Concur Travel has introduced AirPlus virtual
payment offering AIDA into its booking tool, making it possible for Concur users
to confirm and pay for hotels using a virtual card number. AirPlus U.K. managing
director Yael Klein said AIDA already is available in several other booking
tools, such as Amadeus E-Travel, but what distinguishes the arrangement with
Concur is that it provides a virtual bill-back solution.
Centralized bill-back, a process in which an
agency's or other card is used for payment instead of individual travelers'
plastic corporate cards, remains popular in many countries, especially in Europe
and Latin America. However, it is also a highly cumbersome process because
hotels often insist on receiving faxed copies of the card number to be used for
payment, as well as the CSV number—the three-digit security number found on the
back of a plastic card.
"In other booking tools, the AIDA virtual card
number is generated and sent to the hotel either via the global distribution
system or other booking engine, such as [hotel portal] HRS or [travel content
aggregator] Travelfusion," said Klein. "Concur has taken it a step
further. It generates an automated fax to the hotel with both the front [16-digit]
number and the back [CSV] number because many hotels are still in the Stone Age
and want to see the front and back of card. The traveler books and the card
confirmation process happens seamlessly without their knowing. The numbers are sent
to them when they receive the booking confirmation."
Although announced Thursday, Klein said the
technology has been available in Concur since last month, and two clients are
already using it. Generating a CSV number raises additional Payment Card Industry
compliance challenges for booking tool providers, but, said Klein, "a
number have approached us since they found out what we are doing with Concur
and want to do the same thing."
Virtual card numbers are emerging as the
dominant area of innovation in corporate payments, and AirPlus is no exception
to this trend. "We are investing the majority of our resources at the
moment into AIDA, in the U.K. at least," said Klein, promising more
announcements during the next couple of months. "It means we don't just
have to stay in the travel area we are comfortable in."