Ctrip

Ctrip.com International, Ltd.
Public
Traded as
Industry Travel agency
Founded 1999 (IPO December 9, 2003)
Headquarters Shanghai, China
Key people
Revenue
  • IncreaseUS$2.9 billion(2016)
Number of employees
30,000
Subsidiaries
Website ctrip.com

Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (doing business as Ctrip) is a Chinese provider of travel services including accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management. Founded in 1999, it is currently the largest online travel agency in China.[1]

History

Shanghai-based Ctrip was founded by James Liang, Neil Shen, Min Fan, and Qi Ji in 1999.[2][3] It listed on NASDAQ in 2003 in a Merrill Lynch-led offering, raising US$75 million (4.2 million ADRs at $18 each) and then further appreciated by 86% to close at $33.94 in its first day of trading. Ctrip traded at a peak of $37.35, making it the first company since the November 2000 IPO of Transmeta to double its price in the first day of trading.[3] In 2006, about 70% of Ctrip's sales came from just four cities in China: Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.[4]

In December 2013, Ctrip acquired the American travel company Tours4fun for over $100 million.[5] In May 2015, The Priceline Group announced it would be investing an additional $250 million in the company.[6] In November 2016, Ctrip acquired the Scottish travel company Skyscanner[7] and appointed new CEO Jane Jie Sun.[8]

Ctrip has grown in recent years. In 2015, Ctrip's net revenues were RMB 10.9 billion (USD 1.7 billion), up 48% year-on-year.[9] In 2016, its net revenue grow 76% year-on-year to RMB19.2 billion (USD 2.9 billion).[10]

On November 1, 2017, Ctrip acquired United States travel research website Trip.com, rebranding it as their global brand website.[11]

Associated companies

In 2006, Liang spoke to Bloomberg about the possibility of Ctrip buying travel companies in other Asian markets such as Hong Kong and South Korea. Ctrip already had an agreement with Taiwan-based ezTravel to cooperate in offering air tickets and hotel rooms to mainland Chinese tourists in Taiwan once tourists from the mainland became able to travel to Taiwan.[4] As of November 2011, Ctrip holds an 8.4% stake in NASDAQ-listed Home Inns as well as a minority stake in the privately held BTC-Jianguo Hotels and Resorts. Ctrip also holds a 1.3% stake in the NASDAQ-listed China Lodging (owner of the Hanting brand).[2] On August 6, 2014, Priceline.com, announced that it will invest $500 million in Ctrip.com International Ltd. to broaden the companies’ options in China. Priceline and Ctrip, which have had a commercial partnership since 2012, will increase their cross-promotion of each company’s hotel inventory and other travel services, the companies said today in a statement.[12] As of March 2018, Ctrip owns both Scottish travel site Skyscanner, American-based travel site Tours4fun, travel research site Trip.com and Trip by Skyscanner.

Scientific management

Ctrip is recognized as a proponent of scientific management in using rigorous data analysis in managerial decision making.[13] One example of this is the randomized control trial Ctrip ran on telecommuting. Given the uncertainty over the impact of telecommuting on company profits they decided to rigorously evaluate its impact before making any management decisions. Ctrip conducted an experiment on 242 employees, sponsored by professors at Stanford University and Peking University. The experiment found that employees randomly assigned to work at home for 9 months increased their output by 13.5% versus the office-based control group, and their turnover rates fell by almost 50%. Adding in the savings from cutting office space telecommuting was found to have substantially reduced costs, leading Ctrip to roll this practice out across the firm.[14]

References

  1. "Where The Big Four Online Travel Agencies — Expedia, TripAdvisor, Ctrip, & Priceline — Are Placing Their Bets". CB Insights Research. 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  2. 1 2 Flannery, Russell (2010-03-29). "Ctrip's Remarkable Journey: China travel boom fuels hotel chain IPO". Forbes. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  3. 1 2 Beltran, Luisa (2003-12-09). "Ctrip.com IPO soars in first day". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  4. 1 2 Liu, John; Damien Ryan (2006-05-29). "Ctrip May Buy Asian Companies as More Chinese Travel". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  5. "Ctrip Reportedly Invests Over $100 Million in Overseas Travel Platform ToursForFun". TechNode. 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  6. Ankit Ajmera (26 May 2015). "Priceline to invest additional $250 million in China's Ctrip.com". Reuters. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
  7. Jon Russell (23 November 2016). "China's Ctrip is buying flight search company SkyScanner for $1.74 billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  8. "Ctrip Announces Ms. Jane Jie Sun as New CEO and Director". PRNewswire. 16 Nov 2016. Retrieved 10 Mar 2017.
  9. "Ctrip - Investor Relations - News Release". ir.ctrip.com. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  10. "Ctrip - Investor Relations - News Release". ir.ctrip.com. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  11. Tang, Angel. "Ctrip launches global rebrand to Trip.com". Marketing Interactive. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  12. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-06/priceline-investing-500-million-in-ctrip-travel-agency.html Priceline Investing $500 Million in Ctrip Travel Agency
  13. Garvin, David (2012-01-01). "Ctrip: Scientifically Managing Travel Services". Harvard Business School. Retrieved 2014-06-16. .
  14. Bloom, Nicholas, Liang, James, Roberts, John and Ying, Jenny "Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment" Stanford Research Paper, February 2013.
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