Evolution and Architecture of Qunar's Hotel Supply Chain System

From 2015 to the present, the author has worked as a Java development engineer in Qunar's hotel supply‑chain division, designing and developing the core system, driving business model evolution and refactoring.

The hotel supply‑chain encompasses many B‑side systems such as basic information (MDC, QHotel), customer data (QSS, CT), CRM, contracts, settlement, and product pricing. The article focuses on the narrow definition of the supply‑chain, i.e., the contract system.

Hotel products are listed on Qunar after a supplier signs a contract, enters contract data, supplier qualifications, room information, pricing, merchant EB data, and settlement details into the supply‑chain system. After workflow approvals, the data is pushed to internal B‑to‑B systems and, after packaging, to the transaction system for consumer visibility.

The sales team, distributed nationwide, visits suppliers to negotiate contracts. Once a paper agreement is signed, sales can create orders in the supply‑chain system, which pushes product data to the transaction system for online sale. After purchase, consumers can consume services at the hotel, and sales periodically follow up with suppliers.

The supply‑chain system primarily supports the order‑placement ("up‑order") stage, which involves two key tasks: (1) detailing the product plan with images, descriptions, purchase limits, and pricing; (2) reviewing the plan for legal and financial compliance.

System evolution milestones:

2014: Project launch to digitize offline processes, standardize hotel supply workflows, expand from group‑buy (TUAN) to direct sales (QTA), and establish the MDC base data.

2015: Cross‑category integration, adding movie tickets, catering, tickets, venues, and connecting with QSS, HSC, EB.

2016: Deepening the hotel business, optimizing workflows, reducing the number of operational roles from four to one after contract digitization.

Workflow optimization reduced order processing time dramatically: initially four operational positions were required for a hotel group‑buy product; after contract electronicization, only a single quality‑control role is needed, with merchants handling part of the verification.

The architecture of the supply‑chain system has gradually evolved alongside business growth, moving from an initial CRM‑based prototype to a dedicated, modular system that supports multiple product lines.

Storage structure has undergone several major redesigns to accommodate the increasing complexity of product‑specific processes.

The business model now hides most operational work within the supply‑chain system; end users only see the final product listing.

In summary, the supply‑chain architecture continuously adapts to changing business scenarios, new technologies, and efficiency goals, illustrating that there is no immutable architecture—only the one that best fits current needs.