Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Marriott International, Inc. have announced the establishment of a joint venture to redefine the travel experience for the hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers travelling abroad and domestically every year.

The joint venture will leverage Marriott Internationals global portfolio of brands and unparalleled hospitality expertise to revolutionise the travel experience as well as Alibabas digital retail leadership and its role as a gateway for international brands to reach over 500 million mobile monthly active users across its platforms. 

"We have long admired Alibabas digital expertise and deep understanding of Chinese consumers needs and behaviours," said Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International. 

"By forming this partnership, we are pairing our hospitality expertise with Alibabas digital travel platform, retail expertise and digital payment platform, Alipay, and driving membership to our loyalty programs. With the growing number of Chinese consumers exploring new destinations, this venture will introduce our hotels worldwide to this new and growing travelling class."

Drawing on resources from both Marriott and Alibaba, the joint venture will manage Marriotts storefront on Fliggy, Alibabas travel service platform. It will also market directly to Alibabas customer base, provide a link between Marriotts loyalty programs and Alibabas loyalty program, and support Marriott hotels globally with content, programmes and promotions customised for the Chinese traveller.

As incomes rise, Chinas middle class is looking for higher quality products and travel experiences. This new venture is designed to satisfy consumers expectations for seamless, integrated, personalised, and convenient travel solutions that connect travellers directly to Marriotts portfolio of international hotel brands. 

The travel industry is a valuable growth opportunity as Chinas travellers are expected to take an estimated 700 million trips over the next five years. Marriotts owners and franchisees globally will benefit from the joint venture by capturing a more significant share of this growing Chinese travel market and lower distribution costs associated with the joint venture.

"We are proud to join forces with Marriott International combining our large-scale consumer base, leading-edge technology and consumer insights with their unparalleled hospitality expertise," said Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group. 

"Together, we are elevating and redefining the travel experience for Chinese consumers to be more seamless and personalised as they embark on adventures to discover the world."

The joint venture will elevate the travel experience for Chinese travellers in the following ways:

Making Global Travel Easy: The joint venture will provide newly integrated functionality to make the entire travel experience genuinely frictionless from planning, booking, paying and managing a trip to all of the activities associated once at the destination like shopping, dining and sightseeing. The joint venture will deliver user-friendly technology solutions that will open up a world of travel options for Chinese consumers.

Personalised and VIP Experiences: The joint venture will leverage technology to curate customised experiences for Chinese consumers. Marriott will offer access to private concerts, family focused experiences and court-side seats at sporting and other events through its Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Moments and Marriott Rewards Moments programs. Eligible members from Alibabas loyalty program will benefit from personalised hospitality programs and Marriotts award-winning SPG ambassador program.

Wallet-free Travel: Alipay will be accepted at Marriott hotels in select global markets with further expansion expected around the world.

Next-Gen Loyalty: Connecting Marriotts award-winning loyalty platform Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG with Alibabas large-scale consumer reach will establish a new benchmark for the next-generation loyalty program.

Also, in celebration of Alibabas Members day on August 8, Alibaba members will be able to enrol in one of Marriotts loyalty programs Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards or SPG and book exclusive Member Rates through one of Marriotts digital channels, beginning immediately. Special offers will also be available only on August 8 for members on marriott.fliggy.com.

Marriott International, Inc. is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of more than 6,200 properties in 30 leading hotel brands spanning 125 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company also operates award-winning loyalty programs: Marriott Rewards®, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®, and Starwood Preferred Guest®.

Alibaba Groups mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba and that it will be a company that lasts at least 102 years.