InterContinental's guests can now pay via Alipay

An app of Alipay, China's biggest third-party payments platform, on a mobile phone. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese travelers staying at InterContinental Hotels Group's properties at home and abroad can start to pay via Alipay, as well as through all of its online and mobile channels.

IHG, one of the world's leading hotel companies, announced on Wednesday that it has signed a global partnership with Alipay, China's leading third-party online payment solutions company. It makes IHG the first global hotel company to give Chinese guests the ability to pay via Alipay.

The new partnership, which has been agreed with Alipay's parent company Ant Financial, will initially apply to IHG's existing estate of more than 270 hotels in Greater China, as well as a number of hotels around the world that participate in IHG's China Ready Program, which offers a range of tailored services to Chinese travelers. The global rollout of Alipay will begin in 2017.

IHG was first global hotel company to enter the China market more than 30 years ago and China is now its second largest market globally.

The partnership will allow IHG to further capitalize on the significant increase in Chinese outbound travel, said the hotelier.