An inhibitor to the wide adoption of virtual payment for hotel stays is that front desk check-in processes haven’t caught up. Payment forms other than traditional plastic can trip up property staff, many of whom these days are barely trained on standard operating procedures, much less atypical ones. Marriott International and Grasp Technologies said they…
Not yet three years old, New York-based Ramp Business Corporation last month confirmed new financing of $750 million at a valuation of $8.1 billion. It announced that more than 5,000 businesses were on its platform, which “is powering over $5 billion of annualized payments volume.” It’s a tech firm that offers payments rather than a…
U.S. Bancorp’s acquisition of expense management software builder and travel agency TravelBank culminates a series of investments to build integrated business software and services, accelerate midmarket demand for banking and payments, and fend off financial technology firms. Banks traditionally picked up small business clients through lending and banking, but a digital revolution has changed that,…
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…
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