The Global Business Travel Association on Wednesday welcomed back its Media Day event at the start of the annual convention. More series of presentations than press conference, the event requires presenters — companies that sponsor or exhibit at the convention and pay extra to be involved — to agree to withhold their announcements until the…
The innovation in virtual payment is clear, as are its challenges. New standards hold some promise for a primary use case, lodging, but have a ways to go. A Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association and Hospitality Technology Next Generation joint task force has been working on specifications under the Open Payments Alliance umbrella for a…
The sharp increase in U.S. merchant contactless payment capability during the pandemic is increasing the appeal of virtual payment by tackling one of its many challenges. For all their well-documented strengths in terms of controls, fraud prevention, data quality and velocity, compliance, reduction in manual processes, ease of distribution and support for infrequent travelers, virtual…
[UPDATE, Mar. 29, 2021: Pana was acquired by Coupa.] At a time when corporate employees, much less non-employees, are not really traveling, guest travel specialist Pana last month announced it raised $3.6 million to support its “next” product. Appearing on The Company Dime’s Teleconference last week, Pana CEO and co-founder Devon Tivona said the new…
Amadeus recently conducted research to assess the travel industry’s readiness for new payment security rules in Europe. Jean-Christophe Lacour, the company’s head of merchant services for payments, explains what is changing and when, and discusses the implications. The way consumers make payments in Europe will enter a new era from Dec. 31, 2020, (September 2021…
Wex agreed to buy fellow business-to-business payments firm eNett and transaction optimization company Optal for a combined $1.7 billion. That includes $1.275 billion in cash and 2 mIllion shares of Wex stock. Enett is a joint venture majority owned by Travelport, with Optal (formerly PSP International) a minority owner. Enett offers virtual payment solutions for…
[UPDATE, Feb. 25, 2020: TripActions announced partnerships with Comerica Bank, Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley Bank and Visa for the Liquid initiative. The program, using cards issued by Stripe, offers clients a 1.5 percent rebate, integrates with the booking process to support policy compliance and delivers unified payment and booking reports.] At the GBTA convention in…
