What’s Next for Ctrip (Trip.com Group) with Margaret Feng, Head of Innovation

What’s next for OTAs? The growth of online travel users and transactions in China has slowed in the past two years. Has the online travel market hit a bottleneck? Where will the next opportunities arise? As one of the industry titans, Trip.com Group (formerly known as Ctrip) is at the forefront of experimenting with new initiatives to maintain its competitive position in the market.As Head of Innovation at Trip.com Group, Margaret Feng, shares how they are exploring new offline products and planning how to acquire more customers in lower-tier cities. More importantly, she explains how Trip.com Group is embracing the concept of open innovation by investing in and collaborating with startups. Stay tuned to learn how Trip.com Group runs pilot programs with startups and tests new concepts and technologies in the market.Show Notes:01:16  Innovation in the US and China 04:39 The landscape of the travel Industry in China06:54 Chinese innovation with global potential07:49 Exciting travel innovation practices10:20 Hype around new technology11:30 China as the early adopter market13:40 Exploring offline activities 14:07 Acquiring customers in lower tier cities 18:13 From “Ctrip” to “Trip.com Group”19:30 Ctrip expanding to emerging markets20:25 The collaboration models with startups23:12 Running pilots 26:03 Pilots in B2B space27:24 User experience29:40 Early stage investmentMany thanks to our host Oscar Ramos, our guest Margaret Feng, producers Eva Shi and Matthew Wu, editors David and Geep, organizer Chinaccelerator, and sponsor People Squared and Himalaya. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.comIf you like us, please give us a 5-star review and share with your friends!Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/Email us: [email protected]