Fintech platform Trevium has developed a new mobile wallet for hotel payments with partner and card-issuing platform Pliant, the companies announced.
With the wallet, travelers can access an authorized virtual card, issued by Pliant on their smartphones to use at hotels. Travelers access the card via a secure link sent in a pre-arrival message the day before checkin, from which they can add it to their mobile wallet and use at the hotel with tap-to-pay, according to S4BT, the CDS Groupe-launched holding company that introduced the Trevium platform earlier this year.
Typical booking flows generate virtual cards and send them directly to the hotels, where travelers do not have access to them and have no way to use them for additional services that are paid for at the hotel.
"Business travelers are used to paying with their smartphones every day," Trevium CEO and S4BT global payment solutions officer Christopher Hecht said in a statement. "An authorized hotel payment should be just as simple. With the wallet, the authorized virtual card is available directly on the traveler's phone before arrival, bringing the convenience of mobile payment to managed travel while preserving the control, security and expert support companies rely on."
Virtual cards in the wallet are generated via Trevium's Payment API, and booking data is sent to Trevium's Booking API with Pliant as the underlying card provider, according to S4BT. Users can opt for a direct model, in which a single virtual card is generated and card details go directly to the hotel, or a split-payment model that generates one card for room and breakfast and a second card made available in the traveler's wallet for additional services.
Cards in the wallet enable hotels and travelers to draw from the same authorized balance, which helps to prevent duplicate payments, the company said.
Trevium and Pliant last summer announced a new billing approach, Guaranteed Transaction Enrichment, that holds transactions from billing until complete data for automated processing is received.