Didi, Booking.com in US$500m tie-up

DIDI Chuxing said yesterday online accommodation and travel services provider Booking Holdings has invested US$500 million in the ride-hailing company as the Chinese firm links with partners to offer services beyond its core business.

Didi and Booking Holdings will leverage each other’s technology and local operating expertize to offer more comprehensive and personalized quality travel experiences across the world, the companies said in a joint statement.

Didi users will be able to use Booking Holdings’ sites including booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com to book hotels and Booking Holdings users will have access to Didi’s ondemand service.

“Didi has clear advantages in technology and scale in the shared mobility industry,” said Todd Henrich, senior vice president and head of corporate development for Booking Holdings.

“We believe that together we can offer smarter transportation services to our brands’ customers, and help Didi’s customers with seamless access to the products and services the brands in our company provide throughout the world.”

Didi Chuxing vice president for strategy Stephen Zhu said:“We look forward to seamlessly connecting every segment of the journey and improving everyone’s traveling experience through more collaborative innovation with the Booking brands on products, technology and market development.”

Didi last month said it will launch a separate application for its chauffeur service called Didi Premium following safety concerns over private cars on its platform. It has also been stepping up overseas expansion by teaming up with Grab, Lyft, Ola, Uber, 99, Taxify, and Careem.