S4BT – Solutions for Business Travel continues the implementation of Trevium, its dedicated fintech brand launched last January. This fintech company has partnered with the B2B payments platform Pliant to launch a mobile wallet dedicated to hotel payments. While this German company issues payment cards in 13 currencies and 32 countries for the Visa and Mastercard networks, this feature allows business travelers to easily access a virtual card within the framework of their travel policy from their smartphone.
" Business travelers are used to paying with their smartphones on a daily basis. There’s no reason why a legitimate hotel payment should be any more complicated. »This corrects a limitation of the current model," explains Christopher Hecht, CEO of Trevium and Global Payment Solutions Officer at S4BT. This thus corrects a limitation of the current model. In fact, the virtual card is generally generated in the background and then transmitted to the hotel. Therefore, there can potentially be sources of misunderstanding at check-in when the traveler does not have access to this card. Moreover, if this card is used to pay for the base of the stay – the accommodation and breakfast – the nomadic professional often has to pay for extras himself or herself with their personal card before making a bill.
For S4BT customers using virtual cards issued by Pliant, this journey is made even easier with this new Wallet. In fact, the traveler receives a message the day before their arrival with a secure link. They then adds the virtual card linked to their reservation to a compatible mobile wallet, from which they can pay contactless at the hotel. And this is without needing to download an app or activate anything; accessing this virtual card is done via a browser.
" We thus bring the simplicity of mobile payment to business travel, while preserving the control, security, and expert support that companies rely on. »It integrates easily into existing booking processes," describes Christopher Hecht. This tool covers the two main payment models. The direct model, where only one virtual card is used and the hotel always receives the booking and payment data. And the split model, where two cards coexist, one to cover the room and breakfast, the other for extras, the latter made available to the traveler through their mobile wallet.
For each card accessible from the Wallet, the hotel and the traveler use the same authorized balance. Any amount debited by one of the channels is therefore no longer available via the other, which helps to avoid double payments. The company thus retains control over authorized expenses and the traveler is less likely to have to use their personal card and then request reimbursement for the expenses incurred in advance.
This Wallet succeeds a first innovation launched last July, the Guaranteed Transaction Enrichment solution, and extends the collaboration between Trevium and Pliant to the on-site experience. For the record, the Guaranteed Transaction Enrichment solution allows financial teams to receive complete and validated transaction data before billing begins.
