SALES & MARKETING
Charlie Liu , business analyst at San Franciscobased Adyen payments
ALIPAY , WECHAT :
THE NEED TO KNOW
First off , says Charlie Liu , business analyst at San Francisco-based Adyen payments , Alipay was the inventor of mobile payments in China . Liu goes on :
Born as the payment solution of Alibaba and now a part of Ant Financial ( one of the largest fintech unicorns valued by some at US $ 150 billion ), Alipay has established a vast global network of OTAs and high-end retail merchants .
Meanwhile , WeChat , the messaging app with over 1 billion users from Alibaba ’ s
archrival Tencent , has been trying to leverage its social network advantage to compete against Alipay in payments . Many international hotels have also come to realize the unique proposition of WeChat ’ s Official Account , which is a super effective branding and direct-marketing channel , and Mini Programs , which provides a powerful H5 interface for immersive and interactive customer experience . Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is one perfect such example . It allows followers
of its WeChat Official Account to explore and make reservations across its global properties .
So , what should you as a hotelier do in order not to miss out on the Alipay / WeChat trend ? You certainly
“ have options . First , start by accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay as payment methods . ( L . A . -based Luxe Hotels has already jumped on board ). It normally requires some integration work to your CRM and payment
Hotels should really THINK BEYOND
just the in-room experience , but more broadly about the whole end-to-end in-hotel experience .
”
18 hotelsmag . com June 2018