Following similar initiatives by Visa U.S.A and MasterCard International, American Express this month will begin transmitting to at least 15 corporate card clients transaction-level folio data from six hotel companies—comprising some 5,500 properties in North America and Europe. The move represents American Express' first hotel folio partnerships and signifies a milestone in the evolution of electronic hotel folio initiatives, as use of American Express corporate cards among large corporations surpasses Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club combined.
American Express—echoing claims by Visa and MasterCard—said more hotel partners are expected to follow, but as of this month partners only include Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Choice Hotels International, Hilton International, Marriott International, Radisson Edwardian Hotels and Thistle Hotels.
After piloting with a "select group of companies," the card vendor as early as June expects to offer folio data to global clients who access enhanced reporting capabilities via its American Express @ Work tool. "It will become available to all the corporate segments, not just the large corporate customers," Amex vice president of global business partnerships Shane Berry told BTN last week. Amex did not say which companies are included in the pilot.
"The infrastructure is all in place," Berry said. "The purpose of the pilot and the purpose of choosing the hotel chains that we're working with is to ensure we get a broad base of feedback in Europe and North America."
In addition to transmitting the data via the @ Work tool, Amex said it also will deliver the data through third-party expense reporting tools. All of the major expense companies, including Concur Technologies, Gelco and Outtask, have said their systems can accept such detailed transactional data.
Visa and MasterCard told BTN that its systems already are up and running with links to third-party expense reporting tools. MasterCard client JohnsonDiversey is among the few companies that have embraced folio data
(BTN, Nov. 8, 2004).While card feeds coming froms most hotel transactions break out only the sum of the parts, e-folio transmission enables such line-item details as restaurant, room service, telephone and business center charges, in addition to the room rate and taxes, to be itemized and sent electronically to clients. Corporate travel managers long have considered electronic folio the last frontier to a seamless expense reporting process
(BTN, Aug. 25, 2003)."Today, the employee has to manually break out their hotel folio and fill in the boxes," Berry said of third-party expense tools. "The space is there to accommodate the data automatically."
Corporate travel buyers have been clamoring for better hotel data as a means to help with negotiations and monitor compliance, yet among the major card vendors, American Express was the last holdout.
"E-folio is something I'd absolutely like to see," ON Semiconductor travel manager Colleen Guhin told BTN just weeks ago, following the announcement of MasterCard and Marriott's folio partnership
(BTN, March 7). "We've been pushing Amex pretty heavily to continue down the path. It makes sense for the credit card companies to act as an intermediary because that's where we get all our data. If it doesn't come with the credit card data, it doesn't do me any good."
Marriott last month entered into an agreement with MasterCard to transit e-folio data from 1,500 of its North American hotels to holders of its corporate card. Five Marriott brands participated: Marriott, Renaissance, JW Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott and Residence Inn. These brands were chosen because they have a high percentage of midweek business travel bookings.
Marriott senior vice president of global sales David Townshend said there now would enough participating hotels in key markets to give both the MasterCard and American Express programs critical mass. "It's clear that our corporate customers see tremendous value in accessing enhanced hotel folio data," Townshend said. "Now that we're working with American Express as well as MasterCard, e-folio no longer will be an ideal for the future, it's a reality now."
Marriott e-folio program director Randy Mayer said the hotel company expects the expanded data transmission to emerge as an industry standard. "It won't be long before e-folio becomes an integral part of the way our customers manage day-to-day travel expenses," Mayer said.
With existing e-folio relationships already in place with Visa and MasterCard, Carlson will provide the data to American Express for its Radisson and Country Inns & Suites hotels in North America plus a limited number of Park Inn and Park Plaza hotels.
"Corporations that have been receiving the data are very positive," senior business analyst Leo Boike said. "Travel buyers benefit because of the improved reports they receive, while travelers benefit from the expedited expense reporting."
American Express, MasterCard and Visa all have said they expect folio initiatives to grow in approaching years as more hotels strike up relationships with the card companies.
"My sense is that all the credit card companies will be dealing, ultimately, with all the major chains and as each card company develops an approach and an agreement with a hotel chain, it won't be exclusive and it will therefore open the door for the other card companies," said David Hillman, president of New York-based consulting firm D. Hillman and Associates.
While Visa and MasterCard were the first to put in place and announce agreements with hotel companies, Amex for years has been the dominant player in the corporate card space
(BTN, May 24, 2004).Of the companies in BTN's 2004 Corporate Travel 100 issue
(BTN, July 5, 2004) that listed a preferred charge card network, more than half said they use American Express as their preferred card.
American Expressfor years said it was working on a folio initiative. While Visa and MasterCard incrementally have added to their roster of folio-enabled hotels, Amex in 2003 said it was holding out for a more comprehensive solution.
And, according to American Express, that time has come: "We've been taking the time to ensure we develop a robust solution that works for clients of all sizes and all regions," according to Berry.
~Bruce Serlen contributed to this report