Sabre has eliminated all manual processes of using
virtual cards to pay for air bookings, via a full integration with Conferma
that went live the week of Nov. 14. Now, Sabre vice president for payments Neil
Fyfe predicts, virtual cards will become the dominant method of paying for
business travel air tickets.
Of the virtual payments made through Sabre today,
hotel bookings account for more than 95 percent, Fyfe said. Using a Conferma
virtual card number for hotel bookings has been wholly automated in Sabre since
Sabre introduced Virtual Payments
for Hotel Settlement in 2011, both for agency and
online booking tool reservations. Air bookings work differently because a card
number is required to complete ticketing via the mid-office. As a result, bookers
have had to create a virtual number via a Conferma Web tool, then copy and paste
it into the Sabre reservation.
Now, said Conferma director of strategic
relationships Paul Raymond, "Sabre has taken a Web process and integrated
it into the host. Sabre is asking for the card instead of the mid-office system
asking for it, so it looks to the agent exactly the same as using a lodge [central
billing or business travel account] or corporate card. It's an absolute
watershed. It's the first time the process has caught up with the requirements
of the travel industry. People always thought it was a good idea, but they
wanted a fully integrated solution. Now that's happened, it should allow a real
step change for virtual cards."
Virtual cards offer several advantages over other ways
to pay for air, according to Fyfe, including the fact that a virtual number is
used only once and for a specified transaction. "We are providing full
fraud protection," he said. "It is a card service that does not get
compromised. The corporate client is not having to replace the business travel
account number if there is a fraudulent transaction. Corporates tell us they
have to change their BTA number multiple times. It's not a case of if changing
the number is going to happen; it's when."
Automatic generation of the virtual card number
inside Sabre reduces card risk further because only the last four digits are
visible to the booker. Previously, the booker could see the full number when
generating a VCN on the Conferma tool and copying and pasting into Sabre.
Sabre global product manager Sarah Ponti said virtual
cards also eliminate the need for reconciling booking and payment data. "Especially
when there are changes or refunds, the tie-in is 100 percent." There are
other means of identifying transactions for reconciliation, such as the unique
ticket number, "but if you are doing a refund or exchange, you don't have
all the info to tie it back to."
A third major benefit claimed by Sabre is that Sabre
forwards all booking, ticketing and payment data to the traveler's expense
tool, greatly enhancing the information available in expense reports. Ponti
said virtual payments provide so-called Level 3, or line item, data from airlines.
For mainstream carriers, that includes "any relevant field from the
passenger name record," such as routing information and class of travel.
Asked how popular VCNs are likely to become for
air ticket payment, Fyfe said: "Why wouldn't you use a more secure,
fraud-preventive method of paying for air transactions? I absolutely believe it's
going to be the predominant way of paying for air travel in future."