Diners Opens Management Site, Amex Saves Trees

<B>Diners Opens Management Site, Amex Saves Trees</B>

Diners Club this month launched a Web-based card account maintenance and reporting service.

Free to existing customers, the site, www.chargesmarts.com, offers secure and encrypted transmission of confidential data between Diners and its customers. Another feature is the online corporate card application, including digital signatures.

The site also consolidates access to Diners' online statements, the loyalty program catalog and merchant and ATM/cash locators.

Framing the site as a portal for many travel manager needs, Diners Club offers information on a slew of travel management issues and provides its customers with a ChargeSmarts e-mailbox upon registration.

Canada-based customers will receive access in November.

Meanwhile, American Express' Amex @ Work Web-based corporate card reporting and administration service (BTN, July 19, 1999) is attracting far higher-than-expected usage, according to Jud Linville, who was recently promoted to president of Amex's Corporate Services in Canada and the United States.

Speaking to Business Travel News in early July, Linville said 1,200 companies were registered for online program management, which allows administrators to add and delete cardmembers, change charge limits and other functions.

Year to date, he said, 7 percent of all new T&E card applications have come online, and 25 percent of cancellations have been handled through the Internet portal.

Linville said Web-based cancellations help companies prevent losses, helping preserve their rebates. All Web-based transactions, meanwhile, are less prone to error than manual transactions, he said.

In terms of reporting, 10 percent of customers have stopped receiving paper reports altogether. All new customers are getting electronic reports unless they specifically request paper.

"We have an internal campaign of saving a forest," Linville said. "I see no reason why we shouldn't charge for paper reports. I'd like to see Amex recognize that a lot of people are coming out with Web applications and that, on corporate card, we have a set of capabilities and throughput that's far greater than what you get offline."

In terms of the Amex purchasing card, he said 35 percent of all new cards are applied for online.