Articles tagged “payments”

Most companies still give their business travelers corporate cards or ask them to pay upfront for later reimbursement. Given the rapid development of mobile and virtual payment methods for consumers, corporate travel is lagging behind yet again.

Amazon's restaurant business is just getting started, but by aligning its technology with existing companies in the space, it is poised to go (very) big.

KLM is a little less reliant on Chinese customers than other major airlines, but it's good to see the Dutch carrier taking the chance on a new way of accepting payments. We're betting it'll work out well for KLM. And we suspect other airlines will follow.

Vantiv's $10.4 billion acquisition of Worldpay creates a payments-processing powerhouse with a huge hand in helping travel businesses boost online and mobile purchases. Due to competition from new rivals, fees are unlikely to spike yet.

Identifying payment trends among consumers not only improves the customer experience but also allows businesses to create new operating models built around the improved speed and ease of transacting.

Kayak is the first online travel player to let shoppers book hotels via Amazon's smart speakers. While the concept has promise, its price comparison process still has to improve before it becomes useful to the average traveler.

Consumer adoption of new payment methods and devices for settling purchases is the main driver of adoption by companies. Yet travel companies can gain a valuable competitive advantage by predicting trends in payments and making payments as easy as possible for everyone.

Travel providers who want to provide customers with a seamless travel experience should no longer think of the payment process as an afterthought.

While Travelport is best known as a middleman for selling airplane tickets, its fastest-growing segment is in commercial payments. While payments competitors like Wex and Worldpay don't have to worry yet, they may have to soon.

The demand for alternative payments will continue to flourish in 2017. The question remains as to whether the industry will be ready to meet the demand.