Conferma, the United Kingdom-based provider of unique virtual credit card numbers for settling hotel invoices, announced today that it is beta-testing a similar solution for booking low-cost carrier seats. CEO Simon Barker said the company is testing the process with several major travel management companies and will fully release it in the next three months, both to TMCs and directly to corporate customers.
Barker said that virtual card numbers solve the problem of low-cost carrier reservations having no unique identification number that can be tracked from booking through to reconciliation. Even more of a challenge is that budget airlines cannot accept payment through lodge cards because they only recognize individual cards on their websites. By no means are all employees at companies that use lodge cards issued with individual plastic as well.
Conferma's virtual card numbers are generated for one-off transactions. The booker, whether at a corporate client or a TMC, can type in the number on the airline website to pay for and complete the reservation.
Barker said that tying the ticket to a unique number in this way also enables the client to gain more detailed data on the transaction. "If you use an individual card, all you get is the name of the airline and the amount paid," he said. "Details of where the flight went to don't flow through to the statement. The situation is even worse if you have one person in the company booking on behalf of lots of different travelers. You don't know which amount on the statement is for which traveler.
"That's why our hotel clients asked us to look at low-cost carriers as well, because for them it is a nightmare. By the time you add on the administrative costs, a low-cost airline ticket can end up more than a ticket on a mainstream airline booked and paid for through Billing and Settlement Plan," said Barker.
Conferma is planning to expand its virtual credit card technology to other areas of travel expenditure, including rail and car rental. The company, which partners with AirPlus International, American Express and Barclaycard, is focusing on expansion across Europe. It has introduced operations in France, the Netherlands and Spain, and plans to open in more markets by year-end. Barker said 20 percent of Conferma's business currently comes from outside the United Kingdom, a figure that is increasing fast.