Restaurant marketing platform Redtable has signed a partnership with Ctrip Delicacy Forest, a global restaurant guide from China’s largest online travel agency.
Redtable was founded in 2011 and helps Korean travelers find restaurants abroad that locals actually enjoy, rather than venues which are overpriced and filled with only tourists. The company currently offers information for 13 cities across Asia, with over one million restaurants in its database, and over 36 million reviews.
The startup will use its global data and analysis technology to provide Ctrip Delicacy Forest with ratings and recommendations for restaurants in China from Korean tourists. The platform’s ordering and payment services for reservations will also be operated together from today.
To keep things fair and balanced between restaurants, Ctrip uses three types of rating systems. These ratings come from: a group of 15,000 customers who have eaten at the restaurant, 500 food reviewers, and 17 professional food experts. The service covers popular restaurant locations in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, offering a similar concept to the well-known Michelin Guide in western countries.
According to Ctrip, out of 6.2 million travelers in the Greater China Region last year, 2.2 million used Ctrip on their journey. The platform has 30 million members and makes up more than 50% of the online travel market.
The partnership will also help Chinese travelers find the best places to eat in Korea, and once tensions between China and Korea cool down over the THAAD issue, Redtable CEO Haeyong Do looks forward to a further increase in tourist numbers. “Through Ctrip’s Delicacy Forest, we can introduce tourists to restaurants that Koreans actually like and expect that the increase in tourists will revitalize back-alley businesses,” says Do.
Redtable currently has the largest B2B network with China, and offers tourist food packages to other major travel agencies such as Tuniu, Alitrip and the country’s largest restaurant site Dianping.
