Corporate travel management company World Travel, Inc., has partnered with U.S. Bank to create a virtual pay product for its clients.
The payment product was developed to "walk, talk and act like a physical card and bring all the benefits of a virtual card," World Travel CIO Ivan Imana said during the Global Business Travel Association's Media Day event on Sunday. Businesses can use the virtual card to reserve hotels and then send the same card to the traveler's mobile wallet for check-in and payment at the hotel.
World Travel EVP of business development Mike Farrell said the TMC previously has had to put manual labor behind ensuring travelers were able to use virtual cards at hotels. Agents and staff would call hotels between 72 and 24 hours of a traveler's arrival to make sure the desk was aware of the payment method, he said.
"We've partnered with virtual pay providers, but we've still always had this resource issue because of that pain point," he said.
The partnership with U.S. Bank, which last year acquired travel and expense platform TravelBank, will solve for that issue, Imana said. Companies can set policy controls and time limits around the card so travelers can use it for other travel needs, such as rideshares and dining, he said.
The card is available to all World Travel clients even if they have another bank besides U.S. Bank as a card provider, as the virtual payment product is "World Travel's virtual card, which we distribute to our clients and then to the end users," Imana said.
World Travel will launch the virtual card product to clients in September, according to the TMC.