MasterCard International today announced the addition of Marriott International to its roster of electronic hotel folio providers. As part of the agreement, 1,500 Marriott-branded hotels in the U.S. and Canada beginning in April will electronically transmit line item hotel details to corporate clients, MasterCard said in a statement.
Those brands identified as participants include JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn and Marriott Conference Centers.
While former electronic processes break out only the sum of the parts, e-folio transmissions typically enable such line item details as telephone charges, taxes and business center fees, as well as ancillary expenses to be itemized and sent electronically to client expense reporting systems. Corporate travel managers have long considered electronic folio data the last frontier to a seamless expense reporting process
(BTN, Aug. 25, 2003).
MasterCard said Citibank, GE Corporate Payment Services, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo would be its first bank issuers to pass along the data to customers.
MasterCard said Marriott joins Carlson Hospitality, Choice Hotels International and Hilton Hotels Corp. as folio-enabled hotel companies
(BTN, Feb. 9, 2004). Including Marriott's hotels, more than 7,000 properties are now signed on to transmit electronic hotel folio data via MasterCard.
"Once Marriott goes live, some 40 percent of MasterCard corporate card transactions will now take place at e-folio-enrolled lodging properties," a MasterCard spokesperson said.