Qunar announces link with WeChat

Qunar, an online travel fare website majority-owned by Chinese search giant Baidu Inc, announced on Wednesday that it will connect with Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat to help in-app payment procedures and improve user experience.

WeChat, a popular mobile chatting app with a payment function, is expected to help Qunar speed up its online-to-offline business.

The cooperation is expected to enable users of Qunar.com to pay through WeChat after placing orders online. More importantly, the team up may even allow users to scan quick response codes from Qunar.com on smartphones and checkout via WeChat.

Yang Changle, Qunar's director of wireless products, said that his company will team up with WeChat in early 2014 to launch a promotional event for users of WeChat and Qunar's smartphone app.

According to Yang, those who purchase air tickets on Qunar's app and choose to pay through WeChat will get a cash refund up to 10 yuan ($1.60).

Online travel agencies, such as Qunar, have been moving quickly to boost their mobile business. The 2013 third quarter report from Qunar showed that more than half of Qunar's hotel bookings were made through mobile devices.