The Ritz London, the world’s most iconic five-star luxury hotel, has become the first hotel in Britain to install China UnionPay terminals, China’s largest electronic-payment network. The decision was a direct result of the increasing number of guests visiting the Hotel from China, to enable them to manage their leisure and business expenditure with greater ease. Guests will now be able to use China UnionPay cards throughout the hotel, to pay for accommodation, dining, souvenir gifts and beauty treatments.

Mr Stephen Boxall, Managing Director of The Ritz London commented, “For over 100 years, The Ritz has set the benchmark by which other hotels are measured and this is another landmark development which, in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics, will make travelling to London from China easier than ever before”.

Founded in 2002, China UnionPay is the official and only domestic inter-bank network in the People’s Republic of China. Around 300 UnionPay member banks in and outside of China have issued in excess of two billion UnionPay debit and credit cards.