Recently, China UnionPay and Whale Map Travel reached a cooperation. Starting December 1, the two parties will jointly launch a large-scale marketing campaign titled “UnionPay: Enjoy a High-Speed Rail Lounge for Just 1 Yuan.” The campaign will last for four months, bringing a festive marketing extravaganza to a wide range of users.
This marks another move by Whale Map Travel since its establishment to continue exploring various scenario-based needs of travelers during their journeys, centered around high-quality one-stop travel services. Currently, Whale Map Travel is actively building offline stations and developing an online platform, having successively completed the setup of lounge stations at major transportation hubs in first- and second-tier cities across the country.
Focusing on travel pain points and accelerating quality upgrades
When it comes to transportation hubs such as train stations and airports, travelers often envision scenes of overcrowded spaces. According to data from China Railway Corporation, during the 62-day summer travel season, railways carried over 650 million passengers, and national airports saw more than 550 million passengers in 2017.
How to provide travelers with comfortable rest and high-quality travel services amid the constant flow of people at high-speed rail and airport stations, and how to break through retail and service innovation within high-speed rail and airport scenarios, are issues of great concern to both operators and consumers.
Since 2016, Whale Map Travel has been setting up high-speed rail and airport lounges at transportation hubs, primarily targeting mid- to high-end business travelers. These lounges offer a relaxing and comfortable waiting environment, premium tea snacks, Wi-Fi and charging facilities, as well as dining reservations and local specialty shopping options to meet various travel needs.
Currently, Whale Map Travel’s high-speed rail and airport VIP lounges have been established in major transportation hub cities across the country, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Changsha, Chengdu, and Xi'an, serving numerous stations with a daily reception capacity of tens of thousands of people.
According to a Whale Map Travel representative, “Since 2018, Whale Map Travel’s domestic high-speed rail and airport VIP services have been steadily expanding at a rate of covering 10–15 cities. Recognizing the demand for airport VIP lounges among mid- to high-end travelers in smaller cities, newly opened Whale Map Travel lounges are gradually extending to numerous third- and fourth-tier cities in regions including Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast China.”
It is reported that Whale Map Travel received investment from Tongcheng-Elong as early as 2017. Following this, Tongcheng-Elong made personnel adjustments and integrated business development for Whale Map Travel. After the integration, Whale Map Travel’s senior management all have over ten years of experience in the OTA industry. They successfully leveraged Tongcheng-Elong’s online advantages to integrate related travel services. By analyzing users’ behavioral chains “before travel—during travel—after travel,” they optimized travel itineraries and user experiences. Additionally, thanks to Tongcheng-Elong’s inherent advantages, Whale Map Travel can provide more humanized, intelligent experiences and customized services for premium members, meeting the corresponding needs of travelers.
Building on high-speed rail and airport lounges to create an intelligent leisure integrated service platform
With the continuous deepening of consumption upgrading, travelers have higher-level demands for a one-stop travel experience. VIP lounges at high-speed rail and airport stations are not just for resting; travelers hope to plan the journey between various stations in advance through a one-stop service setup, including transportation, hotels, parking, and other services.
In response, Whale Map Travel builds upon the high-speed rail and airport lounge scenarios, advocating for a comfortable and high-quality travel approach and philosophy. In collaboration with Tongcheng-Elong’s flight, train ticket, and hotel services, it plans and layouts to meet other needs of lounge users during their travels. At the same time, characterized by regional structures, it promotes unified national standards while also addressing local development features and service needs. By integrating all scenarios from “ticket purchase to travel,” it further satisfies users’ one-stop experience needs.
In the current integration and model creation of “online + offline” scenarios, Whale Map Travel takes “enjoying the journey” as its service tenet, reshaping new operational models in every aspect of travel with an internet mindset. Whale Map Travel is also actively laying out and exploring new business formats, bringing travelers in lounges and travel scenarios more fresh experiences through approaches such as “retail+,” “light food+,” and “catering+.”
“In the future, Whale Map Travel will take responsibility for users’ travel experiences by offering more surprising services, diverse experiences, and deeper pain point solutions to create a one-stop service for travelers,” said the aforementioned representative. In the coming years, Whale Map will continue to innovate and seek change, develop mutually beneficial channels across multiple industries, further explore the global leisure and business travel sector, and promote the upgrade of the industry value chain.