MoneyDirect, the joint venture set up two years ago between Amadeus and Sabre, plans to unveil a bill-back solution in the UK next year. The technology will enable travel management companies to use a virtual credit card facility to smooth the payment and reconciliation process between corporations and hoteliers. MoneyDirect chief operating officer Laurent Chartier…
Sabre-Amadeus payment scheme prepares for UK effort
MoneyDirect, the joint venture set up two years ago between Amadeus and Sabre, plans to unveil a bill-back solution in the UK next year.
The technology will enable travel management companies to use a virtual credit card facility to smooth the payment and reconciliation process between corporations and hoteliers.
MoneyDirect chief operating officer Laurent Chartier said the company had been working with the Guild of Travel Management Companies as well as Hedna to develop the technology.
He said TMCs are currently having to deal with the discrepancy between rates booked and what is invoiced.
“We are in a good central position to gather the information and provide a tool to reconcile the payment.”
Chartier also said he welcomed competition from Travelport’s eNett automated payment service unveiled last week.
“Our intent is still to provide a standard to the industry and competition is not a bad thing. When you look at the market we are competing with in-house solutions, manual processes and other inefficiencies so someone else that is going to teach the customer the same message is only going to help us.”
A Travelport spokeswoman told Travolution the company had decided to go its own way with eNett rather than join forces with Amadeus and Sabre.
“We believe eNett is a broader offering. Ours will support non-air but lots of low-cost airlines want alternatives and it can be a pain point to join certain distribution channels. In addition, airlines are doing more and more merchandising and want more modern payment solutions.”
