JD Reportedly “Raiding” Fliggy, Ctrip, and Qunar with Triple Salary Offers, Shifting Focus to Hotel and Travel Platforms

CNBC AI News has learned that e-commerce giant JD.com is aggressively expanding into the hotel and flight booking sector, signaling a potential shake-up in the Chinese online travel market.

Sources indicate that JD.com is making a major talent play, offering salaries up to three times higher than those at established online travel agencies like Fliggy, Tongcheng and Ctrip.

The company’s travel division is actively recruiting for key positions, including product managers, backend developers, aviation specialists, and operations personnel, via its mini-program platform. This strategic hiring push underscores JD.com’s commitment to building a formidable team for its travel business.

Job postings, such as those for system architects, explicitly prioritize candidates with experience from competitors such as Meituan and Ctrip; The company is particularly interested in experts skilled in building technology architectures from the ground up. As an indicator of JD.com’s commitment to talent, this position comes with a highly competitive annual salary in the range of 500,000 to 700,000 yuan.

Beyond talent acquisition, JD.com is also investing heavily in marketing and user engagement. The company is running promotional campaigns on Xiaohongshu, a popular social media platform, including offering incentives such as hotel vouchers and bonus points through user-generated content.

Furthermore, JD.com is sweetening the deal for flight bookings, users can receive various benefits, including coupons for food delivery services and hotel discounts.

On the hotel front, JD.com is offering subsidies of 30 to 60 yuan per booking, undercutting the official prices of competitors to lure in customers.

This aggressive push into “flights + hotels” suggests a significant shift in the competitive landscape. JD.com’s new expansion could reshape its relationship with rivals like Ctrip, moving from collaborative partnership to direct competition.

Moreover, JD.com’s entry into travel intensifies its competition with Meituan, potentially broadening the battleground beyond just its existing food delivery market.

Industry insiders are closely watching JD.com’s anticipated summer offensive. The summer season sees a surge in travel demand, driven by family trips, graduation trips, and general leisure travel.

This period is a prime opportunity to engage price-sensitive consumers and leverage the power of social media for word-of-mouth marketing. JD.com is leveraging the chance to communicate their “no hidden fees” consumer value. They’re aiming to gather customer feedback and reinforce their platform’s reputation for trustworthiness, setting themselves apart in a competitive market.