Planning for the future: DidaTravel

Meet didatravel

DidaTravel is a big company with its eyes on the prize. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, the B2B travel wholesaler’s dedicated staff of 400 work with over 30,000 agents globally. It services clients through a one-stop platform that offers information on 700,000+ hotels, tours, and tourism activities.

As hotel experts, DidaTravel knows how to find every traveler the right room. Whether you’re looking for a 5-star luxury retreat, or a happening downtown boutique property, it’s got what you need. But modern retailing is all about meeting new customer needs, and that means staying proactive. DidaTravel's Chief Strategy Officer, Eric Zhuang, told us about the company’s decision to partner with Travelport in order to move into the area of flight content distribution.

Daring vision

When you’re already an expert in one area, many businesses would simply stick to what they know best. But not DidaTravel. It had the foresight to expand into flights, at a time when the world was scaling down on travel. In fact, China’s borders were still completely closed to travelers. Sounds bold, right?

Well, offering travelers the complete trip is the epitome of modern agency retailing. Customers today want travel offers that are easy to understand, with all the choice they need for their trips. And with thousands of agencies already buying hotel content, DidaTravel had a great chance go one step further, and help its customers become better retailers by offering air content.

Setting their aim

Once DidaTravel had its sights set on flights, there was no stopping it. An already established name in the hotel space, the travel service provider had a high standard of service to live up to when it came to this new division of flights. With 8.6 million international travelers annually using its services, DidaTravel’s expansion had to be seamless, easy, and fast.

And, although at the time demand for flights was low in 2020, the agency focused on the bigger long-term picture. As the number one B2B travel wholesaler in China, the company attracted investment from e-commerce giants Alibaba in 2021. So, even in the face of lockdowns caused by the pandemic, standing still was never an option.

But, it needed a modern travel retailing partner to make their next move happen. Enter Travelport+. With a next-generation travel retailing platform by their side, Eric and his team could make their ambition of offering flights to travelers when travel returned, into a reality.

Making it happen

Through Travelport+, DidaTravel were able to access airline content and get set up with flights for its thousands of agents hungry to fulfil customer needs. Meaning DidaTravel could now offer content for 500 airlines at 20,000 destinations, unlocking a whole new realm of potential without massive technological investment.

And while breadth of air content was one important factor for Eric’s team, globalization was another. So being able to connect with clients, no matter the location, was a big deciding factor in their choice of platform. In the course of growing their overseas supply chain when it came to airline content, Travelport’s network helped DidaTravel immensely. It introduced local aggregators that provided the team with a more competitive product.

Seamless integration, instant results

Travelport+ saved DidaTravel time on development, as the platform was easy to use, so the team was able to get to market quickly and easily, with no learning costs. Since it began using Travelport’s API, it can now quickly access the suppliers and resources it needs, reducing the cost of connecting with clients.

And the cherry on top? The business got a modern platform that could help make manual processes automatic, giving time back to their team before the boom of post-pandemic travel came along. And Travelport+ delivered. Eric says refunds and flight changes really helped. The automated interaction capabilities has also cut down processing time formerly spent by the team.

Flying high into the future

Modern retailing means having the right content, at the right time, for the right customer. Timing is everything, and especially in the case of DidaTravel. It took a risk, when others wouldn’t dare, and looked outside the box, expanding into flights before their country’s borders had reopened to the world.

And opened, they did. On the day the Chinese government announced travelers would no longer have to quarantine on arrival in the country, outbound flight bookings from mainland China increased by 247%. This data on the reopening of travel in China goes to show that this business were right to pursue such a bold move.

So, what’s next for DidaTravel? Eric says he and his team are excited for what else Travelport+ can bring to their company. The content, connections, and capabilities Travelport gave Eric and his team means that DidaTravel have great trust in accomplishing their goals in the future.

“Travelport is an important partner to our business", Eric added. "We entered the flight business and it wasn’t an easy start. But the relationships that we have with the global team and APAC teams from Travelport has made our life much easier.”