MasterCard Teams With Travelocity For Midmarket Offering

MasterCard today is launching a suite of T&E payment and expense tools for middle market clients, leveraging a newly formed partnership with online travel agency Travelocity Business.

The suite of solutions revolves around MasterCard's MultiCard--a one-card payment program that covers T&E expenses, everyday spending and fleet expenses--with such value added components as ingrained discounts, Web-based setup capabilities, travel booking and expense reporting.

"Our view is very holistic because it's not just a payment solution," said Doreen Amano, MasterCard vice president of global product development. "What we bring to the table offers a broad perspective where payment is only one component."

Through the partnership with Travelocity Business, MasterCard is offering middle market clients discounted setup fees for the online travel agency, as well as "exclusive savings of up to 84 percent on traditional service fees and up to 26 percent in average airline costs," MasterCard said in a statement.

Amano said that MasterCard selected Travelocity as a partner because the online travel agency offers a customizable solution through which customers can use the system to set and monitor travel policies and other parameters.

In addition to discounted rates offered through Travelocity, the program includes pre-negotiated discounts with such vendors as Airborne Express, Hyatt Hotels and Office Depot. MasterCard will continue to add other vendors--both T&E and other, Amano said.

Defined by MasterCard as companies with annual sales between $10 million and $250 million, the middle market has emerged as a ripe area for payment vendors. Citing a recent study by Barlow Research, MasterCard said that the U.S. middle market comprises more than 100,000 companies.

"If you look at the market, there's a lot of focus on small business and a lot of focus on large market," Amano said. "So many midsize organizations have probably been using a card that's small-business oriented or large-market oriented. In the past few years, there's been significant momentum in regard to focus in this segment."

Since launching the MultiCard program last year--"which has had the greatest receptivity in the midmarket," Amano said--the network claimed it has doubled the number of issuers that offer the solution to midsize companies.

MasterCard's largest issuer, GE Corporate Payment Services, as well as other such issuers as Bank One, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, among others, are offering the new solution.