Manila’s Solaire Resort & Casino is upping the ante in its push to attract Chinese players after signing a deal with Asia United Bank (AUB) that will allow it to accept WeChat and Alipay payments.
In an announcement issued late last week, Solaire – the first of Manila’s new wave of integrated resorts to open in the Entertainment City precinct in 2013 – revealed its new partnership with AUB which will allow Chinese customers to pay for items on the property via the AUB paymate app, which allows merchants to accept WeChat and Alipay payments.
WeChat and Alipay boast a combined 1.7 billion users worldwide and are particularly popular in China.
“The strategic partnership with AUB is consistent with our mission to deliver better service by offering our Chinese guests a safe and efficient online, cross-border platform for their payments,” said Solaire’s SVP Operations, Rajesh Jhingon.
“We firmly believe that our state-of-the-art facilities will be best complemented with reliable cashless transactions for our Chinese guests during their stay in Solaire.”
AUB said that it has accredited almost 5,000 merchants in the Philippines since launching in November 2017.
“We are excited to partner with Solaire Resort as they are poised to benefit from the astounding growth in Chinese tourist arrivals, well above the curve of tourism growth in the region as well as around the world. This comes with untapped opportunities for businesses, big or small, to cater to this specific market with a safe, new payment channel that provides both speed and convenience,” said AUB President Manuel Gomez.
Solaire’s parent company Bloomberry Resorts Corporation last week reported a 1% increase in GGR in 2Q18 on the back of a record performance in mass market table drop – the company’s net income for period impacted by bad luck.