Is Your Payments Partner Ready to Tackle the Challenges of 2021 Travel?
Skift Take
While some payments companies are retreating from the travel vertical, others are doubling down – with solutions focused on making the payments experience better, simpler, and more consistent across different geographies and platforms.
With the world’s travel plans grounded by the pandemic, travelers’ needs have been in constant flux throughout the year. From a payments perspective, addressing these shifting needs as we move into 2021 will require agility and a deep understanding of the customer journey.
Over the past two years, the payments industry has seen a number of consolidations – in 2019, Fiserv Inc. bought First Data Corp, and Fidelity National Information Services bought Worldpay – but increased size doesn’t necessarily mean these companies are well positioned to serve the specific needs of the travel industry.
In 2020, payment service provider Ingenico was acquired by Worldline, becoming the European leader and fourth-largest global payment service provider. The acquisition combines the strategic value of Ingenico’s travel expertise with Worldline’s enhanced reach and scale into one proposition.
SkiftX spoke with Eric Liebman, global head of travel at Ingenico, now a Worldline brand, about the verticalization of Ingenico’s travel business, and how the travel-focused platform continues to evolve and strengthen, even amidst the pandemic.
SkiftX: With its travel vertical expertise, what does Ingenico understand about travelers’ needs that other companies don’t, especially in light of the pandemic?
Eric Liebman: Payments is one tiny sliver of the travel experience, but the pandemic has brought it to the forefront. Travel companies know they need to get payments right, because they can't count on people lining up anymore in big queues, waiting to pay in person. They’ve got to figure out how to do this now remotely, and so they're turn
