In the wider scheme of things, TripAdvisor doing something with 100 hotels wouldn't blip the radar.
Unless those hotels are in China, and TripAdvisor is doing something with Didi, China's biggest taxi app, and the partnership is positioned as "building a full service ecosystem of services for travelers not only to research, plan and manage what they want to do but also to easily incorporate mobility solutions into their travel plans."
The actuality is a bit more prosaic than the PR.
TripAdvisor (China) will build dedicated Didi "stations" at 100 hotels where there is a demand from guests to get to local tourist attractions.
Whether these stations are a branded kiosks in reception or an employee dressed up as the TripAdvisor owl to orchestrate traffic outside the hotels remains to be seen.
But the partnership, however vague or tenuous at this nascent stage, could, in theory, develop into something significant. Particularly as Uber China, which Didi took over in August, launched "Uber + Travel”, an initiative which aimed to “connect travellers with the travel services they need before, during and after their journey.”
Currently we have nothing more than an interesting offline tie-up between two massive brands, and a lot needs to happen before a "full-service ecosystem of services for travellers" starring Didi and TripAdvisor becomes a reality.
Still, every paradigm shift and game-changer has to start somewhere.
Related reading from Tnooz:
Confirmed – Uber sells China business to Didi (August 2016)
Apple pumps $1 billion into China’s Didi (May 2016)