MasterCard Gets Corps. Into Folio ActMasterCard International is leveraging relationships with its corporate clients in attempts to persuade hotel companies to transmit electronic hotel folio data. On its Web site, MasterCard posted a form letter and asked clients to "complete and send this letter to your preferred hotels to encourage them to provide folio data for your business travel." The letter reads: "We would like to start to receive guest folio information from your hotels for our employees, as soon as possible, through our Corporate MasterCard program. This information is important to us for process efficiency and will be a key component of our hotel management and selection process in the future."
MasterCard could not say how many corporate clients have used the letter. Yet, the initiative continues MasterCard's efforts in securing folio data transmissions. The payment network earlier this year announced partnerships with Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Choice Hotels International and Hilton Hotels Corp. to transmit electronic folio data to MasterCard corporate clients—joining Visa U.S.A., which already partners with Choice, Hilton and Prime Hospitality. MasterCard and Visa both said they actively are expanding partnerships to include more hotels.
Sm. Biz., P-cards Spur M'card, Visa GrowthDriven largely by a boom in small business and purchasing cards, aggregate commercial volume for Visa U.S.A. and MasterCard International hit $150.25 billion last year, which was nearly 20 percent higher than 2002 levels, according to monthly card industry research newsletter The Nilson Report. The numbers underscore how traditional T&E corporate cards are taking a back seat to purchasing cards and small business cards as profitable opportunities for the networks and their bank issuers. The newsletter reported Visa and MasterCard combined had a T&E corporate card volume totaling under $30 billion. That figure pales in comparison with the $105.6 billion American Express realized from T&E accounts, according to BTN's 2004 Business Travel Survey
(BTN, May 24).