Q3 2015. Room rental services and catering services were major revenue sources.

Average room spends were 330.18 yuan (US$51.10) per night with a rental rate of 58.47% in Q3 2015 in China. Average room spends of 5-star hotels were the highest and room spends of 1-star hotels were the lowest. The average rental rate of 4-star hotels was the highest, followed by 5-star hotels and 3-star hotels.

The top six regions with the highest room spends were Shanghai, Beijing, Hainan, Tianjin, Guangdong and Tibet. The top six regions with the highest room rental rate were Tibet, Hunan, Shanghai, Beijing, Guizhou and Xinjiang.

The average room spends increased in 21 regions compared to the average room spends index in Q3 2015 among which Shanghai increased by 33.95% compared with the previous quarter. Average room spends declined in 11 regions with Hubei Province dropping by 8.9%. The average rental rate grew in 25 provinces with the largest increase of 61.85% in Tibet compared to the previous quarter in Q3 2015.

With the popularity of online hotel reservation and OTA market and increasing demands of high-quality reservation, China’s star hotels are expected to gain more revenues.

Also read: China Hotel Search Behavior Overview 2015

China’s online travel market reached 122.23 billion yuan (US$19.07 billion) with an increase of 18.0% QoQ and 45.9% YoY in the third quarter of 2015 according to iResearch. The OTA market in China reached 5.96 billion yuan (US$0.93 billion) in Q3 2015 with an increase of 48.8% compared to the same period last year, led by Ctrip and eLong.

Related: China Online Travel Booking Users Overview Q3 2015

China’s online travel market reached 122.23 billion yuan (US$19.07 billion) in the third quarter this year with an increase of 18.0% compared to the previous quarter of this year and 45.9% compared to the same quarter last year according to iResearch.

The growth mainly resulted from the increasing subdivision travel products such as parent-child travel, cruise travel, free and easy travel and so on. The maturing online travel market and peak travel season from September to November also drove the growth.

China OTA market reached 5.96 billion yuan (US$0.93 billion) in Q3 2015 with an increase of 48.8% compared to the same period last year. OTA ticket revenues grew by 41.7% YoY in the third quarter of 2015 compared to 31.0% in Q2 2015.

Hotel revenues of China’s OTA market grew 55.7% YoY in the third quarter this year compared to 51.1% in the previous quarter. Business holiday travel revenues increased 58.4% YoY in the third quarter this year.

China’s OTA market remained stable in Q3 2015. After the merger, Ctrip shared hotel resources with eLong and promoted the outbound train ticket booking service that they accounted for 62.4% of China’s OTA market.

Net revenues in the third quarter of 2015 of Tuniu increased by 127.5% year-over-year to US$469.4 million. The total number of trips from organized tours (excluding local tours) increased by 142.1% year-over-year and the total number of trips from self-guided tours increased by 181.8% year-over-year on Tuniu in the third quarter of 2015.

Also read: China Short-term Accommodation Market Overview 2015

About 53.6% of Chinese outbound tourists take shopping as primary objectives of free and easy trips in 2015, according to a research of Mafengwo and TouTiao. At least half of their travel budget will be spent on shopping.

China’s outbound tourism shopping market has reached 684.1 billion yuan (US$107.6 billion) in 2015 – far more than the market size of US$3.8 billion (estimated data by BigData) for China’s cross-border shopping market. Chinese tourists spend an average of 5,830 yuan (US$917.3) on outbound shopping, an increase of 16.3% compared to the same period last year.

Several factors have stimulated the growth of China outbound travel shopping:

• Popularity of Chinese online travel websites 
• Easier visa applications, increasing international air flights
• Increased evaluation of RMB exchange rate
• Food safety concerns in China

Since China is the largest outbound travel origin country in the world, more countries have tended to loosen visa policy and add more Chinese-oriented facilities to attract more Chinese tourists. Simple sceneries couldn’t satisfy Chinese tourists’ needs.

Hotel

66.7% of Chinese tourists prefer to stay in hotels located in the central business district. Research of Mafengwo shows that one out of five Chinese travelers wishes to stay in hotels next to shopping malls.

Catering

Travelers shopping needs also promote the development of tourism destinations catering services. The report also shows that 67% travel shoppers at the same time want to enjoy delicious foods in 2015, far more food lovers compared with 2013 and 2014.

Shopping

With the increase of outbound Chinese tourists, more tourists’ shopping focus turned from buying luxury products to cosmetics, clothes, and daily necessities which are more close to their daily lives. Duty-free shops at airports always gather a large number of Chinese tourists.

China National Tourism Administration expects over 120 million trips traveling abroad in 2015 and total expenditure of Chinese outbound tourists will reach 1.23 trillion yuan (US$0.2 trillion).

Also read: China Annual Cross-border Consumption in 2015

Tourism-related consumption in China in H1 2015 totaled 1.65 trillion yuan (US$0.26 trillion), an increase of 14.5% YoY with over 2 billion person-trips. 61.9 million Chinese traveled abroad in H1 2015, an increase of 16.11% YoY.

Chinese women use smartphones more frequently and more engaged in lifestyle and travel research. And, they have higher quality travel needs. Women are more inclined to choose nature as a quick getaway from busy urban life, doing yoga, taking a walk or going to spa. Some hotels and resorts launch custom service for women’s such needs.

Find out more in previously published Chinese Women’s Travel Willingness Report in 2014

Also read: China Hotel Search Behavior Overview 2015

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the number of global tourists grows 4% in the first 8 months of 2015. International tourists arrivals in Indonesia increased by 2.87%, and Chinese tourists to Indonesia grew by 20.74%.

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism Policy Development and Research Institution, mainland Chinese travelers to Indonesia grew by 24.97% in August 2015, Egypt 25.51%, Singapore 23.28%, Taiwan  11.50% and the United Kingdom 16.68%.

In the first eight months in 2015, international tourists to Indonesia reached approximately 850,542 people, and the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia reached 779,348, an increase of 20.74%. They entered Indonesia mainly via Bali International Airport, Soviet Union in Jakarta Gano – Hatta International Airport and Sumatra, Riau Batam international Airport.

Since 2012, China had been the largest outbound tourism market in the world for 3 consecutive years, and China will invest more in the tourism industry.

Also read: China Hotel Search Behavior Overview 2015

China’s domestic travel frequency has been gradually increasing based on Qunar’s data from January to September 2015.

Travelers under  21 years old account for 14.25% of the total, and most of them are accompanied by their parents during travel. The post-90s is the main driving force of China tourism market, accounting for 39.97% of the total online travel booking users. Consumers aged between 31 and 35 y-o account for the smallest percentage of total travelers. Travelers over the age of 36 get stabilized recovery.

Lovers and couples like traveling most, accounting for 44.66%, followed by the whole family trips and individual trip. The ratio of individual travelers is increasing.

With the improvement of economic development and income level, travel is becoming an important need in people’s living in China. Self-driving trips, budget travel, backpack travel and others are rapidly included in the territory of modern Chinese ways to travel. While most consumers travel as a planned trip, their advanced bookings are made in a relatively short period. 46.21% travelers make bookings 5 days in advance. Only 8.3% travelers may make bookings more than 30 days before the trip.

Mid- and low-end hotels are major preference of consumers. As high as 43.25% will book hotels under 300 yuan, and only 12.67% over 800 yuan.  Due to the popularization of Qunar, Ctrip, and other online hotel booking websites, more high-end hotel prices get deep discounts.

Among 32 capital cities in China, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou received most online bookings. Lhasa, Hohhot, Yinchuan and other midwestern residents rank at the bottom, who travel less.

Dali, Kunming, Lijiang, Xishuangbanna, Hong Kong, Jiuzhaigou, Sanya, and Beijing are top 8 inbound destinations; Bangkok, Pattaya, Krabi, Phuket, Bali Jeju and Seoul are top 7 Southeast Asian destinations. Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Sanya, Chongqing and Xi’an are most willing to spend money on accommodation during tourism in order to enjoy a more comfortable travel.

Also reads: China to invest $278.7 Billion in Tourism in 2025

About 64,000 mainland Chinese travelers went to UK in the second quarter of 2015, according to the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom.

UK has made much effort to attract Chinese tourists and Chinese tourists to Britain grew by 33% YoY in Q2 2015. However, although RMB appreciated against GBP, Chinese tourists spending in UK fell by 6% to 151 million pounds (about 1.48 billion yuan).

Chinese outbound visitors are expected to exceed more than 120 million this year. The top five outbound destinations for Chinese tourists all are Asian countries and regions. France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany are among the top ten travel destinations for Chinese.

UK received 7.4 million tourists from mainland Europe in Q2 2015, 1 million from the United States and 152,000 from India.

Also read: China Hotel Search Behavior Overview 2015

With the policy of “internet +” in China today, a large number of consumers tend to research the hotel information through online search engines, book or reserve hotels in OTA and hotel official websites, and share the experience in the social networking platforms. Chinese consumers’ demands are showed on the Internet; therefore internet data become a powerful tool to understand Chinese consumers’ needs and behaviors.

Baidu has released a report on China’s hotel industry. Luxury hotels and budget hotels account for definitely large market share, and midrange hotels only makes up 7% of the total market. High-end hotels keep a fierce growth momentum and competition; the budget hotel market is eventually shared by several chain hotels. Midrange hotels only possess 7% of the market, and are less influenced by the season.

Resort hotels and premium luxury hotels are top 2 most searched high-end hotels. Basing on consumers’ major search words, high-end hotels pioneer in localized services, such as wedding feast, honeymoon tour, fitness and so on to enlarge marketing and maintain high growth.

Facility, location, price, service and catering are major focal spots of Chinese consumers. They always lay emphasis on facility and location when planning to live in budget hotels, attach importance to service and catering in luxury hotels, and price in midrange hotels. Different from the traditional three-star or four-star hotels, midrange hotels grow out of local budget hotels and usually are part of hotel chains. Prices are mostly set between 300 yuan to 500 yuan per night. To improve sales, midrange hotels need to broaden business items and foster brand loyalty.

Low price, convenience and good service are powerful merits for budget hotels to attract consumers. The search volume of budget hotels fell slightly, but comments and reviews increased. Cheap hotels should enhance public fame and publicity. Major budget hotels in China are Jinjiang Inn, 7 Days Inn, Home Inn, Huazhu Hotels and so on.

Since 2012, China had been the largest outbound tourism market in the world. With the rising living status, more and more Chinese would like to pay a visits in famous scenic spots. Many tourists prefer to book air tickets and hotels together in advance. For example, according to a report by the Chinese online tourism website (tao.117go.com), as high as 61% of Chinese tourists have ordered air tickets and hotels in advance for the tour in Chinese National Day. In the future, online hotel booking will become the major booking method, and it is expected to make a large step forward.

Also read: China the Largest Inbound Tourism Market for Japan H1 2015

The total number of China’s tourists was estimated to exceed 4.1 billion person-trips in 2015, and more travellers would choose short-term accommodations during their trips.

According to the survey by Tencent, 58% of respondents were aware of the short-term accommodations, of which about half of the respondents once used the short rental service. The remaining 42% of the respondents didn’t know about short-term accommodations, but 28.5% said they were willing to try. Only 13.5% of respondents didn’t know and unwilling to try.

Housing needs within a week would encourage people to consider the use of short rental service. However, when staying longer than a month, more users would also consider the short-term accommodations.

Survey results showed that about 40% users would use short rental service during vacation. And in addition, when seeking jobs, receiving medical care, on business trips and so on would also encourage users to rent short-term accommodations.

Low price was the major reason when people tried short-term accommodations. Beyond this, there were 36.6% of users who chose the short-term rental because of the convenient transportation, flexible lease, high level of privacy.

In addition to price, house facilities, security, and sanitary were the three most focused factors. 44% of people surveyed also focused on the surroundings and transportation; the actual condition of houses and the service attitude of landlords were also considered factors. Location, level of storey, residential facilities were less considered when renting short-term accommodations.

Over 75% of users said their expected price for short-term accommodations would be no more than 100 yuan per day. Although there were still about 25% of users paying over 100 yuan per day, half of the users expectations were within 150 yuan.

Among the people surveyed, 55.6% were willing to lease their house for short-term accommodations. The other 44.4% were not because of privacy concerns.

Also read: China Travel Market Reached 127 Million in H1 2015

According to a report by the Chinese online tourism website (tao.117go.com), as high as 61% of Chinese tourists have ordered air tickets and hotels in advance for over 10 days tour, by combining Mid-autumn Festival and Chinese National Day holiday together.

This year, only three-day working days will remain after Mid-Autumn Festival, followed by Chinese National Day. Many people applied for several days off to enjoy a long holiday. Then, Oversea travel destinations become their top choices.

Among free and easy trip travelers, the top 10 are Tokyo, Taipei, Osaka, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul and Kenting. It is worth mentioning that Los Angeles is becoming a hot new destination for Chinese tourists going on free and easy trips, and it is the only destination out of the Asia Pacific region. Besides, South Korea has gained a strong recovery and returned to the list.

Free and easy tour travelers are more inclined to focus on leisure and relaxation compared with the traditional travelers traveling in groups. 90% purchase are for entertainment.

And compared with summer holiday, the ratio of office workers traveling during the National Day is increasing that recreational features become more significant. The tickets order of hottest attraction during the summer holiday has decreased from 38% to 28% this October. In the mean time, orders of recreational goods and transportation card tickets account for respectively 5 percentage points and 3 percentage points increase.

Family tourism is a prominent feature of Chinese free tour travelers. More than 74% of orders came from families with three or more members. And it is also timely to promote the development of outbound chartered vehicle business; such orders have increased by more than 100% compared with the same period last year.

Also read: China to invest $278.7 Billion in Tourism in 2025

In recent years, with the penetration of online travel applications and improvement of people’s living standard, more and more people chose to travel on holidays. The total number of outbound and inbound tourists in China increased by 9.8% to 127 million in H1 2015 according to Mafengwo.cn.

Payment Method

Based on the research by Mafengwo, an online travel company, 43.2% of Chinese travelers preferred payment in advance while 56.8% preferred to pay at the hotel reception, considering the possible changes during travel and security problems of electronic payment.

Selection of Hotels

In the first half of 2015, Chinese tourists in general would choose a hotel after browsing 14 hotels at weekdays, more than 11 in 2014; and on weekends they would on average browse 18 hotels before selecting their favorite hotels, more than 13 in 2014. Apart from price and reviews, hotel style and comprehensive condition were core factors that would influence final decisions.

Pre-booking Days

Chinese domestic travelers on average booked hotels 12 days in advance, and booked outbound hotels 42 days before the trips, respectively an increase of 2 days and 5 days compared with 2014. PC users would reserve hotels earlier than uses in mobile end. PC orders would be made with an average of 32 days in advance, and the mobile orders with an average of 15 days in advance.

Refund Rate

72.02% of the hotel reservation cancelation were done by the female users, and only 27.98% by the male users.

Taiwan BnB

BnB (bed and breakfast) was one of the attractions of Taiwan. Taipei, with only 15.95% of total bookings in Taiwan, accounted for 63.96% BnB booking market. To attract more mainland tourists and increase the order of BnB, Taiwan needed to integrate resources further and strengthen the publicity and promotion.

Hot 5 Star Hotel Reservation Cities

In H1 2015, the top three cities that citizens preferred booking 5 star hotels were Hangzhou (a YoY increase of 287.67%), Fuzhou (226.67%), and Kunming (200%).

Hot Online Reservation Cities

Beijing was China’s most developed online hotel reservations city with one out of four booking hotels online. The top five cities that citizens preferred online booking were Beijing (23.96%), Shanghai (20.86%), Guangzhou (14.56%), Nanjing (7.51%), and Hangzhou (6.95%).

Hot 5 Star Hotels

The top 5 star hotels that Chinese tourists favored most were Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, Pai Island Resort and Racha Hotel in Thailand, L’Hotel Nina et Convention Centre in Hongkong, and AYANA Resort and Spa in Indonesia.

Also read: China Travel Market to Reach $617.4B in 2015

In Q2 2015, China’s online accommodations booking market reached 19.52 billion yuan (US$3.09 billion), with an increase of 15.9% QoQ and 63.5% YoY.

Also read: China Online Vacation Market in Q1 2015

Recently Hotels.cn released the fourth ” Survey on Chinese tourists traveling abroad in 2015″, which reveals that the sustained and steady growing China’s overseas travel market has brought enormous business opportunities to the global tourism and hotels. In 2014, the number of Chinese traveled abroad exceeded for the first time 107 million, with an increase of 20%. And the latest annual survey also shows that the high-tech and younger generation and more affluent tourists has become the main force in the growth of the population.

Since 2012, China had been the largest outbound tourism market in the world. Chinese overseas travelers are expected to reach 174 million in the next four years, and the total annual consumption was up to USD 264 billion, almost equivalent to the annual gross national product of Singapore and other developed countries. The report shows the growing influence of the “Millennials” tourists, who prefer to high-tech products, and are between 18 to 35 year-olds. 59% of respondent hotels have indicated that in the past year they feel Chinese tourists at the age of 35 or younger increased, and the trend is expected to continue. The Chinese “Millennials” growth is more significant in Asian; 78% of respondent hotels said that a certain proportion of the population kept growth in the past year.

Another highlight in this report is the growth of visitors who rank in the top 10%  Chinese high spend group. In 2014, the average daily consumption of Chinese oversea tourists (including accommodation) was RMB 3,324 (USD 536) while the average top 10% tourist’s daily consumption was up to RMB 13,800 (USD 2,225), four times higher. While the top 5% on average spent RMB 20,896 (USD 3,368) per day, marked the emerge of the “super luxury”.

Using the Internet for travel booking is quite common nowadays among outbound Chinese tourists; so is travel planning. In the past 12 months, 80% Chinese tourists said they had used mobile phones, desktops or laptops to book tickets and plan trips while the ratio in 2013 was only 53%.

Also read: How Many Chinese Students Studying Overseas Compared with Others?

China online travel was a RMB307.79 billion (US$50.33 billion) market with an increase of 38.9% in 2014 according to iResearch. Online ticket market, online hotel booking market and online vacation exceeded RMB193.07 billion (US$31.57 billion), RMB63.25 billion (US$10.34 billion) and RMB44.88 billion (US$7.33 billion) respectively in 2014.

China online ticket market is relatively mature in online travel market. According to iResearch’s data, online ticket booking market value in 2014 was RMB193.07 billion with an increase of 41.1%.

It is believed that there are two major reasons for online ticket’s rapid development in China:

1. Qunar, Alitrip and other online travel companies now provide various online ticket service.
2. Airlines now promote their official websites to provide attractive price for travelers.

Also read: China Rural Travel Exceeded 1.2 Bln Person-trips in 2014

Qunar total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2014 were RMB519.8 million (US$83.8 million), an increase of 107.1% year-on-year.  Mobile revenues  were RMB257.5 million (US$41.5 million), an increase of 400.7% year-on-year, representing 49.5% of total and 52.3% of pay-for-performance (“P4P”) revenues, compared to 20.5% and 22.6%, respectively, in the corresponding period of 2013.

Total Estimated Flight Ticket volume (TEFT) and Total Estimated Hotel Room-night volume (TEHR) for the fourth quarter of 2014 were 24.6 million and 8.9 million, respectively, an increase of 61.8% and 107.7% year-on-year.

Qunar’s Performance in Fiscal Year 2014

Qunar’s total revenues for fiscal year 2014 were RMB1,756.8 million (US$283.1 million), an increase of 106.5% YoY. Mobile revenues for fiscal year 2014 were RMB708.7 million (US$114.2 million), an increase of 434.9% YoY, representing 40.3% of total revenues. P4P revenues for fiscal year 2014 were RMB1,666.7 million (US$268.6 million), an increase of 115.9% year-on-year.

Among the P4P revenues, flight and flight-related revenues for fiscal year 2014 were RMB1,171.2 million (US$188.8 million), an increase of 112.5% year-on-year. Year-on-year P4P flight and flight-related revenue growth were primarily due to a 64.0% increase in TEFT and a 29.6% increase in revenue per ticket.

P4P hotel revenues were RMB347.3 million (US$56.0 million), an increase of 79.0% year-on-year. Year-on-year P4P hotel revenue growth was primarily due to a 98.1% increase in TEHR and a 9.7% decrease in revenue per room night.

Gross profit for fiscal year 2014 was RMB1,301.9 million (US$209.8 million), an increase of 92.1% year-on-year. Gross margin for fiscal year 2014 was 74.1%, compared to 79.6% for 2013. The year-on-year increase in gross profit was primarily due to the significant increase in total revenues, and was partially offset by an increase in online payment processing fees, recorded in cost of revenues, which the Company began to incur in the first quarter of 2014.

Also read: Travel Industry Performance on Weibo 2014

eLong’s hotel room nights stayed in the fourth quarter of 2014 increased 27% to 9.4 million room nights compared to 7.4 million in Q4 2013 according to eLong unaudited financial results.

Mobile bookings comprised approximately 55% of eLong brand room nights, excluding room nights from non-eLong brand distribution partners and resellers, in the fourth quarter; and the cumulative downloads of eLong mobile apps reached 132 million.

Domestic hotel coverage network expanded 186% to over 200,000 domestic hotels as of December 31, 2014, compared to 70,000 as of December 31, 2013.

More than 28,000 properties have contracted to use the free, cloud-based, multi-device hotel property management systems, Yunzhanggui and Zhuzhe, produced by eLong investee companies.

eLong Business Results in Q4 2014

Total Revenues

Total revenues by product for the fourth quarter of 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013 were as follows (in RMB million):

eLong net revenues for the fourth quarter decreased 6% to RMB246.2 million (US$39.7 million), compared to RMB261.0 million(US$43.1 million) in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Hotel Reservations

Hotel revenue decreased 6% in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, primarily due to lower hotel revenue per room night, partially offset by higher volume. Room nights stayed in the fourth quarter increased 27% year-on-year to 9.4 million, and hotel revenue per room night decreased due to the growth of our coupon program and lower commission rate hotel room nights for which we recognize revenues on a net basis, partially offset by the growth of prepurchased hotel room night transactions for which we recognize revenues on a gross basis. Hotel revenue comprised 79% of total revenues, compared to 80% in the prior year quarter.

Air Ticketing

Air tickets booking segments increased to 1.0 million in the fourth quarter, an increase 23% compared to the prior year period. eLong air revenue decreased 13% in the fourth quarter, primarily due to a decrease in air revenue per segment. Air revenue decreased to 11% of total revenues from 12% in the prior year quarter.

Highlights of eLong’s performance in 2014

Total revenues by product for the full year 2014 as compared to 2013 were as follows (in RMB million):

• Hotel room nights stayed in 2014 increased 32% to 34.2 million room nights compared to 25.8 million in 2013.
• Hotel revenue in 2014 increased 9% to RMB938.8 million (US$151.3 million), compared to RMB858.2 million (US$141.8 million) in 2013.
• Net revenues in 2014 increased 8% to RMB1,086.2 million (US$175.1 million), compared to RMB1,009.7 million (US$166.8 million) in 2013.
• Air segments increased 8% to 3.3 million for the full year 2014. Air revenue for the full year 2014 decreased 7%, primarily due to a 14% decrease in air revenue per segment. Air revenue decreased to 11% of total revenues from 12% in the prior year.

Our mobile lodging transactions have surpassed 100,000 per day on peak days; and our lodging network has grown to more than 200,000 properties in China and more than 400,000 properties worldwide. Facing fierce competition, we are innovating more quickly and investing more in our products, technology and people than at any time in our history. We will continue to invest in order to accelerate our growth in 2015

said Guangfu Cui, Chief Executive Officer of eLong.

According to Hurun Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2015, Chinese luxury travelers on average go on business trip for eight days a month and the super rich are away for 11 days a month. And they also take 8 and 12 days of holiday respectively, one more than last year.

Chinese New Year is preferred time to travel, followed by October Golden Week and the summer holidays. The Peninsula Hotel replaced the Shangri-La as China’s preferred hotel brand; the Mandarin Oriental improved the fastest, rising to second place. Aman Resorts is named Best Luxury Boutique Hotel Brand in Hurun Best of the Best Awards 2015.

Australia is the top luxury travel destination, followed by France. Maldives shoots into third place. UK back into the Top 10.

↑ ranked higher than last year ↓ ranked lower than last year   * New entry this year

The same survey also unveiled that in China gift-giving market, travel gift vouchers continued to show a strong rise for the third year. Travel retail continues to change the dynamics of luxury in China, with 7 out of 10 luxury goods bought by Chinese now being bought overseas.

Read more: 74% Chinese Rural Residents Willing to Travel in 2014

Qunar announced its alliance with 22 of the world’s premium high-end hotel groups. The hotel groups, which include Wyndham, Club Med, Banyan Tree, Howard Johnson, and Millennium, will open their global inventories to the Qunar platform.

Qunar’s travel search platform covers over 540,000 hotels globally and over 223,000 hotels within its direct hotel network, having become the second largest hotel platform in China in terms of room nights stayed in Q3 2014.

Qunar will work closely with the hotel groups to develop a diverse range of products, including pay-upon-arrival, prepay, group buy, and “flight + hotel” packages, as well as integrated marketing campaigns. The company will also provide consumer intelligence to help hotels increase occupancy rates with better yield management. Qunar will offer its unrivaled data-analysis capabilities to help the hotel groups grow and deepen their membership bases and help to promote those hotels’ loyalty programs to more Qunar users.

Qunar’s total revenues for Q3 2014 more than doubled YoY to US$81.6 million and its mobile revenues was US$33 million an increase of 445.1% YoY. And, it attempted foreign online travel market in December 2014 with the launch of its overseas sub-brand: Qua; and this English website domain is qua.com which provides international air-tickets booking service for English users.

Also read: China’s Top 4 Online Travel Companies Compared

Qunar’s total revenues for Q3 2014 more than doubled YoY to US$81.6 million and its mobile revenues was US$33 million an increase of 445.1% YoY.

Qunar’s total revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were RMB501.1 million (US$81.6 million), an increase of 107.8% year-on-year. Mobile revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were RMB202.7 million (US$33.0 million), an increase of 445.1% year-on-year, representing 40.4% of total revenues, compared to 15.4% in the corresponding period of 2013. Pay-for-performance (“P4P”) revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were RMB476.4 million (US$77.6 million), an increase of 119.3% year-on-year and 25.8% quarter-on-quarter.

Qunar’s total Estimated Flight Ticket volume (TEFT) and Total Estimated Hotel Room-night volume (TEHR) for the third quarter of 2014 were 22.7 million and 10.0 million, respectively, an increase of 57.0% and 84.6% year-on-year.

Hotel network direct sales contributed 51% of Qunar’s total hotel volume for the third quarter in 2014. Mobile continued to be a key driver of the growth, accounting for 40% of total revenue, 55% of TEHR, and 43% of TEFT.

For the fourth quarter of 2014, Qunar expects year-on-year revenue growth in the range of 90% to 95%.

Find out Ctrip and eLong’s Q3 performance here and here.

Also read: Guest Satisfaction Research of China Hotels

For the third quarter of 2014, Ctrip reported total revenues of RMB2.3 billion (US$368 million), representing a 38% increase from the same period in 2013. Total revenues for the third quarter of 2014 increased by 24% from the previous quarter.

Ctrip accommodation reservation and transportation ticketing services maintained robust growth, reaching 69% and 98% year-over-year in volume respectively. The number of Ctrip mobile app downloads reached 350 million, growing 75% from the previous quarter.

Through the open-platform, Ctrip work with around 1,000 hotel agency partners, China’s top 600 air ticketing agencies, and over 800 local travel agencies. Total hotel transactions through the open-platform reached approximately RMB1 billion during the third quarter.

Accommodation reservation revenues amounted to RMB950 million (US$155 million) for the third quarter of 2014, representing a 56% increase year-on-year, primarily driven by an increase of 69% in accommodation reservation volume, partially offset by the decrease of commission per room night. Accommodation reservation revenues increased by 26% quarter-on-quarter.

Transportation ticketing revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were RMB800 million (US$130 million), representing a 32% increase year-on-year, driven by an increase of 98% in ticketing volume. Transportation ticketing revenues increased by 10% quarter-on-quarter.

Packaged-tour revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were RMB358 million (US$58 million), representing a 12% increase year-on-year, driven by an increase of 52% in volume of organized tours and self-guided tours. Packaged-tour revenues increased by 74% quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to seasonality.

Corporate travel revenues for the third quarter of 2014 were RMB104 million (US$17 million), representing a 45% increase year-on-year, primarily driven by the increased corporate travel demand from business activities. Corporate travel revenues increased by 15% quarter-on-quarter, primarily due to seasonality.

For the third quarter of 2014, Ctrip net revenues were RMB2.1 billion (US$347 million), representing a 38% increase from the same period in 2013. Net revenues for the third quarter of 2014 increased by 24% from the previous quarter.

Gross margin was 72% for the third quarter of 2014, compared to 75% in the same period in 2013 and remained consistent with that in the previous quarter.

For the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company expects to continue the net revenue growth year-on-year at a rate of approximately 30%.

Ctrip Income Statement

Read more: Understanding Chinese Luxury Travelers

eLong revenue by product for Q3 2014 was 323.5 million yuan, an increase of 100% QoQ and 2% YoY according to its unaudited financial results.

Hotel room nights stayed in the third quarter increased 22% to 9.4 million room nights compared to 7.7 million in the prior year period. Hotel commission revenue for the third quarter increased 6% to RMB269.8 million (US$44.0 million), compared to RMB255.2 million (US$41.7 million) in the third quarter of 2013.

eLong’s net revenues for the third quarter increased 2% to RMB301.5 million (US$49.1 million), compared to RMB296.9 million (US$48.5 million) in the third quarter of 2013. Total revenues for the third quarter increased to RMB323.5 million (US$52.7 million).

eLong mobile bookings comprised 48% of eLong brand room nights, and cumulative downloads of eLong mobile apps reached the 100 million milestone, in the third quarter.

More than 20,000 properties have contracted to use the free, cloud-based, multi-device hotel property management systems, Yunzhanggui and Zhuzhe, produced by eLong investee companies, compared to over 10,000 in the second quarter.

Our mobile lodging transactions have now surpassed 100,000 per day on peak days during holiday periods; and our lodging network has grown to more than 155,000 properties in China and over 365,000 properties worldwide. Every day our mobile applications provide real savings to our customers with tens of thousands of discounted lodging products, including pre-paid, flash sale and last minute products,

said Guangfu Cui, Chief Executive Officer of eLong.

eLong’s total revenues by product for the third quarter of 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013 were as follows (in RMB million):

Air ticketing commission revenue decreased 24% in the third quarter of 2014 compared to the prior year quarter, due to a 21% decrease in commission per segment and a 4% decrease in air segments. Decline in commission per segment was primarily due to the lowering by major Chinese airlines of the base air commission rate from 3% to 2% in July 2014. Air ticketing commission revenue decreased to 8% of total revenues from 11% in the prior year quarter.

eLong gross margin in the third quarter of 2014 was 70%, compared to 75% in the third quarter of 2013. Gross margin decline was primarily due to a decrease in hotel commission revenue per room night.

eLong operating expenses for the third quarter of 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013 were as follows (in RMB million):

Total operating expenses increased 4% for the third quarter of 2014 compared to the third quarter of 2013. Total operating expenses increased to 96% of net revenues in the third quarter of 2014 from 95% in the prior year quarter. Operating loss wasRMB79.5 million in the third quarter of 2014 compared to operating loss of RMB57.9 million in the prior year quarter.

Net loss for the third quarter of 2014 was RMB58.3 million, compared to net loss of RMB50.4 million during the prior year quarter.

eLong currently expects net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2014 to be within the range of a decline of 20% to an increase of 10% compared to the fourth quarter of 2013.

Read more: Guest Satisfaction Research of China Hotels

With the rapid development of mobile Internet, there are various ways for China hotel guests to make comments on their experience. In 2013, hotel guests’ comments on Ctrip mobile app accounted for one fourth of total comments on Ctrip according to a research from Ctrip. In the future, mobile app would be an important channel for China hotel reviews.

Total downloads of Ctrip app were over 200 million and the number of activation is over 100 million.

As of the end of 2013, the number of total comments on China hotels booked through Ctrip exceeded over 10 million, which was 10 times more than the one in 2010.

According to Ctrip’s research, score of hotel facility among four aspects was lower than the other three ones “hotel location”, “room tidiness”, “hotel service” in 2013. And many hotels are now improving the facilities with increased investment.

The research shows hotels with higher star ratings continued to receive good reviews and satisfactions while ones with lower star ratings saw more improvement in guests satisfactions.

From 2010 to 2013, the ratio of China hotels’ reply to guests’ order in tier-3 cities was higher than the one in tier-1 cities.

In 17 provinces in China, Henan had highest hotel order reply ratio, followed by Guangxi and Shandong.

In 2013, hotels in tier-2 cities had highest ratio of reply to hotel guests’ review.

Top 3 provinces in China in 2013 by ratio of hotel review reply were Hainan, Heilongjiang and Gunagxi.

Also read on China travel news and insights here

China has become an important tourism destination in Asia and the fifth-largest tourism country in the world. China Tourism Academy estimates total revenue generated from China’s travel industry is going to reach RMB 3.3 trillion (USD 530 billion) this year with 3.76 billion person trips.

Also read: Top Travel Guide Apps in China

Qunar.com total revenues for the second quarter of 2014 were RMB400.4 million (US$64.5 million), an increase of 127.3% year-on-year, the highest revenue growth rate in ten quarters.

Qunar has built strength on mobile. Qunar Travel apps downloads had reached 105.716 million times by this May being the first travel app exceeding 100 million downloads according to Jinlv Consulting, a research and consultancy firm for travel industry. Its mobile revenues for Q2 were RMB142.3 million (US$22.9 million), an increase of 511.8% year-on-year, representing 35.5% of total revenues, compared to 13.2% in the corresponding period of 2013.

Total Estimated Flight Ticket volume (TEFT) and Total Estimated Hotel Room-night volume (TEHR) for the second quarter of 2014 were 19.1 million and 7.3 million, respectively, an increase of 66.1% and 105.2% year-on-year.

We witnessed another strong quarter of accelerating revenue growth and impressive volume growth across our business units, driven by market share gains and pricing leverage. Returns on our investments have been coming in earlier and quicker than we had expected,

said Chenchao (CC) Zhuang, chief executive officer and co-founder of Qunar.

Flight revenue per ticket grew 46% year-on-year, a testament to our growing market position and to the superior value proposition Qunar brings to travel service providers.

We remain focused on providing consumers with the most comprehensive product offerings and best deals in the industry,

Mr. Zhuang added.

In the second quarter alone, we signed over 72,000 hotels, taking our direct sales network to over 165,000 hotels. We also consolidated our position as the platform of choice for mobile users. Tour package GMV maintained its rapid momentum, expanding by more than five times year-on-year.

We are pleased to see our investments in technology and product sourcing continue to drive strong growth right across the business,

said Sam Sun, chief financial officer of Qunar.

However, Qunar sees loss in the second quarter. Net loss attributable to Qunar’s shareholders for the second quarter of 2014 was RMB421.6 million (US$68.0 million), compared to RMB41.2 million in the corresponding period of 2013 and RMB183.6 million in the first quarter of 2014.

For the third quarter of 2014, the Company expects year-on-year revenue growth in the range of 90% to 95%. This forecast reflects Qunar’s current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Get an overview of China’s online travel market here.

Source: Qunar

Hotel commission revenue for the second quarter increased 28% to RMB254.1 million (US$41.0 million), compared to RMB198.6 million (US$32.4 million) in the second quarter of 2013.

Net revenues for the second quarter increased 25% to RMB292.4 million (US$47.1 million), compared to RMB234.3 million (US$38.2 million) in the second quarter of 2013. Total revenues for the second quarter increased to RMB312.4 million (US$50.4 million).

Mobile bookings comprised 45% of eLong brand room nights in the second quarter. Cumulative downloads of eLong mobile apps now exceed 80 million.

In the second quarter, our lodging network grew to 120,000 contracted properties in China and nearly 325,000 properties worldwide. Every day our mobile applications provide real savings to our customers with tens of thousands of discounted lodging products, including pre-paid, flash sale, last minute and groupbuy products. With our broad range of accommodations products and attractive discounts, mobile has now become our largest booking channel, surpassing 60,000 transactions on peak days,

said Guangfu Cui, Chief Executive Officer of eLong.

eLong expects net revenues for the third quarter of 2014 to increase by 10% to 20% compared to the third quarter of 2013.

According to iResearch, China Online Travel transaction hit 220.46 billion yuan (USD 33 billion), with a 29.0% YoY growth. The revenue of China OTA (Online Travel Agency) market reached 11.76 billion yuan (USD 1.9 billion), up 26.2% compared with last year.

The compound growth rate was estimated to 20.5%, with a market size of 465.01 billion yuan (USD 76.15 billion). iResearch regarded the increasing transaction of online air ticket, hotel booking and package holidays were main causes for the growth of online travel.

As online air ticket business tended to become mature and had a high penetration in air ticket booking market, it would keep a slow growth rate in the future. In contrast, hotel booking and package holiday were expected to usher in explosive growth, affected by the rapid rise of online leisure travel. Moreover, the market share of package holiday in total online travel market  increased year by year. In addition, the rise of online short-term rental, car rental and taxi booking might become new growth points of online travel market.

It’s predicted that the revenue of OTA market would maintain a steady growth of over 20% from 2014 to 2017.

Influenced by the extensive price war in the industry, the growth rate of OTA market was lower than the whole online travel market in 2013. Since Q3 2013, OTA companies represented by Ctrip and eLong launched a price war on mobile client. They increased promotion effort by more cash rebate and frequent promotion activities to capture market share. The price war led to commissions of hotel booking and air ticket decline directly. It’s predicted by iResearch that the price war targeted mobile travel and other segments would last, but in the long run, the revenue of OTA market would keep a strong growth.

The Tourism Law created a big impact on traditional offline travel agencies since published in Oct 2013. Because of the price transparency and product diversity advantages of OTA, tourists tended to shift from offline to online. Now OTA companies began entering the online package holiday market based on their advantages.

In the mean time, the yearlong price war escalated rather than slowed down at the end of 2013, owing to Double 12, a new tourism festival created for promotion. In Dec 2013, Ctrip set up a new division to develop ticket service of scenic spots. The competition between Ctrip and other leading OTAs in ticket market would intensify in the coming year.

The trend of mobile internet had changed almost every internet service business; to be the top, you just need to seize the mobile market. It’s the consensus in the online travel industry. The mobile travel market and travel apps were favored by investors. Online travel distribution giants increased mobile business input, and performed well in mobile travel market. The status of mobile travel was upgrading and becoming the core channel of travel booking.

According to People’s Daily report on January 9, 2014, in 2013, Chinese outbound travelers reached 97.3 million, with 14 million more travelers than 2012. It was estimated to break 100 million in 2014.

In 2012, Chinese outbound tourism consumption hit USD 102 billion, ranking the first in the world. According to Song Rui, Chief of Travel Department in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that overseas consumption in 2013 would surely be even higher than 2012.

Chinese outbound tourists have been increasing dramatically, in 2004, there were merely 29 million outbound travelers. The rapid development in China in the past decade created a large population of middle class, who held interest for exploring foreign countries. Besides, many European countries and Asian countries simplified Chinese tourism visa procedures, and expected to attract more rich Chinese tourists.

An increasing number of foreign hotels and shops tried everything to cater to Chinese consumers. For example, a world famous department store Harrods in London revealed that it had hired 70 Chinese speaking staff and installed over 100 Unionpay imprinter/POS.

This is the part 3 of a series of posts that gives you insights on China LBS travel market users behaviors. Part 1, Part 2.

Travelers who used mobile map apps showed a relatively high demand for POI information. 69.8% of them demanded for detailed shops information in the neighbourhood, 53.5% asked for shops coupons nearby. 69.8% consumers searched restaurants on mobile map app, 58.1% searched for tourist site.

Mobile map app began to enter catering industry, and Dianping still had advantage in catering industry with 58.7%. Baidu map ranked the second with 41.3%, followed by Autonavi with 26.1%.

Consumers would gain comment, coupons, group buy information on mobile food apps.

Vertical mobile app for searching hotels in travel had great advantages, except for Baidu map, which ranked top with 48.9% gained wide recognition for its one-stop services. Ctrip ranked the second with 37.8%, and Qunar hotel ranked the third with 28.9%.

In tickets booking market, vertical apps won the hearts of consumers, 63.6% consumers used Qunar to book air tickets, train tickets and tourist sites tickets. Ctrip ranked the second with 54.5%. Tickets booking mobile app still needed to expand their market, about 10% users barely used these apps.

Mobile taxi apps were just in the beginning stage, consumer using habits still needed to cultivate. 70% consumers barely used taxi apps. In the future, with the growing of DIY tour, the demands for taxi mobile apps would grow.