With the continuous emergence of new technologies and applications such as mobile internet and cloud computing, people's lives are undergoing tremendous changes. Whether for vacation travel or business trips, an increasing number of consumers hope to enjoy personalized, high-tech services at hotels. At the end of 2013, the National Tourism Administration issued a notice designating “Beautiful China Journey—2014 Smart Tourism Year” as the tourism promotion theme for 2014, aiming to guide the development of smart tourism destinations such as smart tourism cities and scenic spots, and to promote the transformation of the tourism industry into a modern service industry through information technology. To this end, the hotel industry urgently needs smart solutions that meet the new demands of the digital era, enhancing its appeal to consumers through innovative management.
As the second-largest hotel group in China and among the top 100 global hotel groups, Kaiyuan Hotels Group has actively explored the application of smart hotel products in recent years, accumulating rich experience in development and operation. To date, Kaiyuan Hotels Group has built a four-in-one direct booking network comprising its official website, mobile app, call center, and regional sales, and developed a WeChat public account service platform to provide customers with comprehensive online booking services. In June 2013, Kaiyuan Hotels Group began fully implementing the “iKaiyuan Love Kaiyuan” WiFi strategy, integrating the membership database to ensure customers always enjoy free, high-quality wireless internet and seamless switching between hotels. Meanwhile, the group has also deeply integrated environmental technology, such as using paperless electronic signatures at the front desk, electronic faxes for customer communications, and digital duty systems, thereby improving work efficiency, reducing material costs, and greatly enhancing customer confidence.
Recently, all hotels under Kaiyuan Hotels Group have achieved comprehensive system-to-system direct connectivity with Ctrip, China’s largest online travel distributor. This technical integration was independently developed by Kaiyuan Hotels Group. It is reported that as early as the end of 2012, Kaiyuan Hotels Group had independently developed direct system connectivity with eLong. This latest direct connection with Ctrip marks the maturity of Kaiyuan Hotels Group’s information and smart construction.
Fu Quanyong, General Manager of Information Technology at Kaiyuan Hotels Group, stated that achieving technical integration with online travel distributors is a win-win cooperation model. First, online travel distributors present accurate hotel information to customers, truly reflecting real-time room rates and inventory. Second, orders generated by online travel distributors are instantly transmitted to Kaiyuan Hotels Group’s central reservation system, enhancing the customer booking experience. Third, it contributes to increased actual bookings. Finally, direct connectivity technology significantly improves operational efficiency for both parties, reduces labor costs, and is estimated to save Kaiyuan approximately 18,000 working hours per year based on current order volumes from Ctrip.
Kaiyuan Hotels Group is the first in China to independently develop and achieve technical direct connectivity with online travel distributors Ctrip and eLong. This direct connectivity technology is based on commercial cooperation between the two parties and robust system support. It is an open software interface built on the internet, connecting hotel management systems with travel distributor reservation systems, enabling data exchange and helping both sides automate reservation distribution. After system integration, both parties achieved seamless two-way connections for room rates, inventory, and orders, completely abandoning traditional methods such as E-BOOKING, fax, phone, and email, thereby greatly improving work efficiency.
It is understood that the system direct connection with Ctrip, from commercial negotiations, project initiation, solution design, system development, testing, launch preparation to the final full deployment across all hotels, took only two months—an astonishingly efficient process. After direct connection, hotel revenue managers no longer need to manually update hotel information for each booking channel daily. Instead, they only need to complete product settings on the hotel’s central reservation platform, which are then dynamically and in real time published to direct connection channels. This significantly reduces manual operations, improves data accuracy and consistency through automated processes, effectively increases hotel sales opportunities, and plays a positive role in unifying Kaiyuan Hotels Group’s overall sales strategy. The official also introduced that Kaiyuan Hotels Group’s direct connection project with online travel distributors was launched in October 2012. To date, technical direct connections have been completed with major domestic and international distributors including eLong, Ctrip, Taobao, Tongcheng, and EXPEDIA, placing the group in a leading position within the industry.
In the next three years, Kaiyuan Hotels Group will continue to leverage information technology to drive business development, creating a smart model in the hotel industry. The group aims to achieve precise data marketing, intelligent hotel products, and holistic hotel services, providing a “smart engine” for the development of Kaiyuan Hotels Group and supporting the construction of smart cities.