Hotel customers with high credit scores will be able to book rooms on Alibaba’s online travel booking platform Alitrip without having to provide their credit card for room deposits and bypass check-out with payments automatically deducted from their Alipay accounts... More
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SXSW to deploy 1,000 beacons
The organizers of the annual SXSW music and film festival are working with Gimbal, RightRound and Urban Airship to place 1,000 Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons around the event’s venues... More
Wirecard to offer white label HCE wristband
The HCE wristband unveiled by technology provider Wirecard earlier this month is to be offered on a white label basis, Joern Leogrande, the company’s EVP of mobile services, has told NFC World+... More
Panasonic takes NFC to the air
Panasonic Avionics is to add NFC to the in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems it supplies to airlines, providing a way for passengers and crew to make contactless payments and for passengers to access a range of personalized travel benefits... More
Orderella to install NFC tags and Bluetooth beacons in 79 UK pubs and bars
Orderella, the developer of an app that lets customers place drinks orders and make payments from their mobile phone, is to install NFC tags and Bluetooth beacons in all the 79 pubs and bars across the UK that use its service... More
Hilton to let guests unlock their doors with smartphones
Hotel chain Hilton Worldwide has announced a plan to enable guests to use their smartphones as keys at the majority of its properties around the world... More
Air France lets passengers board planes with NFC
Air France, Orange, SITA, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport and RESA have teamed up to provide an NFC boarding experience, allowing a select number of passengers to move through the airport — from entering the building to boarding the plane — by tapping their Orange NFC smartphone at dedicated terminals... More
New York bars adopt mobile payments service that lets customers send drinks to friends
Twenty bars and restaurants in New York are using a new service that combines mobile payments with social networking, enabling customers to pay their tab, meet up and communicate with friends and send ‘Goodies’ like drinks and food to their contacts... More
Mahana uses BLE to help hotels improve customer service
Hospitality technology startup Mahana has introduced a customer service platform that gives hotel and casino staff a way to improve customer service by accessing guest information on the go... More
Denny’s tests mobile rewards
US family restaurant chain Denny’s is piloting a mobile rewards program that lets diners use an iOS or Android app to collect a point for every dollar they spend... More
Verifone launches acoustic payments in Philadelphia
POS maker Verifone has expanded its Way2Ride mobile payments service to Philadelphia, allowing taxi users in the US city to pay for their journey using a sound-based proximity mobile communications technology... More
Toronto restaurants offer mobile payments
Twenty upmarket restaurants in Toronto have signed up for mobile payments service Tab... More
Tesco-backed coffee chain Harris+Hoole introduces mobile payments
Tesco-backed coffee chain Harris+Hoole has updated its mobile app to enable customers to order and pay at any of its 36 outlets without having to touch, tap or scan at a counter... More
Iberia to offer NFC boarding cards
Spanish airline Iberia has partnered with Samsung to enable travellers to store their boarding passes on their NFC phones... More
Schiphol Airport installs NFC boarding gate
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport has installed an NFC boarding gate, supplied by air transport IT specialist Sita, allowing passengers to validate their boarding pass with a touch of their NFC smartphone... More
Fashion retailer uses NFC to engage party-goers
Hong Kong fashion retailer Central Central has used NFC at a party celebrating its second anniversary... More
Chinese banks sign up for China Telecom NFC wallet launch
Mobile network operator China Telecom is to launch an NFC mobile wallet in China later this year, in cooperation with more than a dozen financial institutions... More
Dublin Business School adds NFC kiosk
Dublin Business School (DBS) has installed a triple-screen kiosk with NFC to allow students to access timetable information with their contactless ID cards... More
Acardo and CorFire sign NFC coupon partnership
Couponing technology provider and clearinghouse Acardo, which serves more than 10,000 retail locations across Europe, has signed a strategic partnership deal with mobile commerce specialist CorFire to enable NFC acquisition and redemption of vouchers through mobile wallets... More
Lycamobile adopts NFC for international workforce management
UK-based tracking system specialist Crystal Ball has implemented a new mobile tracking solution with NFC for the world’s largest mobile virtual network operator, Lycamobile, which is now going live with employees in sixteen countries... More