IHG Partners with Chinese Third-Party Payment Company Alipay
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), said that it signed a global partnership with Alipay, China’s third-party online payment solutions company. IHG is the first global hotel company to give Chinese guests the ability to pay via Alipay through all of IHG’s online and mobile channels, as well as across its full estate of hotels globally.
The new partnership, which has been agreed to with Alipay’s parent company Ant Financial, will initially apply to IHG’s existing estate of more than 270 hotels in Greater China, as well as a number of hotels around the world that participate in IHG’s China Ready Programme, which offers a range of tailored services to Chinese travelers. The global rollout of Alipay will begin in 2017.
IHG was first global hotel company to enter the Chinese market more than 30 years ago and China is now its second largest market globally. The partnership will allow IHG to further capitalize on the significant increase in Chinese outbound travel. According to IHG’s Future of Chinese Travel Report, published in 2015, nearly 90 million Chinese households will be able to travel overseas by 2023, fueled by a growing middle class and increasing propensity to travel.
Alipay is currently available in 70 countries and regions across the world. It handles more than 160 million transactions every day, of which mobile payments account for more than 70 percent.
The new partnership, which has been agreed to with Alipay’s parent company Ant Financial, will initially apply to IHG’s existing estate of more than 270 hotels in Greater China, as well as a number of hotels around the world that participate in IHG’s China Ready Programme, which offers a range of tailored services to Chinese travelers. The global rollout of Alipay will begin in 2017.
IHG was first global hotel company to enter the Chinese market more than 30 years ago and China is now its second largest market globally. The partnership will allow IHG to further capitalize on the significant increase in Chinese outbound travel. According to IHG’s Future of Chinese Travel Report, published in 2015, nearly 90 million Chinese households will be able to travel overseas by 2023, fueled by a growing middle class and increasing propensity to travel.
Alipay is currently available in 70 countries and regions across the world. It handles more than 160 million transactions every day, of which mobile payments account for more than 70 percent.