First International Hotel Group to accept local bank cards in China and allow greater convenience to China-based hotel guests.

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