Preferred Hotel Group on Thursday launched China Ready, a marketing program that includes a simplified Chinese website, dynamic marketing and social media campaigns, new distribution channels, and, for participating hotels, a bespoke certification initiative.
The aim of China Ready is to 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 new business.
The Chinese website features images, booking functionalities, strategic search engine optimization, and a direct connection to the country’s most popular social media platform, Sina Weibo, to facilitate user engagement. The new site will complement Preferred’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. To engage further with the market, Preferred Hotel Group also registered its Chinese brand names.
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 programming 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.
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.
