In the news: Alipay in Marriott hotels, GfK Travelscan for Vietnam’s travel agents, Japanese ardent F1 fans.
Marriott welcomes Chinese travellers with Alipay
Deal sealed with a smile between Marriott’s Craig S. Smith (left) and Ant Financial’s Sabrina Peng
Chinese travellers staying in Marriott hotels and resorts can settle their bills with Alipay, a third-party online payment platform with no transaction fees launched in China in 2004 by Alibaba Group and its founder Jack Ma.
This is made possible with the recent agreement between Marriott International and Ant Financial Services Group, an independent financial group and an ecosystem partner of Alibaba Group.
Guests at select Marriott International hotels have the option to pay for their hotel stays, food and beverage purchases, as well as for meeting and event bookings using Alipay on their smartphones. They just need to scan a unique QR code or barcode to pre-pay before arrival or settle their bills on check-out, fast-tracking this process.
Marriott said the agreement was another step in its creation of a complete mobile-powered travel experience that is effortless, seamless and more rewarding for its guests.
The hotel group is activating Alipay at 10 hotels in greater China initially, and will gradually expand to other hotels in China and across Asia by mid-2016. By end of the same year Marriott expects to introduce Alipay to properties in key markets outside Asia.
The first 10 hotels to install Alipay are: The Ritz-Carlton, Sanya, Yalong Bay; The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong; JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong; JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai at Tomorrow Square; Shanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre; Shanghai Marriott Hotel Pudong East; Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel; Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel; Renaissance Hong Kong Harbour View Hotel; and Courtyard Hong Kong Shatin.
“Marriott International is playing a leading role in this seminal transformation within the hospitality sector, which will ultimately allow travellers and meeting planners from China and abroad to pay in a more streamlined, seamless and digital way with their mobile device,” said Craig S. Smith, president & managing director of Marriott International, Asia Pacific.
Sabrina Peng, president of Ant Financial’s international business unit, added that the company chose Marriott as its partner “because of its strong brand recognition and growth plan in Asia and around the world, making it an ideal partner for Alipay.”
Alipay currently has 400 million registered users and 200 financial institution partners. It handles over 120 million transactions daily, of which mobile payment accounts for more than half.
The Chinese International Travel monitor reports that 59% of Chinese international travellers rate local payment solutions as the second most important feature a hotel should have after free WiFi. Alipay is one of the most trusted and popular mobile payment options with Chinese travellers, who lead the world in numbers of outbound tourists and purchasing power. It is expected that Chinese outbound travellers will reach 200 million by 2020.
Vietnamese travel agents to establish industry measurement with help from GfK
A helping hand from Gfk’s Laurens Van Den Oever (right front) to VISTA’s Vu The Binh.
Market insight company, GfK, and the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents (VISTA) have teamed up to introduce a new reporting currency for the local travel industry – the GfK Travelscan.
Travelscan is one of a suite of specialised solutions for the travel and hospitality industry developed by GfK. It is based on consolidated and aggregated industry booking data, and is used by the travel industry to better anticipate market developments and help businesses in the sector run more efficiently.
Through the partnership participating VISTA members contribute weekly live, forward-bookings to produce a set of predictive analytics—the first of its kind in Vietnam.
“Vietnam unlocks a great potential for the travel and hospitality industry and GfK is very glad to have the support of VISTA and its members,” said Laurens Van Den Oever, global industry lead for travel & hospitality.
Vu The Binh, president of VISTA, said it was important for Vietnamese agents to have real-time industry insights.
“While our government statistic office are already collecting and publishing Vietnam’s general inbound and outbound tourism data each month, we have not yet managed to obtain a regular multi-dimension and in-depth report from travel agents—a new and valuable resource that will be provided by GfK Travelscan,” he added.
Vietnam is the fourth market in Asia Pacific where GfK launched Travelscan after Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
GfK has established similar partnerships in Europe and other parts of the world with Travelscan being accepted as the currency for tourism research in these markets.
Japanese most ardent F1 fans in APAC
The race is on. (Image credit: Pavlo61/iStock)
In the run-up to the Singapore Grand Prix in the weekend of September 18-20, which is still going ahead despite the worsening haze in the region, inflight searches by Skyscanner reveal Japanese as the greatest F1 fans in Asia Pacific.
Skyscanner data, based on annual growth rate inflight searches made from January to August 2012-2015 to travel during the F1 week, revealed Japan as the top of five fanatics with a 346% growth.
The other four F1 fanatics are Taiwan +127%, Thailand +123%, Hong Kong +105% and Malaysia +93%. (see infographic below)
Pamela Knaggs, marketing manager, Skyscanner Singapore and Malaysia, said the Singapore Grand Prix, now in its eighth year, is a mainstay in Singapore’s entertainment scene.
“With our data showing that there is continued visitor interest across the region over the last three years, it is clear that the Singapore Grand Prix is a world-class event that continues to contribute to the local tourism scene.”
• Featured image credit (The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong): The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
