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New hotel payment solutions emerging in Europe

February 10, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

Considerably more common in Europe than the United States, bill-back is a payment method in which the hotel sends an invoice to the client or, more commonly, the client's travel management company - rather than the traveler paying at check-out.

Bill-back is convenient for travelers and useful for companies that prefer not to furnish their employees with corporate cards, but it is manually cumbersome for the travel agent.

Travel Group Consulting managing director John Melchior said he is not surprised to see new hotel payment solutions emerging. "Bill-back has a lot to be said for it from the customer point of view, but agents can never make money from it," he said. "It's enormously inefficient for everyone involved, and TMCs have become much more aware of the cost of hotel processing. The essence of these solutions is to take a lot of the administration and credit risk out of the system."

HRG product director of product Brian Merry told BTN that he regards the continuing development of virtual cards as extremely important not only as a bill-back solution, but as a wider payment mechanism for corporate travel. "Virtual cards are an infant solution that are building up and getting better all the time," he said. "There is a challenge to them—to manage a VAT audit trail for the client—and we think that role sits with the TMC. But we believe the virtual card process is the way of the future. It will grow in use with low-cost carriers, and it also lends itself to becoming the lodge card of tomorrow."

Get the full story at Business Travel News

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