"In China，90% of hotel brands have access to WeChat mini programs or public accounts for booking，And each brand has its own exclusive method of WeChat direct sales operation。”A few days ago，In the WeChat open class held in Shanghai，Berrygao, a WeChat open class lecturer from WeChat Pay, told TMTpost。

With the continuous penetration of WeChat，The low-margin tourism industry is becoming more and more lively。

Previous，OTAs dominate online channels，Ali uses Fliggy、Alipay in China、Overseas tourism markets at both ends are getting better，Meituan-Dianping’s wine and travel business also continues to set new domestic hotel room night records。

Looking at Tencent，In addition to investing in Tongcheng Yilong、horsefengwo，It has not been directly involved in the tourism market。But after the mini program appears，WeChat seems to have found an opening to enter the tourism industry。

And Zhang Xiaolong gave the WeChat applet the logical setting to connect online and offline，Because tourism has rich scenes of "food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment"，Give the WeChat ecosystem an opportunity to be implemented as a whole，It also promotes a new wave of digitalization in the tourism industry。

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“We made an arrangement of the hotel pain points we collected，I found that the top 5 are: first，Low occupancy rate。Second，High customer acquisition cost。Third，Low online rate。Fourth，Slow service response after arriving at the store，The fifth labor cost is rising”。Berrygao said，Previously, the team consulted experts in the tourism industry for research，To understand what the pain points are in this industry，Finally summarize these pain points into the pain of acquiring customers and the pain of service。

In fact，Customer acquisition and user conversion and retention are the biggest headaches for many merchants。

Due to the weak ability of offline tourism industry merchants to acquire customers online，Severely dependent on third-party online channels such as OTA。Although hotel chain brands with a certain scale in the industry have established their own membership systems，But in fact, the direct sales capabilities of these hotel chain brands are weak，User stickiness is not enough。

At the same time，In order for merchants to acquire customers from online channels such as OTA，Have to pay commission of about 10% to 25%，Participate in bidding ranking，Even secretly get good reviews。

A typical example is OYO Hotel, which has been in China for two years，Previously, due to the delay in expanding online channels, we had to separately apply to Ctrip、Meituan and other mainstream OTAs、The platform pays the so-called "threshold fee"。

“The cost we invest in other platforms，In fact, it is difficult to convert into our own orders or other sales。”Wanda Hotels and Resorts Brand&Wang Xin, General Manager of Member Center told TMTpost Media，Mini program is included in all its channels，Strictly the lowest cost one。

“The technology costs we invest are sustainable，This is different from the cost we invest on other platforms。"Wang Xin thinks，This kind of sustainability is mainly reflected in，Investment on WeChat，Because the merchant decides on his own、Developed by yourself。

What’s more important，Sold through OTA and other intermediate channels，It is difficult for users to interact directly with merchants。In fact，Only direct interactions with the brand，Users will have higher loyalty and recognition of the hotel brand，They will help businesses spread the news，It will grow by itself。

“Atour Mini Program has 400,000+ registered users，The actual purchase conversion rate of these users is very high”，Conway, Vice President of Marketing of Atour Group thinks，There are many users who just browse and leave on the OTA platform。The difference between users on mini programs and other platforms in the tourism industry is，Users on mini programs have very strong consumption intentions。

WeChat Chongcang Winery and Hotel Operation，Tencent finally found a breakthrough in the tourism industry？        

“In terms of acquiring customers，Actually multi-channel，WeChat provides a very good platform。Our current main direction，It is operated through content。"Conway mentioned，Atour official account is running well，So it attracted a lot of people，In fact, it has also changed the structure of consumer users to a certain extent。Because I saw it in the past，Atour’s user portraits are concentrated in the 28-35 years old，But the operation of WeChat public accounts has attracted more young users，The proportion of those born after 1995 is increasing。

Data display，In Atour’s central channel order，WeChat mini program accounts for the first place，As of November 11, 2019，The cumulative number of registered users exceeds 400,000。

According to TMTpost’188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino s understanding，There are more ways to grow users in WeChat。The WeChat team visited leading merchants in the industry，Found that up to six grippers are used - payment voucher to enter the mini program、Scan the hotel code to enter the mini program、Enter WeChat card and coupon mini program、WeChat search、Distribution of coupons for advertising in Moments、Membership card, etc.。"Start with payment voucher，Enter the mini program，This is the point from offline payment to online connection。”Berrygao told TMTpost Media。

“We divide the operation of WeChat direct sales into three stages”，Berrygao introduction，First stage basic connection，refers to the entry into the WeChat ecosystem for operations from WeChat payment；In the second stage, you can bring in the membership card and coupons after payment，Can be called advanced connection；The third stage，Do some operations-level and activity-level things, etc.，Including smart management, etc.，

Also，Berrygao also revealed，Recently WeChat has opened advertising coupons in Moments、Face-to-face coupon issuance and mini program e-commerce traffic，And as long as the merchant meets certain payment requirements，Or GMV reaches an order of magnitude，You can achieve the corresponding traffic feedback，“This is support for WeChat direct sales partners”。

Connect all scenarios to promote revenue diversification

“I think compared with other platforms that cooperate with hotels，Relationship assumed by WeChat，It is more intended to be a platform for real-time interaction between merchants and guests”。The relevant person in charge of the WeChat team told TMTpost Media，In the past, the relationship between the platform and the hotel ended after the reservation was completed，But they think，Tourism covers a wide range of consumption scenarios。“What WeChat does is a real-time interactive connection between the C-side and the B-side，Not an order platform。”

In other words, what WeChat wants to do is connect all scenarios.

When users and businesses can interact in real time in more scenarios，Whether it is a hotel or a scenic spot business，In fact, there is a chance to break through the current situation of relying solely on rooms、Ticket revenue model，Diversify income。

At Wanda Hotels and Resorts，WeChat usage scenarios cover the entire chain of hotel services，Includes payment points and deposit-free check-in、Mini programs for booking rooms, ordering food and many other smart scenarios。Since creating the “WeChat Ecosystem”，Wanda Hotels and Resorts WeChat mini program bookings increased by more than 110%，Points redemption increased by more than 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino 95%。Double Eleven this year，Wanda Hotels and Resorts launches annual marketing campaign on official WeChat mall，Increased official WeChat followers to 14830，Total sales on WeChat exceed 8 million，An increase of 370% compared to last year。

Take hotel catering as an example，Introduced by Wang Xin，Among the hotels currently cooperating with WeChat mini program，Users can use the mini program QR code，Currently, more than 17,000 orders have been converted without any publicity。And before，Many hotel guests often choose takeaway platforms。“We are optimistic，Each hotel generates at least 5-6 orders every day。5-6 orders，It doesn’t sound like much actually，But it can actually solve the actual needs of many customers。”

The same changes are happening in scenic spots。Long time，Ticket revenue is the main source of income for scenic spots，So the biggest pain point of the scenic spot from the C side is queuing。At the same time，The scenic spot is very rich in business formats，The B side includes catering、Marketing、Retail、Hotels, etc.，These businesses have always been fragmented and fragmented，The difficulties focus on improving user operations and secondary consumption。

For this，WeChat launches “Smart Scenic Spot Business District”，This product can help scenic spots open up business formats，There are two types of roles that can apply to open a smart scenic spot business district，The first type is the managers of scenic spots，The other type is the cultural tourism management department of the destination tourist city。

For example, there are twenty or thirty businesses in the scenic area，You can pass the products of the smart scenic area business district，Add stores in scenic spots。The scenic spot operators can operate these stores as a whole，Also give visitors an overall presentation。

"Pass this product，Users can know what delicious food is available in this scenic spot，Fun，Worth buying，What are the promotions, etc.。You can also see the operation status of various businesses in the scenic area in real time，How is the write-off status of various coupons。”Berrygao told TMTpost Media。

Also，WeChat also launched a tool called Destination Mini Program，Assist the scenic spot in its own development。For example, Huangshan’s destination applet，Take the entire Huangshan、Hotels in Huangshan、Culture and Creativity、Catering、Transportation and other business types，All scenic spots around Huangshan Mountain are included，During National Day this year，The ability to issue coupons after payment，Direct traffic to this mini program。According to data provided by WeChat，188bet app The current test results are pretty good，Has a conversion rate of 9%-10%。

What exactly is WeChat doing for tourism?

In fact，Previously included Flying Pig、Travel platforms including Meituan，They all try to divert traffic to merchants in various ways，Improve income structure。But TMTpost believes that，Past online platform models、Categories are becoming more similar，Ctrip、Meituan、Flying Pig firmly holds its head。

Over the years，Internet penetration rate in tourism industry is low、The problem of low digitalization level has not been significantly improved by the existence of OTA。

If you want to send "later" WeChat "first"，You must have a place in the offline digital wave，Continuously deepening into the upstream and downstream industry chain of the tourism industry，Improve the digital capabilities of B-side merchants。

We see，WeChat has launched a series of related solutions。

“WeChat is just a tool，He is not a commercial platform。This is also important to us”，Wang Xin thinks，Since WeChat has a very clear development direction，Beyond reservations and customer acquisition，Merchants can explore more business expansion space through this channel with more peace of mind。“We also integrate all scene services，This is not only in terms of bookings and customer acquisition，We have also made great improvements in user experience。”

For the hotel industry，Marketing and service are the two lifebloods，Determines the customer acquisition cost and hotel reputation。Now，Smart wine travel solution based on WeChat，Hotels can rely on WeChat direct sales and smart services to upgrade。

Among them，Smart direct selling solution，Covers mini program booking、Payment points、Face payment、Search optimization and other 6 major tools，And has the ability to operate members within WeChat，Can accurately reach the target audience，Effectively improve the hotel’s customer acquisition efficiency and occupancy rate。

As for smart services，Face recognition provided by WeChat payment、Scan the code to live、Free detention, etc.，Already able to achieve hotel check-in、中、Post-self-service process。These smart services，While helping hotels improve reception efficiency，It can also improve the user’s stay experience and satisfaction。

In terms of scenic spots，Take OCT as an example，Zhang Dandan, Director of Huacheng Tourism Operations of OCT Group, introduced OCT’s “Digital Scenic Area Experiment” to TMTPost。Since 2015，OCT has launched WeChat amusement park service system、WeChat social distribution system、Huacheng Tourism WeChat Official Account、Face 188bet app Locker and Scenic Spot Pass Code、Virtual queue、Small program ticket purchase and other services，And created “48 hours of lost contact，Follow idol to check in”、WeChat creative games and other WeChat marketing activities，Greatly enriches the daily operations of the scenic spot，And led to a jump in the number of tourists。

Dr. Li Hao, a professor at Yunnan University, focused on Yunnan Province’s “Visit Yunnan Project with a Mobile Phone”。“Visit Yunnan with a Mobile Phone” is the first provincial cooperation project created by Tencent in the field of “Internet + Global Tourism”，WeChat mini program that provides 11 different scenarios around cultural and tourism scenes，Comprehensive coverage before traveling、中文、Various needs after the tour，Meet and enhance the needs and experience of tourists for food, accommodation, travel, entertainment and shopping，

The person in charge of WeChat told Titanium Media，Currently scan the QR code to purchase tickets，Can cover annual card、Destination marketing and other scenarios；And the smart scenic area business district，Can establish associations with commercial scenes in scenic spots，Help scenic spots build their own operation systems；At the same time, the destination travel applet can also be linked to increase tickets for surrounding scenic spots、Cultural and creative products、Consumption in restaurants, hotels, etc.。

Without a doubt，Taking the applet as the axis，Supplemented by Tencent in marketing、Digital capabilities in operations and other aspects，WeChat will continue to penetrate offline deeply in the future。

*this文来Source: Titanium Media, Author: Gao Mengyang,Original title：《WeChat Chongcang Winery and Hotel Operation，Tencent finally found a breakthrough in the tourism industry？》.