ChinaTravelNews, Ritesh Gupta – Meituan’s second quarter (Q2) 2025 financial results underscore a multi-faceted strategy to leverage its technological prowess and vast ecosystem to strengthen its hotel and travel business.
While the broader core local commerce segment faced significant challenges from what Meituan described as “irrational” competition, resulting in a notable year-over-year decline in operating profit, the retail technology company’s focus remains on long-term value creation. This is being achieved by enhancing user loyalty and empowering merchants through advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).
In the core local commerce category, Meituan's revenue increased by 7.7% year over year to RMB 65.3 billion. Operating profit decreased by 75.6% year over year to RMB 3.7 billion, and operating margin decreased by 19.4% year-over-year to 5.7%. This segment includes food delivery, Meituan Instashopping, in-store, hotel and travel businesses.
Overall, the company’s revenues increased by 11.7% to RMB91.8 billion from RMB82.3 billion for the same period of 2024.
New record
Meituan CEO Wang Xing emphasised this strategic momentum, highlighting a record-breaking performance in the hotel and travel category. “Annual active merchants hit a new high, and GTV of hotel and travel during the Labor Day Golden Week also reached a new high,” he stated on the earnings call.
Talking of Meituan’s role in the accommodation category, he said that the company is positioning itself as a key digital partner for hotel merchants, moving beyond a simple booking platform to provide an array of operational solutions. He noted the company’s plan to help merchants build their online presence and strengthen their digital brand identities.
He mentioned that Meituan is constantly developing initiatives in this arena, with these efforts reflected in terms of its AI business assistants that are being progressively rolled out within the merchant interface. These tools are designed to streamline operations and enhance a merchant’s digital footprint. For instance, the team helps hoteliers refine store page displays with more sophisticated and diversified information, simplify management processes through more efficient systems, and leverage digital assets like user reviews and photos to amplify their brand image.
The most notable AI initiative for the hotel sector is the launch of Meituan Jibai, an AI tool developed specifically for hotel merchants. This tool provides data-driven functionalities, such as intelligent pricing recommendations and dynamic inventory management, to help hotels optimise their revenue and operational efficiency. The introduction of these AI-powered services is a critical part of Meituan's “Retail + Technology” strategy, which intends to offer merchant-enabling solutions that improve the overall efficiency of the service industry.
Loyalty and cross-selling
Meituan also underlined that at the heart of its’ growth strategy is its integrated Meituan Membership initiative, an engine for cross-selling and user engagement. Xing explained that the program has successfully solidified consumer mindshare, making Meituan the go-to platform for finding deals and local services.
“We leveraged Meituan membership to direct high-quality users to the hotel and travel business, upgrading the membership benefits in hotel and travel to deliver greater value,” Xing said. This strategy is paying off, as the company has observed a growing trend among its high-tier members to expand their engagement with travel-related products, he said. The proportion of these top-tier members purchasing hotel and travel offerings rose markedly during the Labor Day holiday, showcasing the program’s ability to drive high-value transactions.
The Meituan Membership program has continued its positive progress, with a total of 10 million net members upgrading their tiers in Q2 alone. It now boasts benefits that span food delivery, in-store dining, retail, hotel and travel, Meituan Instashopping, medical and health, and bike sharing. The rotating nature of these benefits across different services has significantly boosted cross-sales, pointed out Xing.
Flywheel effect
The impact of Meituan’s cross-selling model is exemplified by its strategic partnership with global hotel brands. A prime example is the joint membership program with Marriott Bonvoy, which officially launched this quarter.
The partnership proved to be an immediate success, as detailed by Xing: “On the first day of the partnership, the number of bookings of Marriott hotels on our platform went up by 88% year-over-year, with bookings from young users under the age of 30, surging over 148%.”
He mentioned that this development serves as a clear indicator of Meituan’s expanding growth potential in the high-star hotel segment and its ability to attract a younger demographic.
The company’s on-demand delivery dominance, anchored by its food delivery service, creates a powerful “flywheel effect.”
The growth in on-demand delivery traffic, driven by a reinforcement of Meituan's “value-for-money” image, is converted into incremental transaction growth for other business segments. Through tailored short-term promotions and long-term loyalty benefits, the Meituan Membership program drives higher engagement across all user groups, deepening cross-business collaboration within core local commerce.
