(Yicai Global) Dec. 18 -- Alibaba Group Holding's online travel agency Fliggy has established an alliance with 15,000 lodging service providers to help China's independent hotels find more clients.

The alliance, which started signing up hotels for free in September, now covers 600,000 rooms in 300 Chinese cities, state-backed news outlet The Paper reported, citing Zhuang Hai, chief executive of the club's operator Future Hotel.

China has about 1 million independent hotels, accounting for more than 85 percent of the nation's total, according to data from Fliggy. However, these lodging providers usually have less than 80 rooms and lack strong branding and user retention.

The alliance seeks to generate traffic to hotels and provide technical support and intelligent hardware in the future, said the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant's Vice President Fan Chi.

Consumers can buy membership cards priced at CNY39 (USD5.60) to join the group and enjoy an 8 percent discount for stays along with other benefits on Alibaba platforms during the validity period of two years. Hotels, where those cards are bought from, can gain commissions when the guests stay at other member hotels.

Fliggy, state-owned Beijing Tourism Group, and Shiji Information Technology founded Future Hotel, a hotel management system provider, in 2016 with CNY50 million (USD7.1 million) in registered capital. Fliggy holds 49 percent of the equity, BTG 30 percent, and Shiji 21 percent.

Editor: Emmi Laine