Omni Hotels has integrated with Conferma Connect, which
enables virtual card authorizations via secure email rather than fax. Conferma
Connect launched last September. The partnership with Omni took the
integration a step further, eliminating the duplicate effort required from
clients to fill out an online form to capture virtual card details. Conferma
head of integrations and communications David Wood told BTN, "Omni has
opened up [the application programming interface] of the Web form to enable
Conferma to automate completion of that form."
Other hotel chains, including hospitality giant Marriott,
require similar forms to process virtual card payments. Not only is it an
extra—and unwanted—step for clients, such practices are questionable under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It is a big enough problem that some travel
managers who rely on virtual cards have gone as far as banning
employees from booking properties that require such forms.
Wood explained that hotels often request the form be filled
in one of two ways. The hotel could ask travel bookers to return the form via Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF. "PCI compliance is then lost, as everyone's email involved in that process will receive the card information
and [other personal identifiable information],” Wood said. “What happens with
those forms when the hotels receive them brings up [additional] PCI compliance
challenges. Do they get destroyed accordingly? Do they get left anywhere?”
The second way, as Omni has done, is to send a
URL to the travel booker to complete the online form. While this method is safer
than sending a hard copy, it’s still an extra step. “With Omni, Conferma has been
able to remove that,” Wood said.