Partnership with ChinaPay Allows IHG to Offer Greater Convenience to China-Based Hotel Guests
SHANGHAI, June 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) achieves yet another industry first, becoming the only international hotel group in China to accept locally-issued bank cards for online hotel reservations. The company today signed an innovative partnership with ChinaPay, an online payment solution provider, giving Chinese guests who do not carry foreign bank cards access to real-time hotel confirmations and online payments.
Previously, only international credit cards were accepted by hotel websites for online bookings and all payment transactions were made during check-out. The move by IHG sets a new industry standard in improving efficiency and bringing greater convenience to its guests based in China. It also allows IHG to reach out to the nearly 1.5 billion holders of locally-issued bank cards across China.
"IHG has always led the industry in terms of understanding the needs of our consumers and making continuous innovations to ensure these needs are met," said Edmond Ip, chief operating officer, IHG Greater China. "We are thrilled to be partnering with ChinaPay to bring online hotel bookings and payments to the next level. We were among the first international hotel groups to establish a presence in China. Over the years, we have set the benchmark for accommodation and service standards in many cities across China, and introduced various innovative services and initiatives to the market. We are committed to ongoing enhancements that position our hotels as the first choice among our guests and hotel owners in China."
IHG signed an exclusive two-year agreement with ChinaPay, an online payment subsidiary of China Union Pay. This new service is now available at IHG hotels across China including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts.
With its booming tourism industry and closer economic ties with global markets, China is seeing a growing number of frequent domestic and international travellers. Online travel bookings in China are also increasing rapidly.
"Our partnership with IHG will create the largest online booking system in the hotel industry and encourage more local customers to make reservations and purchases through the Internet," said Liu Yongchun, general manager of ChinaPay.
This partnership builds on a host of innovations launched by IHG since the opening of its first hotel in China in 1984. IHG was the first international hotel company to establish a reservation call centre in Guangzhou, and the first to have a fully integrated Chinese language reservation website that facilitates online reservation without a credit card guarantee in China. IHG's Priority Card Rewards is the first hotel loyalty programme to partner with a Chinese domestic bank to launch a co-branded Chinese credit card -- the Priority Club Rewards-Shanghai Pudong Development Bank credit card.
IHG is the largest international hotel group in Greater China, with a portfolio of 86 hotels and more than 100 hotels under development.
IHG - A History of Innovation
-- 1946 -- First major expansion of a truly international hotel brand
following the launch of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
-- 1952 -- Holiday Inn pioneers affordable destination lodging for
families travelling across the US
-- 1954 -- Holiday Inn is first ever hotel franchise, leading to massive
worldwide growth
-- 1965 -- Introduction of Holidex, the industry's first ever
computerized reservations system
-- 1977 -- Holidex is first hotel reservations system to link with
airline and travel agents' reservations systems
-- 1983 -- Launched Priority Club Rewards, the world's first hotel
frequent guest programme and today the world's largest
-- 1995 -- Holiday Inn becomes first hotel brand to take a booking over
the Internet
Notes to Editors:
About IHG
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) (LON: IHG; NYSE: IHG (ADRs)) is one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, almost 4,000 hotels and more than 590,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express(R), Staybridge Suites(R), Candlewood Suites(R) and Hotel Indigo(R), and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club(R) Rewards with over 37 million members worldwide.
IHG pioneered the travel industry's first collaborative response to environmental issues as founder of the International Hotels and the Environment Initiative (IHEI). The environment and local communities remain at the heart of IHG's global corporate responsibility focus, and IHG is the first major hotel group to have measured its environmental and carbon footprint and set reduction targets.
With more than 1,600 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG needs to find around 150,000 new employees over the next few years to meet its global expansion plans.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.
IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at http://www.priorityclub.com . For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at http://www.ihg.com/media .
About ChinaPay
ChinaPay E-payment Service Co., Ltd. is a professional online payment subsidiary of China Union Pay.
ChinaPay is the most functional payment gateway across China, and focuses on B2C and B2B online payment needs, TelePay, online transfers, online fund trading, online return accounts and self-service terminals.
Under the guidelines of the People's Bank of China and China Union Pay, ChinaPay makes full use of China Union Pay's switch network to promote the bank card online payment environment and ensure safe transactions through advanced security technology.
After eight years of development, ChinaPay has become a leading online payment company and has a variety of solutions for online shopping, airline e-tickets, the travel industry, and a range of other industries.
Choose ChinaPay is choosing the road to future growth.
