ChinaTravelNews – China’s major hotel group Plateno Group has announced in Guangzhou that it will launch new hotel brands – Pin Hotel, Pinle Hotel and RuiChen Hotel, and new online brand Plateno Trip.
Plateno Group's new travel app Plateno Trip
Plateno Group’s director Alex Zheng said: “In the experiential consumption age, hotels are no longer just functional components in travel consumption. Hotels also offer styles and unique experiences to satisfy the emotional needs of customers. Hotels are not just a place to sleep, just as clothes are not just for clothing or restaurants are not just for filling stomachs. In the future, hotels will be lifestyle consumption and an experiential hub in a travel destination as well as a lifestyle icon for consumers.”
Plateno Trip is a social and ecommerce app for mobile and online platforms delivering hotel experiences in three-dimensional settings. It will provide travel-related social networking, bringing together occasional travelers, travel experts, tour guides, hotels and brands.
The plan to launch Plateno Trip in December, as well as other plans for new phase of its online expansion, were on the drawing board well before Plateno Group held strategic investment negotiations with Jin Jiang Hotels in June 2015.
Plateno Trip is operated by Plateno Group’s information technology subsidiary Plateno Online. Plateno Online handles the group’s 80 million members, 300,000 active Plateno Club members and five million fans per day, and millions of bookings on the group’s Wechat account.
With the launch of Plateno Trip, the “double-product-line strategy of an online company”, as described by Mr. Zheng in the third quarter of 2015, is taking shape. After Plateno Trip’s products go online, Plateno Online will simultaneously operate the Plateno Club, the two apps of Plateno Trips, the group’s two official websites and the groups two M stations. Plateno Online will gradually transfer the group’s members and resources to Plateno Trip, and investments in to lighten the load of Plateno Club. With this, Plateno Trip has integrated the group’s online and offline resources, and connected the shop-fronts, the brand and users with information flow and operational model.
Plateno Group and Ctrip jointly invested in eLong in May this year, and in September Plateno Grop accepted a strategic investment from Jin Jiang International Hotels’s subsidiary Jin Jiang Holdings. Mr. Zheng said Plateno Group’s investment in eLong gave it control of more hotels while its partnership with Jian Jiang Hotels is mainly in shares and there has been no cooperation in operations yet.(Translation by David)
