Luxury Hotels Increase Social E-Commerce Efforts for CNY – Chinese travellers

Chinese Lunar New Year and Chinese travellers, once a time for family and friends to reunite at home, has become one of the hottest times of the year for Chinese consumers to travel, both domestically and internationally. Anticipating a spike in tourism during the holiday, luxury hotels take the opportunity each year to push out Spring Festival-inspired marketing campaigns and special packages to attract more guests.

The China National Tourism Administration predicts that the number of people who will travel during the upcoming seven-day holiday (from January 27 to February 2) will reach 343 million, up 13.6 percent from the previous year. Another recent industry report estimated that overseas travel is set to break last year’s record by 9.8 percent. In order to cash in on this trend, it is important for hotel brands to come up with a marketing strategy that shows their understanding of China’s unique social media landscape, consumers’ habits, and cultural values.

Over the past few years, an increasing number of luxury hotel brands operating in China have started recognizing the importance of Chinese social media platforms, namely WeChat and Weibo, in building up their brand awareness and recognition among Chinese travelers. Each brand’s digital marketing strategy has evolved and adapted to the local market. This year, there are many hotels embracing a “mobile, social, e-commerce” digital marketing mix in their creative CNY campaigns as part of traditional promotional efforts, such as booking discounts and dinner packages, and some of them have taken a multichannel and interactive approach to reach out to and engage with Chinese customers. For instance, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, for the first time, took one of the most popular aspects of Chinese New Year, the hongbao, by launching a red envelope campaign on WeChat. The brand hopes that the red envelope game can ultimately direct followers’ attention to their overseas properties that also offer CNY celebrations. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts allowed customers to book rooms and New Year’s Eve banquets on its flagship store on one of China’s major e-commerce sites JD.com.

Here there are some examples of the hotel’s marketing campaigns:

At Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund, customers can order from traditional Chinese menus and enjoy Chinese-themed afternoon tea. The Shanghai hotel will also host lion dance performances and give out lucky hongbao packets

Chinese travellers- New World Beijing Hotel is serving up a traditional dish called “Poon Choi” (pengcai) that originated during China’s Song Dynasty, in honor of the Lunar New Year. Poon Choi, which is popular in Hakka and Cantonese culture, features layers of fish, meat, and vegetables.

Chinese travellers -This luxury hotel in Chengdu launched a series of festive offerings this year, including a Spring Festival-themed afternoon tea with traditional Chinese cookies. The French restaurant within the hotel also provides Chinese-French fusion cuisine during the period of the Lunar New Year.

In celebration of the Year of Rooster, the Peninsula Shanghai is offering a “Stay One More Night With Us” package, in which guests receive a complimentary second night’s stay. Meanwhile, the hotel is presenting a Paper-Cut Art Exhibition in collaboration of Shanghai-born artist Justin Shi as part of the festive offerings. The New Year’s Eve banquet service is also being offered in most Peninsula hotels across Asia as well as in Chicago and Paris, with numerous Spring Festival-inspired creative dishes being presented. In some of the locations, customers can enjoy traditional cultural performances, such as lion dances and fireworks.