Following Louvre Hotels Group’s agreement to accept UnionPay cards, today UnionPay International announced its cooperation with AccorHotels Group, the largest hotel group in Europe. AccorHotels has enabled 85 pilot hotels in France that are popular among Asian tourists to accept UnionPay cards (card number starting with 62). By the end of this June, 200 hotels of the Group will be able to accept UnionPay.
In recent years, UnionPay’s acceptance footprint in Europe expanded substantially. At present, more than 2.2 million merchants across 39 European countries and regions accept UnionPay cards, taking up half of all the merchants in Europe that accept bankcards. Cardholders can not only pay with UnionPay cards at major department stores, duty-free stores and brand stores in Europe, but also in more and more hotels, restaurants, historical and cultural spots, as well as leisure and entertainment establishments. In the first two months of this year, the transaction volume of UnionPay cards in Europe grew by about 40% year-on-year.
AccorHotels is the largest hotels group in Europe. It has more than ten brands, such as Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel and Mercure, and has more than 4,000 hotels across about 100 countries and regions. With this cooperation, all the hotels affiliated to AccorHotels in France will be able to accept UnionPay cards, covering all segments from economy to luxury. Moreover, cardholders can not only pay for their hotel rooms at the point-of-service terminals in the hotels, but also pay with UnionPay cards in other establishment in the hotels including restaurants, bars, meeting rooms and spas.
According to the latest data, about 70% of the ATMs in France accept UnionPay cards for cash withdrawal, and some are equipped with interfaces in Chinese. 130,000 local merchants accept UnionPay cards for payment, covering places frequently visited like Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Place Vendome and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, as well as bookstores and souvenir shops in famous museums like Musee du Louvre, Chateau de Versailles, Musee d’Orsay, Museu Picasso de Barcelona and Musee de l’Orangerie.
