After being the first hotel group to accept payment from the China UnionPay credit card network, Louvre Hotels Group becomes the first to enable the users of Alipay and Wechat Pay–a total of some 750 million people–to pay for their stays on their booking site using these two payment methods.

By innovating in terms of payment, the world's fifth largest hotel group is actively contributing to the French government's objective of welcoming 5 million Chinese tourists in 2020. More generally, this initiative fits into the strategy of strengthening the group's proximity with the Asian clientele.

A mobile wallet system with over 300 million Chinese clients, Wechat Pay is an offshoot of the biggest Chinese social network, Wechat, which has nearly 800 million users. Nearly 550 billion dollars transit via this payment platform, already used by one out of every two Chinese. Alipay is a world-leading third party digital payment and lifestyle platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group. It has over 450 million active users in China and beyond and was a pioneer in the now-ubiquitous mobile payments market.

Louvre Hotels Group, alongside with its partner Adyen, a young company specialised in payment methods, meets this market demand by accepting these functionalities for its online prepayments. Following a pilot phase in two Parisian hotels, the system will be extended to all of the group's European hotels.

"Welcoming Chinese tourists is essential to reinforcing the attractiveness of Destination France, so we feel it is perfectly natural to do everything in our power to facilitate the client experience. By adding Alipay and Wechat Pay to our payment options, we meet the safety concerns of Chinese tourists while adapting to the new consumer modes of this population." Pierre-Frédéric Roulot, CEO of Louvre Hotels Group.

About Adyen

Adyen is a high-tech company specialised in international and omnichannel payment, offering retailers the first global payment solution able to accept transactions in all countries and on all devices. Adyen currently serves 4,500 clients – including Facebook, Uber, Mango, Netflix, Spotify, Booking.com, Showroomprivé, and BlaBlacar – by providing them with 250 means of payment and 186 different currencies. Adyen optimises sales on all channels (e-commerce, mobile and physical) and connects to all means of payment, from bank cards to Apple Pay, while minimising the risk of fraud. Founded in 2006, the unicorn Adyen is valued at 2.3 billion dollars, and identified by Fortune as one of the 3 global nuggets to watch. In 2016, the company posted 659 million euros in sales and ensured over 84 billion euros in transactions.

About Louvre Hotels Group

Louvre Hotels Group is a major player in the global hospitality industry, with a portfolio that now includes over 1,700 hotels in 70 countries. It has a full hotel offering, spanning 1 star to 5 stars, with the brands: Première Classe, Hosho, Kyriad Direct, Kyriad, Campanile, Kyriad Prestige, Tulip, Golden Tulip et Royal Tulip the 5 brands of the Sarovar network in India and the French Group Hôtels & Préférence. Louvre Hotels Group is a subsidiary of Jin Jiang International Holdings Co., Ltd., the 2nd hospitality group in the world.

Marie Nonell
+33 (0)1 42 91 46 60
Louvre Hotels Group