CSI GlobalVCard clients now can pay for hotels using virtual
cards on travel management company AmTrav Corporate Travel's desktop booking
tool. The ability to use virtual cards to pay for flights and car rentals will follow
before the end of the year, CSI GlobalVCard SVP Juliann Pless told BTN. The
companies already partner on ghost card and corporate card payments.
AmTrav plugs into CSI GlobalVCard's application programming
interface to get a virtual card number, and CSI GlobalVCard faxes a card
authorization to the hotel. The itinerary details also flow to the CSI GlobalVCard
app for travelers. Travelers can use the app to show the virtual card to hotel
staff at check-in and to refax the authorization to the hotel. Travelers also can
send the authorization via a secure email if the hotel supports such messages. Last
year, Conferma
became the first virtual card provider to enable email confirmations.
The virtual card integration with AmTrav preempted CSI
GlobalVCard's original plan to relaunch
its app in April. It also planned to launch an AmTrav-powered white-label
booking tool for small and midsize clients that don't have TMCs, and that would
have appeared on the app, as well. After the delay, the app will relaunch in a
few weeks, but without the white-labeled corporate booking tool, Pless said.
CSI
GlobalVCard still plans to incorporate booking in its platform and its app,
possibly this year. AmTrav still could provide that muscle, but CSI GlobalVCard
also is considering using multiple sources for content, including global
distribution systems and other TMCs.