Skift Take
A smart payments strategy sits at the heart of any successful travel business. But too many companies take this hidden infrastructure for granted in their decision-making. In this conversation with executives from Visa, we get a better sense of the evolving role that payments technology plays in today’s frictionless travel experience.
The 2019 Skift Tech Forum brought together some of the world’s most influential travel-focused tech companies and aggregators, along with the leaders of major travel brands to explore technology’s role in addressing marketplace disruptions, collapsing silos, and shifting partner alliances in travel.
One key topic discussed at this year’s forum was the future of payments. The travel industry is, after all, one of the more advanced verticals when it comes to its overall share of e-commerce activity. But making sure that e-commerce can happen seamlessly and conveniently is no easy feat.
One challenge is that travel brands increasingly rely on facilitating transactions that happen across global borders, adding an additional layer of technological and financial complexity to the process. On top of this, there is the growing complexity of travelers’ interactions with the brands that serve them: today most consumers expect they will be able to search, shop and purchase travel products on any device, whether that’s a smartphone, a laptop, or a kiosk at an airport or hotel. Last but not least, there are concerns related to online fraud and privacy protection: making sure that travelers are able to make their purchases quickly while preventing bad actors and fraud.
Why is it so important that today’s travel businesses understand payments technology? And what new innovations are helping ensure that these payments keep pace with rapid changes in consumer behavior?
In this conversation between Michele Herron, SVP, strategy, marketing & SMB solutions – global digital merchant products at Visa, and Jeremy Kressmann, research editor for SkiftX, we learn more about how Visa is helping the travel industry future proof itself for this new era of frictionless payments.
Check out the video above to view the full conversation.
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Tags: Payment Technology, payments, skift tech forum, stf2019, visa