By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Reporter
SHANGHAI — Megaworld Corp.’s hospitality arm expects increased visibility in international markets after signing a partnership with Singapore-based Trip.com Group.
Megaworld Hotels & Resorts expects to get promoted in the campaigns of the international one-stop travel service provider.
Trip.com, which is listed in Hong Kong and the US, is available in 24 languages across 39 countries and regions, according to the Trip.com website.
It has an extensive network consisting of 1.4 million hotels in 200 countries and regions, as well as flights from more than 510 airlines covering 3,400 airports.
“All our hotels and resorts will now be participating in most, if not all, of Trip.com’s engagement and campaigns,” Pebbles S. Caramat, assistant head of distribution at Megaworld Hotels and Resorts, said at the signing ceremony here on Tuesday.
“We are the largest in the Philippines, but very local, so we would like to be known globally, and the platform of Trip.com will be able to do that for us given their global reach, tools and technology,” she added.
Under the partnership, Trip.com Group will designate the hotel operator as its preferred partner hotel and will feature it on its platforms.
Megaworld could also leverage Trip.com’s platform, technology and artificial intelligence tools to get more data on consumer behavior, said Trip.com Managing Director and Vice-President Boon Sian Chai.
“We’re going to be able to use our consumer behavior to showcase Megaworld properties to our wide array of customers, both in mainland China as well as internationally,” he added.
He also said they have a sophisticated and extensive marketing machine that can feature different aspects and offerings that Megaworld Hotels & Resorts could give to Chinese and global customers.
Aside from helping in the hotel brand’s marketing, the partnership allows Trip.com and Megaworld Hotels to collaborate on pricing and inventory management across Megaworld’s 13 hotels or more than 8,500 room keys, including those in the pipeline.
“This aims to optimize availability and pricing, ensuring competitive rates and seamless booking experiences for travelers,” Trip.com said in a separate statement.
Next month, the Megaworld Hotels expects to open its largest hotel to date, the Grand Westside Hotel in Entertainment City, Parañaque City in the Philippines. The hotel will be part of the partnership and will be promoted by Trip.com through a pre-opening sale.
Trip.com said the partnership comes on the back of strong growth after Philippine hotel bookings and searches more than doubled in April.
Megaworld shares lost 0.53% or a centavo to close at P1.89 each.
