2 barclaycard commercial
Agenda
• Why card payments
• What is a virtual card?
• Why go virtual?
• How closely do Redfern and Barclaycard work together
• How does this affect the end-user
Why card payments?
Card acceptance as a payment method
Our partnership with VISA ensures the widest possible merchant acceptance in the industry - this is a huge network of over 31 million merchants worldwide.
Hotels are familiar with card payments for travellers - so we know that a very high percentage (if not 100%) of hotels accept card payments.
Cards can be used to pay in multiple currencies avoiding costly bank charges and slower cross-board payment authorisation procedures. Thus, the same payment methodology can be used all over the world.
global commercial payments
Why card payments?
Page 4
Safety of Using Card Payment
All cards have protection in place to help prevent fraud. This is further enhanced through the Visa ‘chargeback’ rules.
In the case of non-delivery of services or overcharging, Barclaycard uses the Visa chargeback process to claim money back from the hotel on behalf of the client.
Why card payments?
Volumes and credit agreements
When paying by card, there is no need to guarantee volumes of room-nights at hotels to qualify for credit terms or preferential rates at each hotel.
Business travel can be erratic. Using a card, there is no need to have thousands of separate hotel agreements - one credit agreement with Barclaycard serves for all bookings.
On the plus side for the hotels – they are paid on average 3-4 days after the card is charged. This means that for SMEs such as guest houses there is no need to build or outsource complex debt collection functions.
No need to prepay hotels – hotels can be paid promptly at the moment of check- out. This is a fair solution for all parties.
global commercial payments
What is a virtual card?
global commercial payments
Why go virtual?
Page 8
‘Single Use’
When working with virtual cards we can issue thousands of cards so we can use one card per booking. This improves the reconciliation process enabling a one-to-one match between payment method and the original booking.
Barclaycard forwards the transaction details to the system where the payment is automatically matched with booking details. For example, the traveller’s department. All this information is automatically linked to the payment by the unique card number!
The card is given as a method of payment, but the booking is NOT prepaid. When checking into or out of the hotel the traveller should ask the hotel to look for a confirmation fax from Redfern Travel with the relevant card payment details. The fax will also have details on what should be charged – some bookings may on a bed and breakfast rate whilst others may be room only and the traveller will need to settle any extra’s before departing the hotel.
Barclaycard developed this solution in 2009 and it won - Best Travel Product Award at the Business Travel World Awards in 2009.
Why go virtual?
Additional Security
These banks take care of themselves so don’t require any management, and because they’re virtual, there’s little or no chance of them being used fraudulently.
There is no need for pre-authorisation or CVV number to process the transaction. It is processed as a standard ‘card not present’ transaction….However, should the hotel want to pre-authorise the
transaction or require the CVV, we can accommodate this.
It’s hosted on a web-based platform, which is fully PCI DSS compliant, which means there’s no need to spend time and money on audits and QSA checks generally required when holding card details.
Use of virtual cards is generally restricted to the relevant merchant sectors (hotels, airlines, event/meeting venues), which adds an additional level of security.
global commercial payments
How closely do Redfern and Barclaycard work
together?
Page 10
Redfern Travel were part of the original pilot programme for the virtual card solution in 2009 and they continue to work closely with us to drive continual improvements to the solution.
As with any programme of this size – there is open and continuous dialogue between Redfern and Barclaycard.
Daily contact regarding card utilisation.
Redfern have a dedicated Account Manager, they also have the support of a premier servicing team, and a team dedicated to the ‘Hotel Tracker’ virtual card solution.
End-User / Traveller
What does all this mean for the Traveller
Bookings are guaranteed with cards, the booking has not been prepaid and upon check-out the
traveller should ask the hotel to search for the Redfern confirmation with card details to charge for the booking.
Redfern is able to book and guarantee hotels anywhere in the world (backed up with the global brands of Barclays and Visa). Being able to book lodging in any location means that by using the virtual card payment, they can administer a travel programme that is most cost-efficient and convenient to the traveller.
As the payment mechanism integrates smoothly into Redfern’s fully automated booking process. This ensures that booking and travelling is as easy as possible for the end user.