Travel Agency Payments: Wallester’s Solution for International Transactions

A travel agency must have close ties with many partners and service providers to be successful and profitable. They cooperate closely with companies from various fields, from transport to hotel services. Mutual settlements are an obligatory component of this cooperation. A travel agency needs to use a convenient payment instrument to have a good reputation and conduct business as productively as possible. It will help to strengthen partnerships and improve the quality of service.

The Main Problems of the Travel Industry

Now in the market of tourist services, you can find 3 types of companies that provide them:

1. Tour operator. Organizes tours and sells them to intermediary travel agencies.
2. Travel agency. An intermediary agent who sells tours of operators.
3. Mixed form. A firm that organizes tours and sells them to the end consumer.

Each company contracts with thousands of resorts, hotels, carriers, guides, and other contractors worldwide. Because of the wide geography of travel agents’ connections, standard payment systems cannot provide them with the level of service they need. The most common problems they face are as follows:

• standard bank cards are issued in limited quantities. The dynamic supplier and partner base of travel agencies requires a large number of payment instruments to be issued on demand and in unlimited quantities;
• a limited number of banks offer fast issuance of virtual cards with instant access to the funds lying on them;
• international transfers need to be faster, and there are problems with transferring multiple payments overseas simultaneously.

Another problem that tour operators need to work on when partnering with conventional banking institutions is too long processing times. The fact is that their partners almost always require proof of payment for booking travel services. Only some banks have the technical capabilities to make international payments online. It takes from several hours to several days to process them. Such a delay in payment confirmation often ends in the cancellation of the order. And this, in turn, becomes the cause of customer dissatisfaction and the emergence of negative feedback about the tour company. Payment Card Solution from Wallester will help to get rid of this negativity. With its help, any travel agency or tour operator will be able to optimize its work and maximize the company’s financial processes.

What Does Wallester Offer?

Wallester’s Co-brand Solution allows you to issue unlimited virtual and physical VISA cards that can be used to pay for orders from different suppliers securely. They can be single-use or multi-use. Thanks to the ability to make many international payments instantly, all the main business processes of a travel company are significantly accelerated, and the quality of customer service is improved. Let’s consider how it works in practice:

1. A client books a trip through the travel agent’s app and enters payment details.
2. Card Issuing is carried out through the Wallester platform based on this data. The card is issued to the client to pay for accommodation, transport services and other expenses planned during the trip.
3. When the travel provider debits the card, the Wallester platform connects to the network required for authentication.
4. The expense estimation system verifies each transaction, thereby minimizing the risk of fraud and ensuring that the card is debited only for the intended purpose.
5. Once authenticated and checked for fraud, the transaction is confirmed, and funds are instantly transferred.

When the transaction is completed, Wallester customers are immediately notified. Depending on the settings, SMS or REST API comes immediately after payment.

The Wallester solution has other advantages as well:

• you always have payment statistics and other information necessary for analyzing your business at your fingertips;

• it is possible to issue White-Label Card Issuing with exclusive designs of both cards and mobile applications;
• any transaction and spending limits can be set on the cards, depending on the country of use or customer category;
• the card life cycle can be monitored directly through the Wallester platform. It is possible to set the expiry date of the payment card itself, automatically renew it, make replacements and block it on a permanent or temporary basis.

Wallester’s multifunctional payment tool will help to optimize travel agency operations and improve relationships with partners and customers.