BEIJING, Jan. 29, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Qunar Cayman Islands Limited (Nasdaq:QUNR) ("Qunar" or the "Company"), China's leading online and mobile travel platform, today announced that it has formed an alliance with 22 of the world's premium high-end hotel groups. The hotel groups, which include Wyndham, Club Med, Banyan Tree, Howard Johnson, and Millennium, will open their global inventories to the Qunar platform.

With over 540,000 hotels globally covered by Qunar's search platform and over 223,000 hotels within its direct hotel network, Qunar has become the second largest hotel platform in China in terms of room nights stayed in the third quarter of 2014 with direct hotel sales contributing the majority of the volume.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to further deepen our cooperation with these top-class hotel groups, whose appeal to our core user base has made them increasingly prominent on the Qunar platform," said Chenchao (CC) Zhuang, chief executive officer and co-founder of Qunar. "Qunar's goal is to become the number one player in China's travel industry across all segments, and this strategic alliance is a significant step in strengthening our hotel direct business and our position in the high-end hotel market, where we are making rapid headway."

Qunar will work closely with the hotel groups to develop a diverse range of products, including pay-upon-arrival, prepay, group buy, and flight + hotel packages, as well as integrated marketing campaigns. The company will also provide consumer intelligence to help hotels increase occupancy rates with better yield management. Qunar will offer its unrivaled data-analysis capabilities to help the hotel groups grow and deepen their membership bases and help to promote those hotels' loyalty programs to more Qunar users.

Qunar's newly launched "flight + hotel" offering bundles hotel recommendations with matching flight bookings. As the No.1 flight-ticketing platform in China in terms of ticketing volume, Qunar uses big data to recommend a minimum of three hotels based on users' flight route, booking history, and preferences for each of the flight ticket bookings. Under the new partnership, the 22 hotel groups will benefit from this cross-sale effort.

"As competition among high-end hotels increases, direct exposure to guests on online platforms is more important than ever," Mr. Zhuang added. "Qunar offers these brands the highest user volumes of any platform, and our ability to collate data from a wide range of users--from flights to hotels and destination services--gives hotels unparalleled insight into their target markets."

Leo Liu, President & Managing Director of Wyndham Hotel Group, added, "China and Chinese travelers are a crucial market for us, and Qunar's position as a market leader in hotel bookings makes them a natural partner for us. This partnership will significantly improve our ability to connect with our target guests. We look forward to cooperating closely with Qunar both in China and overseas."

About Qunar

Qunar Cayman Islands Limited is the leading search-based commerce platform for the travel industry in China. Qunar's goal is to empower Chinese travelers to define their travel experience. Founded in May 2005 and headquartered in Beijing, Qunar is committed to providing travelers with a one-stop travel information source on both PC and mobile devices. The Company enables travelers to find the best-value deals by aggregating and processing highly fragmented travel product information from tens of thousands of travel service providers into an organized and user-friendly display through its proprietary technology. According to research firm iResearch, Qunar has ranked No. 1 among all non-state-owned online travel companies in China in terms of monthly unique visitors since November 2010. Qunar's mobile application "Qunar Travel" was ranked the most frequently used mobile travel application in China by China Internet Network Information Center in September 2012.

Leveraging its large user base and advanced technologies, the Company provides an attractive value proposition to its customers, which include travel service providers and display advertisers.

Qunar means "where to go" in Mandarin Chinese.

CONTACT: For more information regarding Qunar, please contact:
         
         China
         Jenna Qian
         Qunar
         Tel: 8610 5760 3609
         ir@qunar.com / press@qunar.com
         
         Nick Beswick
         Brunswick Group
         Tel: +86-10-5960-8600
         Email: qunar@brunswickgroup.com
         
         U.S.
         Rachel Hunter
         Brunswick Group
         Tel: +1-212-333-3810
         Email: qunar@brunswickgroup.com