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Qunar In Troubled Waters With Its Merchants
10
Apr
Apr
Big travel company in China, Qunar is struggling at the moment with its 3rd party merchants who are not happy about policy change.
The risks of the e-commerce format
What is risky is the reliance these big sites have on 3rd party merchants. Indeed, heavy weight is placed on them which means that when they are not happy with the situation they call pull the plug from under us and leave Qunar in a difficult and accountable situation.
What this truly means is that Qunar does not directly supply the products and services, for a company that relies solely on these said services to survive, the gamble is quite high.
In a conflict situation like the one Qunar is faced with at the moment, the company has little choice but to yield to the demands of the merchants as they control enough of the business to damage the company.
Strengths?
What can be applauded about this business model is that everyone stays within their area of expertise when it comes to building e-commerce platforms versus providing products and services to customers.
Alibaba has had similar issues when it changed pricing and policy on one of its platforms a while ago. There again, the reliance on the model can both damage and be a boost for e-commerce sites.
Qunar needs to move forward
Despite the negative news that has been coming out this week from the press, Qunar needs to step it up and do some damage control. Issues like this will damage the image and perhaps make people think twice before they book with them. There is nothing worse than having your holiday fall through.
With an IPO in the books in the near future, Qunar can now kiss that dream goodbye until it sorts though the mess it has just been thrown in. The truth is this damaging type of scandal is enough to push the IPO back by a few years and halt the growth of Qunar.
And with Google Hotel Finder coming up behind to bite a chunk out of the market, one can hope for Qunar's sake that it fixes this mess quickly.
Realistically, it will be more beneficial for Qunar to sort this out quietly with its merchants than face more negative exposure. If Alibaba can live through this and still strive there are solutions to the problem.
Google Hotel Finder: A Game Changer?
26
Mar
Mar
Big news in Google Land (also know as the internet). Our favorite search engine has decided to ignore my pitch for a clothing line and has launched Google Hotel Finder service a few months ago. There has been a flurry of reviews and opinions about this search tool. The main questions being: who will it benefit and who is losing out?
It comes as its own miniature search engine on the Google results page. So, if you type in "kunming hotel" there's a few sponsored ads and THEN, this wonderful little search bar that gives you the chance to pick your dates and some pre-chosen guideline prices for different ranking hotels in the city of Kunming.
What's it all about?
Unlike other search engines and price comparison sites Google has the capacity to merge these two together.
This is what happens: You get a choice of prices, star ratings and availability. But you also get to check out where the positioning of the hotel actually is. Thanks to Google maps you can see its place in the street/beach/rainforest (clearly I have not been on holiday in a while) and so you can hone your search for the perfect hotel. As many say, there is much more that can go wrong with a hotel booking than a transport method.
It also includes Zagat and customer reviews all mangled into one space, thus making it extremely practical.
Who is gaining from it?
Well Google obviously. They may be a cool company, but they have not quite broached into selfless benevolence. Those who don't gain are the former top of the SERP list before this finder appeared. Indeed, now that the search box sits comfortably under the paid ad space but atop the start of the organic search results.
Those companies that are now half-way down the page instead of closer to the top may have something to say about this new layout. But what? It's not like they can call up the Google Hotline and demand that the old order be restored (cue that New Girl episode where Jess calls up the yellow pages asking for a number to have a video removed from Youtube).
It also evident that one of two results will have been pushed to the second page of Google, and we all know who visits the second page of Google… no one.
Other comparison websites
Those who will get clobbered by this recent innovation in hotel searches are companies such as Qunar and other hotel comparison websites. Indeed, their main value is offering customers their choices along with different amenities.
If Google already does the job they do and are sitting pretty on the results page and offer a selection of other services to go with it does not bode well for the direct competition.
Again, another example of why we should not rely solely on Google for everything as they control a little too much how we live online.
Baidu's Travel Site Qunar Gets Makeover
4
Feb
Feb
Baidu at the frontline of everything
Potentially in a bid to give itself a boost before Monday's revenue announcement, "King of Search Baidu" has revamped it's travel search engine Qunar. This means that even more searching will be happening as well as all the search taking place on the main search engine. Search.
There is now an entire new part of the website dedicated to rich people and their needs. A net-a-porter for hotels in you will. The website is relatively similar to other travel search engines and sites but has a slicker look and more features geared towards the wealthier among us. Also, pictures are bigger because rich people are famously blind.
What's New About it?
This new site is named lh.qunar.com and the more prominent features is the refined search categories. Don't you just hate it when you book a nice hotel and then there's nowhere to park your G6?
Well fear not peeps, with Qunar's fancy new search engine, we can search for hotels according to their gym, spa services, pools and even - in true China style - according to a hotel's build date. Why one wants to know that is beyond me but never mind.
China's Hotel Industry
China is the fastest developing country for high end hotels. It comes as no surprise then that Baidu would invest in a search engine dedicated to this expanding market.
Baidu has owned Qunar for about 18 months since it invested $306 million in the firm.
And for my next blog, I will use the new site to book a luxury hotel room and then review it to ensure Qunar is telling the truth. Now if the accounting department will just extend the limit on my company credit card I will get to work…
Baidu Unveils New Travel Information
10
Jan
Jan
Baidu, China’s leading search engine, recently unveiled a new feature that enables users to check travel information directly from the search engine box.
Check Your Flight Status on Baidu
With this new feature, users can get real-time flight information such as time and location of departure, layover and arrival.
For example, you can type your flight number in Baidu, and you’ll get anything you need to know about your flight status, namely information whether there are any delays, cancelations, and other travel-related information.
Similar Services for Trains & Coaches
The service is also available for other transport modes such as trains & coaches.
For inquiries related to train tickets, Baidu redirects the user directly to train search application in the search results page.
Below is how appears Baidu search results page when I type: “train tickets” in Chinese (火车票).
Train in Baidu Search Results
You can then select your dates of travel, place of departure and destination on the application. The application will then let you know the latest available trains and the prices of remaining ticket, as well as where to buy them.
Qunar Gives Travel Data to Baidu
The information provided by Baidu actually come from Qunar, China’s leading travel website. Baidu actually invested $306 million in the company in June 2011.
Some services from Qunar have already been integrated into Baidu search service. For example, when you search a flight from Beijing to Shanghai, you see a search box showing price trends as below:
Qunar Flight Results in Baidu
