Visa and MasterCard bankcard issuer JPMorgan Chase yesterday said it is transmitting hotel line item details to "808 client corporations."
As such, JPMorgan Chase is the first payment issuer to bring folio data to corporate clients via the capability Visa has developed to transmit electronic folio data to clients from Hilton Hotels, Prime Hospitality and Choice Hotels International.
"Any company with us is getting Hilton, Choice and Prime hotel data," said Gene Couch, vice president of sales for JPMorgan Chase commercial cards.
While Visa's folio initiative began with Prime Hospitality last year, the card network in February added Hilton and this week added Choice Hospitality to the expanding list of companies that can transmit hotel folio data to corporate clients.
JPMorgan Chase also issues MasterCard, though Couch said JPMorgan Chase's portfolio of "existing cards is weighted toward Visa," as it comprises the majority of commercial cards it issues to corporate clients.
MasterCard also is in the midst of piloting a folio transmission initiative, which it expects to roll out by the end of the third quarter. "MasterCard has a folio program, but right now it's not as well defined or developed," Couch said. Visa said that other bankcard issuers on its network still are at varying stages of implementation.
The initiative follows e-folio's slow evolution despite strong interest among corporate travel managers in attaining more sophisticated levels of hotel data
(BTN, Oct. 7, 2002).