Ctrip.com, China's largest online travel service, has entered into an agreement with Google which will upgrade the former's search power for hotel information in China.

By using Google's new search engine, "bendi.google.com", visitors will soon be able to find electronic maps and other related information about 3,000 tourist hotels across China.

Zou Hongyu, senior manager of Ctrip's marketing department, said the launch of the hotel information service is the first step of its planned cooperation with Google.

"We will expand the cooperation on information services in other fields such as air ticket booking and holiday destination guide," Zou said.

Ctrip.com now boasts a hotel room booking volume of 500,000 every month, making it the largest hotel booking agent in China. It owns service information for about 5,000 hotels, of which 3,000are accessible via an online search.

The partnership is also believed to yield a positive effect in expanding Google's market share in China.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2006)