Shangri-La: Digital Ecosystem Review

As one of the leading five-star hotels in the world, Shangri-La has enjoyed success expanding their Asia-centric brand across Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Shangri-La mobile app allows customers to manage their loyalty points

But with more than 50% of hotel properties in China, Shangri-La is focusing its efforts on harnessing business travel growth inside the mainland while also becoming the brand of choice for outbound tourists through consistent service, luxury hospitality, and attractive loyalty rewards.

Digital Highlights

Shangri-La uses Weibo as its primary brand-building platform on China social media, educating netizens on their heritage in the region as well as promoting CSR initiatives to build affinity with individual travellers and corporate customers alike. The brand places a strategic emphasis on promoting each mainland property as a unique destination experience – showcasing regional cuisine, culture, and attractions while integrating exclusive offers and promotions that drive booking on the brand website and through a flagship store on Alibaba’s Alitrip travel marketplace. Shangri-La’s mobile strategy revolves around a dedicated brand app that provides mobile-optimized reservations as well as loyalty rewards management, while WeChat is used to create unique mobile engagements for regional brand campaigns.

What You’ll Learn

The Shangri-La Digital Report provides an in-depth analysis of how one of Asia’s premier hospitality brands wins on China social media by balancing brand building with promotion of regional properties on Weibo and WeChat – inspiring trip planning and hotel booking through Shangri-La’s ecommerce channels and online travel agencies (OTA’s).

• Brand Website: We’ll show you how Shangri-La has created a unified website experience that educates Chinese netizens on hotel brands, regional properties, and global travel destinations – while also enabling online bookings and loyalty rewards management.
• Brand Mobile App: You’ll learn how Shangri-La’s brand app fits into their digital ecosystem, providing a dedicated channel for mobile commerce and CRM.
• Weibo: We’ll show you how Shangri-La has built a network of microblog accounts, leveraging the brand Weibo for awareness and education while sending followers to regional property accounts for trip planning and sales promotions.
• WeChat: You’ll learn how WeChat supports brand messaging on China social media and how Shangri-La leverages mobile to support regional campaign activities.
• Youku: We’ll take a look at how video supports Shangri-La’s digital initiatives and what categories of content are attracting the largest China audiences.
• Alitrip: Learn how Shangri-La has opened a flagship store on Alibaba’s new Alitrip online travel marketplace – targeting China audiences with unique offerings that compliment existing brand ecommerce channels.
• Key Opinion Leaders: This report includes a complete KOL list and analysis – revealing how Shangri-La works with bloggers and influencers to create inspirational travel content, while partnering with media and aggregator accounts to amplify brand messages across large target audiences.