CHINA. SkySea Cruise Line is adopting the Alipay mobile payment platform to give its Chinese passengers more flexibility to pay for duty free and other purchases.
It continues the trend of adopting mobile payments in the competitive Chinese cruise market.
SkySea – the first contemporary cruise line specifically created for the China market – will introduce Alipay’s third-party payment platform on the ship Golden Era from 17 September, marking its first strategic alliance in this field.
The cruise line said: “In the past when cruise guests spent money on board, they needed to link a credit card to their room card, or pay a fixed deposit. This rather cumbersome process meant than many transactions were not processed instantly.”
Soon, guests will be able to use their mobile phone Alipay accounts to pay across most of the ship, including the duty free shops, restaurants and bars. According to SkySea, guests that use Alipay can instantly see their daily expenses “which is significantly more convenient than linking a credit card to a room card like in the past”.
A SkySea spokesperson told The Moodie Davitt Report: “Guests can use Alipay to pay in every shop in Golden Era (except the casino). We believe it will be helpful to our duty free shop sales onboard. In the summer, the average age of guests is about 35 years old, and they are accustomed to mobile payments.”
Importantly, guests using the Alipay mobile app will not be restricted by access to the Internet but SkySea says that guests who have access to the ship’s Wi-Fi will have a higher payment limit.
SkySea is also launching a new website on 12 September offering direct booking, plus new features such as ‘quick booking’ where confirmed reservations can be made without filling in all the passenger information (but doing it later), and online room selection where, like airlines, guests can choose their preferred room in advance. “This will make it much easier for guests travelling in groups to select rooms near friends and family,” said SkySea.
