U.S. resorts operator Caesars Entertainment is now taking bookings through Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s travel-service platform, giving Chinese consumers the ability to book, pay for and manage their trips to a top destination for China’s overseas travelers – Las Vegas.
The new flagship store on Fliggy gives Chinese travelers access to any of Caesars’ 23,000 rooms and suites at 10 hotels in Las Vegas, including Caesars Palace, Flamingo Las Vegas, The LINQ Hotel + Experience, Harrah’s Las Vegas, The Cromwell, Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood Resort, Bally’s Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas and Rio All-Suite Hotel.
The announcement follows Caesars’ integration of Alipay in 2017, allowing Chinese consumers to use the mobile-payments platform to pay at 150 of its locations, including restaurants, retail stores and attractions. Now, those consumers can turn to both Alipay and Fliggy for services such as planning their itinerary with a points-of-interest map and searching for nearby shopping discounts or geo-location-based “Discover” functions within Alipay for finding nearby merchants’ sales and discounts. The apps also facilitate after-sales care and follow-up promotional information from merchants after the trip ends.
“Caesars Entertainment is committed to meeting the needs of the Chinese traveler, and Alibaba has been an important platform in our effort to welcome more Chinese visitors to our resorts,” said Annette Weishaar, senior vice president of partnerships and channel marketing at Caesars Entertainment. “We are incredibly excited about our growing partnership with Alibaba and its Fliggy travel marketplace.”
Chinese travelers have become a target demographic for businesses around the world, as increasing numbers of them head outside of China for both business and holiday. According to China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Chinese tourists took more than 140 million trips abroad in 2018. Overseas spending by Chinese tourists is forecast to reach more than $315 billion a year by 2020, according to McKinsey & Co. By 2022, tourist arrivals from China to the United States is forecast by the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office to reach 4.5 million visits annually.
Frank Huang, Fliggy’s head of International Hotel Business, said the Caesars partnership will help meet that demand.
“With our unparalleled consumer insights and leading-edge technology, we will work with Caesars to attract more Chinese travelers to its incredible properties and services. We are looking forward to creating new, more personalized travel experiences as our consumers seek new adventures,” he said.
