Flying pig app, Fliggy
 

Anyone using the Chinese fling pig app for Marriott reservations in China ?. The Marriott points/stay nights are linked and can be earned. + get the local promotions at the hotels. But, one negative is the short variable cancelation policies.
-Per a recent Hainan stay, i learned this from the EL supervisor.

I haven't used it for Marriott reservations. What's the benefit vs. booking direct from Marriott?

Mrt IT
 

Marriott english IT issues in some rural areas + double verification issues. Similar Marriott loyalty benefits in chinese except for the cancel/modify issues. Local promotion deals/benefits with the chinese flying pig ap.
But rates are similar.

The issue about Marriott IT is true and widely-known (just look at the Marriott forum). But in terms of status benefits and points accrual, Marriott makes it pretty clear that anything booked through non-Marriott channels aren't eligible. Is Flying Pig not an OTA? (Genuine question, I don't know their business model). I know someone who got discount Shinkansen tickets in Japan through Flying Pig, so I'm genuinely curious about how they work.

Fliggy , the app did have a ' Flying Pig 2024 hotel of the year award ' in 2024. Sanya Haitian JW Marriott hotel.

After a China non-holiday Xmas, Im ready for the calendar New year promotions !. The Chinese public school kids get their 4-5 week CNY holiday starting on January 10th. Thus, holiday resort hotel rates will easily double, especially on the weekends. The business hotels might discount around the actual CNY ( Jan 29th).
BTW- some of the 4* & 5* hotels did have neatly decorated holiday trees in the lobby areas, more so than last year.

Old thread but will update the fall 2025 trip here.
My Chinese GF used the FPig ap to get the new Marriott resort in Beidaihe next weekend at about 70% rate, of course its fall there after the Golden week holiday. (Beidaihe is 3 hours east of BJ on the beach)

Other 25 travel notes; The UA 771 flight from LAX to PEK was full on Oct 7th, waited 90 minutes for our bags at 4am arrival time. On this flight, no line at passport control, and no need for fingerprints as they are on file from previous 2024 visits. IMO, the digital entry software has improved at PEK for foreigners. Previous UA SFO flights had a 75-minute wait for luggage bags at PEK.

Also, the FPig app was used for Halloween dates in Sanya at the Taikang Sanya resort in Haitang Bay. But the app did not have better rates at the JW Marriott in Sanya city, probably cause its more of a Marriott business hotel & not a Marriott resort. Still, it's our favorite cause of the EL hospitality. Only there for a couple weeks in November.

Friends are visiting us in Honolulu and booked the Hilton Hawaiian Village from Flying Pig. The room they got was completely different from the one they booked (king ocean view vs. queen peek-a-boo views). They called Flying Pig and Flying Pig offered RMB2000 off, or a 15000 RMB budget limit to rebook anywhere else in Waikiki. They refused. Eventually they agreed to staying in their room and getting a full refund (around RMB9000).

Seems like Flying Pig is a platform where 3rd party sellers can operate (much like ctrip, but to a greater extent).

echo this
 

Thanks for heads up, I'l see if we get the desired pool side suites at the resorts in Beidaihe and Haitong bay, past leverage with a conseiquer has worked.

[QUOTE=YariGuy;

Seems like Flying Pig is a platform where 3rd party sellers can operate (much like ctrip, but to a greater extent).[/QUOTE]

To clarify, Its the Fliggy.com in English, a travel service platform under Alibaba. If the Mrt reservation # is on the Fliggy reservation, one probably gets stay night credit & points. But it's a prepay and can be difficult for edits or modification vs the Mrt app. But Figgy can also have other benefits such as food credits & at times Mrt bonus points.

I just tried this website. Not to nitpick, but for the benefit of future FT users, the site is actually fliggy.com with an "L", not figgy.com.

For flights at least, I'm not finding anything cheaper than other OTAs.

It's been a solid 10 years since there was anything resembling competition for domestic flights, and even then, we mostly saw variations of no more than 5% (loss leaders for up and coming players). Ctrip's purchase of Qunar was one of the final nails the coffin because they deprived minor OTAs (and one big OTA, eLong) of oxygen before buying them at a discount. Alibaba and Tencent are still in the game and both have the resources to outspend Ctrip, but they haven't really tried, and Ctrip has also played nice with them.

Fliggy update
 

Fliggy has another 'Flash sale' on China hotels. 2nd day of 3-day sale, Daily points on calendar day sales, but No Marriott/points /benefits on the package deals. All prepay, some refund modified limits.
Truly an Alibaba gen Z focus travel app on benefits. And after watching at 3 different hotel stays in October in Sanya, it's working the gen Z China monetization.
(separate post in Marriott forum on hotel details)

Sanya Fliggy update
 

All the Fliggy bonus points posted from Marriott on the 30 days of our Sanya stay. 79,000 total bonus with all the Mrt stay nights. Most within just 2 days !. Now it's time to see how the Beijing Fliggy bonus points post in the next couple of weeks with several Beijing stays.

BTW, chinese hotel reviews are posted on Fliggy with pics, not on CTrip or Mrt.

I'm seeing a lot of complaints about Fliggy on xiaohongshu lately. However, this is mostly "user error" -- customers complaining that sellers wouldn't refund Japanese hotel rooms. C'mon, you should have read the terms when you made the reservation. The seller is under no obligation to give you a refund just because the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says not go to Japan.

Fliggy is a 3rd party travel platform on Alibaba, very similar rates to Mrt app , but on calendar bookings you can get extra marriott bonus points + the normal Mrt points & stay nights. But its a prepay, & NO mrt credit on Package deals. Some other coupon type food & transfer benefits on Fliggy . A Fliggy F4 membership (spend of 3000 gets you Fliggy gold status at Mrt & HH as of April 18, 2024, all in chinese narrative. F5 is 10,000 milage points & F6 is 50,000 with real-name verification & an invitation. Thus Fliggy's membership allows direct participation in multiple international hospitality loyalty programs.