Chinese consumers can now choose to book online in their native language for any of the hotel brands under Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

In keeping with its aggressive development momentum in China, Starwood has announced the launch of its Chinese language websites for each of its hotel brands including St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, and Element.

"The fully integrated Chinese language websites for each of the Starwood hotel brands will have a mirror set of functions and features as the main English websites," commented Lisa Halim, director of online marketing and distribution for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific.

The launch is part of the efforts to cater to the needs of consumers in China, Starwood's fastest growing region for both inbound and outbound travel businesses, in addition to an increased demand for online booking convenience.

"Within this tremendous growth in both inbound and outbound travel businesses, China is yet another growth phenomenon in terms of Internet bookings. In 2006, the market size for hotel bookings in China reached US$121 million and around 40% of this revenue was contributed by five-star hotels. By 2010, the market size for hotel online booking will hit US$347 Million. We need to seize the momentum of the market growth and support this channel with good content and effective product offerings," commented Oliver Bonke, senior vice president for sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific.

In addition, customers who wish to consult or speak with a customer service representative can do so using the ‘click to call' function on the language website, by simply keying in their phone numbers, and a Starwood call center associate will return the call to assist with the reservation request.

The World Tourism Organization has made a forecast that China will probably overtake France as the top tourism destination by 2014. According to Xu Jing, WTO's Asia-Pacific representative, China is set to overtake the U.S., currently in third place, this year in terms of foreign visitor arrivals. Outbound China travel is moving fast ahead, where 34 million Chinese have traveled overseas in 2006. The WTO estimates that there will be 100 million tourists from mainland China by 2020.

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One Response to “Starwood Reveals Multiple Chinese Travel Booking Websites”

1. By Billiga Flygresor – December 27th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

   Great news for Chinese because they suffer a lot while booking a air ticket or booking a room in resort or hotel because of language problem so now they can book any ticket or hotel by the site provided by you in there own Chinese language.

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