Shaohua Li, President of Alitrip, has revealed its “future hotels 2.0” strategy in a keynote speech delivered on the second day of this year’s China Hotel and Marketing Conference hosted by ChinaTravelNews on May 19.

The strategy will introduce VR technology for online hotel reservation and facial recognition functions for check-in. As well, “future hotels 2.0” will also provide online solutions for hotels and create “smart hotel cloud”, according to Mr Li. He also said that Alitrip would partner major overseas hotel groups and let thousands of overseas hotels access the “future hotels 2.0” system.

Shaohua Li, President of Alitrip

Online hotel reservation with VR

Alitrip will integrate VR technology into online hotel reservation, enabling users to have an immersive view of a hotel on its app, from hotel lobby all the way to the guest rooms.

Providing online solutions for hotels

As with the model of Alitrip that provides self-operated online solutions for operators and suppliers by leveraging the big data, large consumer pool and online ecosystem of Alibaba Group,  “future hotels 2.0” strategy will also let hotels enjoy much autonomy over their operation.

“Hotel cloud”

Alitrip is also building a cloud-based hotel management system which is open to the whole industry. The system integrates its credit system and big data, cloud-computing of AliCloud and information technology of Shiji as well as data provided by SnapShop. Hotel brands connecting to the system will enjoy services in branding, operation, technology and marketing.(Translated by Claire)