Watch again the last session of the baVel Digital Summit:

Last June, we launched the Early Adopters Program to accelerate the adoption of the Open Payment Alliance (OPA). OPA is the new standard for B2B payments for the travel industry. Since then, more than 20 players of the industry have actively engaged with the initiative. 

In this last session of the baVel Digital Summit, some participants will share its vision and opinions about the innovative technology of the OPA, as well as the benefits that it can offer in terms of B2B payments. 

The OPA pretends to bring traceability, automation and optimization to B2B payments procedures and, at the same time, contribute to rebuilding trust in the industry. 

The talk will take place next Wednesday, November 11th, at 4.30pm (CEST), virtually and will have the participation of:

• Chiara Quaia, Vice President, Market Development Travel, Enterprise Partnerships at Mastercard.
• Livia Vité, Head of Airline Partnerships at eNett.
• Mike Carlo, board member at HEDNA.
• Xavier Ginesta, Chairman at Voxel Group.

Register if you want to be up to date with the latest news of the OPA Early Adopters Program:

See you there!

If you’ve missed any session of the baVel Digital Summit, watch them again here!

The complex distribution chain of the travel industry and the current cancellation and credit policies have contributed to creating scenarios in which the non-payment risk is increasing. In a context of the volatility of the market, exploring new strategies to mitigate the risk of non-payment has become one of the main challenges the travel industry is facing. 

Thereby, the last session of the baVel Digital Summit was focused on the study of the non-payment risk contexts derived from the COVID-19 crisis. The session was held last Wednesday, October 21, and was attended by key players in the sector such as Mastercard, Ixaris, Hotelbeds and Ingenico Payments.

Lack of credit in the market

During the session, the panellists agreed that due to the coronavirus crisis, insurance companies have eliminated the availability of credit in the industry and the risk has increased dramatically.

This caused hotels and travel agencies to redefine their payment terms with the distribution chain: “We are seeing a movement towards charging at the time of booking due to lack of credit, and not as it had been until now at the time of check-out or even months later ”, stated Xavier Ginesta, President of Voxel Group.

In this line, Alex Rodriguez, Lead Product Manager at Hotelbeds, providing a bedbank point of view, one of the intermediaries between hotels and OTAs, highlighted the importance of synchronizing and redefining the payment flows of the industry using technology and innovation.

80% of attendants have experienced difficulties in obtaining credit for their main clients or in maintaining credit terms with their suppliers

Credit cards and pre-paid refundable rates

Facing this situation, the travel industry is opting for pre-paid refundable rates model, where virtual credit cards stand out as the most common and secure form of payment method.

Along these lines, Tiago Coimbra, Head of Hotel Payments at Ixaris, agreed on the increasing use of virtual cards in the industry. According to Ana Arjones, Travel industries Enterprise Partnerships Manager at Mastercard, credit cards offer payment protection once the charge is authorized. “If a pre-paid refundable rate is paid with a credit card at the time of booking, even if it is cancelled or the hotel goes out of business, the client’s refund is guaranteed, as long as the cancellation policies are met,” said Arjones.

More than 75% of attendees have increased the use of VCCs since the start of the pandemic.

On the other hand, after adopting a project that involves the massive use of virtual credit cards, Hotelbeds highlighted the high cost and some operational problems, such as fraud, lack of consistency in payment conditions and compliance with the requirements of invoicing, such as the main limitations of the VCCs.

The Payment Manager: innovation in B2B payments

To try to find a solution, HEDNA and HTNG, with the collaboration of Voxel Group, are leading the Open Payment Alliance (OPA), the new B2B payment standard for the travel industry that aims to address the existing limitations.

The Payment Manager, main OPA’s tool, allows the creation of a single specialized payment channel for the industry, decoupling the payment flow from the booking. The OPA technology aims to address the existing inefficiencies of the B2B payment channel and, furthermore, help rebuild trust between actors thanks to the traceability, automation and optimization of all processes related to payment.

More than 85% of attendees believed that in a period of 5 years Payment Managers will be as popular as Channel Managers in the market.

The event had more than 100 live viewers. You can watch it again here:

Remember that the last session of the baVel Digital Summit “Payment Manager Early Adopters Program” will review the keys of the Open Payment Alliance’s technology. Save your spot:

The economic activity of the travel sector has been one of the most affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The rentability of the travel transactions has decreased, payment guarantees have declined and, consequently, credit availability has been reduced to practically zero levels. 

In this context, the last session of the baVel Digital Summit was held last October 14th,  where key actors of the sector analysed the current situation of the travel sector with data from the last 6 months.

Participants agreed on the industry having to redefine the contracting policies and analyse the businesses’ costs structure, where the financial department will have a key role. In the same way, digitalization and processes optimization will be essential to help mitigate the losses. 

New scenarios for the travel sector 

“Covid recovery will vary across sub-verticals, markets and sectors”, assured Ana Arjones, Manager Enterprise Partnerships at Mastercard. According to Mastercard, and based on data of expense recovery in small independent hotels in 2020, the booking volumes in travel agencies has decreased by 75% compared to last year, domestic tourism is recovering its activity, especially in North America, China and Europe. Travellers prefer independent hotels, where security measures and social distancing is easier to maintain. 

 

On the other hand, international travel shows slow signs of recovery and is expected than in 6 months recovery will still be under 50%. According to the data of the hotel distributor FastPayHotels, last-minute bookings, millennials and domestic travel has prevailed over long haul and long-distance trips. 

On this line, Pancho Pérez Salazar, Business Development Manager at Comercia Global Payments, outlined the dramatic reduction of the international tourism expense, wherein Spain losses could raise up to 70,000 million euros. 

According to data from FastPayHotels, one of the main challenges the industry will face is lack of credit: “there is less credit in the market. If insurance companies do not provide credit, the travel industry will have to rethink the payment system”, assured Àlex Gisbert, CEO at FastPayHotels. 

Digitalization of the financial department 

During the talk, participants agreed on the need to optimize the financial department as a key element for the recovery. According to the Fintech Kantox, and looking into last 6 months data, 56% of financial departments that use manual processes expect an increase in the workload in the next 6 months. Furthermore, 81% expect to handle the upcoming workload with the same resources. 

According to Antonio Rami, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Kantox, it is time to use the paralysis time to optimize operations and internal processes to become more efficient. “Ironically, now is the time to invest and opt for technology and employee empowerment”, outlined Rami. 

 

The event had more than 100 live-viewers. You can watch it again here: 

And, remember that tomorrow, October 21st at 4.30 pm, we will present a new session of the baVel Digital Summit: “Exploring payment risk mitigating strategies in the hospitality space”. You can still register here: 

The new session of the baVel Digital Summit will talk about one of the most important aspects for the sector: B2B payments and how to rebuild trust among actors. The session “Exploring payment risk mitigating strategies in the hospitality space” will take place next October 21st at 4.30 pm virtually. 

The complex distribution chain and the cancellation and credit policies adopted by the hospitality industry have raised the risk non-payment scenarios and, consequently, trust among actors has decreased. Furthermore, the volatility of the market caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has emphasized the need for risk-mitigating strategies. These strategies will allow bookings to be made with protection measures and will contribute to rebuilding trust. 

During the talk, experts of the sector will analyse how the use of technology, early payments and robust refund policies can guarantee the continuity of the business and provide a more secure environment for B2B payments. 

The panel will have the participation of representatives of key-sector players such as Laurie GableHouse, Global Head of Travel Solutions at Ingenico ePayments and Ana Arjones, Manager at Enterprise Partnerships at Travel Industries at Mastercard. 

Register today here:

Also, remember that tomorrow, October 14th, at the same time we will present What data are telling us” next to Kantox, FastPayHotels, Mastercard and Comercia Global Payments. 

You can find all the information on upcoming baVel Digital Summit events here. 

See you there!

The uncertain situation caused by the COVID-19 crisis forced us to postpone the baVel Travel Summit, first to October and eventually until May 19-20, 2021. 

However, in order to inform and share knowledge of the current situation of the travel industry, we continue with our series of talks with the baVel Digital Summit, where key players of the sector will share its views and opinions; and will serve as a small preview of the main discussions in May. 

First session of the baVel Digital Summit

The first session of the baVel Digital Summit examines the importance of data as a key element to analyse the travel sector, under the title: What data are telling us, which will take place next October 14th, at 4.30 pm. 

In this panel, key sector players will share its vision of the state of the travel industry and the expectations to recover using data from its businesses obtained during the last months. The main objective of the panel is to offer a global vision of what the sector is experiencing and conclude what are the next following steps. 

Antonio Rami, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Kantox; Àlex Gisbert, CEO at FastPayHotels; Pancho Pérez, Business Development Manager at Comercia Global Payments, Ana Arjones, Manager at Enterprise Partnerships at Travel Industries at Mastercard and Hector Martín, Vice President of Global Sales at Voxel Group will participate in this first talk.

Register now and find more information about the session here: 

Furthermore, the baVel Digital Summit will have three more digital sessions that will take place next October 21st, presenting the talk “Exploring payment risk mitigating strategies in the hospitality space“; next October 28th, presenting the talk “The new normal = the new digital”; and next November 11th, with a session about the Payment Manager Adopters Program, launched last June. You can find more information on our website. 

Save a spot now to be up to date of the current situation that the travel sector is experiencing, next to top-notch professionals of the sector. Save the dates!

The post-COVID19 scenario for the travel industry shows bookings are plummeting to almost nil, with increasingly lower margins, and a marked increase in risk, moving insurers to reduce the availability of credit for the sector. Trust between players who have traditionally collaborated has been badly hurt, and the rules of the game are changing.

In the face of this environment, the Open Payment Alliance (OPA) —the new B2B payment standard for the travel industry, led by HEDNA and HTNG with the collaboration of the Voxel Group— is more necessary than ever to help rebuild trust between OTAs, bedbanks and hotels. In addition to generating efficiencies by automating B2B payment processes and allowing a greater variety of payment methods, this new standard will also allow payment terms to be agreed between the parties, minimizing risk and making it unnecessary for insurers to participate in the process.

OPA’s launching

It is in this context that Voxel Group has now presented the first real applications under the new B2B payment standard, the technical specifications for which were released this week by HTNG, the association leading technological innovation in the industry. In the latest edition of the #baVelDigitalSummit, Voxel brought together representatives of Mastercard, Melià Hotels International, Logitravel, Apaleo, Xanderpay and Ingenico to present the benefits of the new solution for all the stakeholders involved.

During the talk, 75% of the industry players in attendance believed that the reduction of credit insurance caused by Covid-19 will seriously impact their business in the coming months.

As the president of Voxel Xavier Ginesta said, “although the OPA’s baseline was to correct the inefficiencies in the travel industry’s B2B payment channel, we now realize that what is really important about this new standard is the capacity it has to generate trust among the different players in the travel sector, by providing traceability, automation and optimization of all the payment related processes.”

Bedbanks and hotels have so far borne most of the risk of the operations and in the new post-COVID19 scenario the trend will be for prepayment of operations, together with reasonable refund conditions up to a few days prior to check-in, said the Logitravel and Melià representatives. “We are changing and developing other ways to invoicing the customer“, assured Jesús Pons, CFO at Logitravel Group. On this line, Gaspar Llabrés, Credit & Insurance Senior Director at Meliá added that “the important matter now is in the collection“.

The Payment Manager, the OPA’s tool

For this model to work, a technological tool is required to guarantee the execution of the different terms as agreed—dates, conditions, methods of payment, etc.—and this tool is the Payment Manager, the equivalent of the channel manager in the reservations channel, and the centrepiece of the Open Payment Alliance.

More than 90% of the audience thought that using the Payment Manager as a trusted third party, in combination with pre-paid rates and proper refund policies, is the key to foster trust amongst trading partners and mitigate B2B payment risks

The OPA today

In the last two years, Voxel Group has led the proof of concept process and pilots with firms in the sector that have already validated the model, and after the announcement of the technical standards by HTNG, is now launching the Early Adopters program to accelerate the deployment of the OPA. To do this, Voxel has reached an agreement with Mastercard whereby the financial services multinational will sponsor the integration costs of the first companies to join the program and use B2B payments with virtual cards.

For Chiara Quaia, Vice President of Business Development of Travel Industries at Mastercard, “the simplest and most effective B2B payment method is to use existing virtual credit card products to manage the end-to-end process for all players involved in the ecosystem”.

Another essential player in the implementation of the new standard for B2B payments in the travel industry, the PMSs have received the Voxel Group’s proposal approvingly, as demonstrated by the representatives of the top ten international PMSs who attended the baVel Digital Summit dedicated to the OPA. “Because of the current situation, hotels need to streamline their processes and solve the inefficiencies at the hotels front desk“, highlighted Benjamin Schmidt, Co-founder of the PMS Apaleo. 

The event had more than 150 live followers. If you missed it, you can watch the session again here:

Customers’ behaviour is one of the biggest uncertainties of the Hospitality sector in Spain during the post-Covid period. Facing one of the most unprecedented crisis, it is essential to analyze where the market is headed and how companies can adapt to the new reality. New consumption and purchasing models are some of the new scenarios according to experts. 

“We have to actively listen to the customers to generate trust in the sector again”, pointed out Enric Almiñana, Corporate Purchasing Director at Abba Hotels, next to other experts of the sector during the last session of the baVel Digital Summit. On this matter, Abba Hotels is taking the opportunity to digitize some old procedures, such as the check-in and adapting to the new security measures, such as increasing cleaning and room services. 

Innovation and adaptability

On this line, Andreu Martínez, Supplies Director at Viena, highlighted the importance of innovation applied to procedures and products. “We have to be agile and fast to be able to react in front of clients expectations”. This way, Viena restaurants are working in their innovation portfolio and developing new solutions to break physical barriers, such as contactless payment to suppliers.  

Payment management will be one of the biggest challenges of the industry. “We will have to be flexible and previously agree on payment rates so that the industry can recover”, assured Alberto Ferreira, Hospitality Director in Spain at Campofrio. One of the objectives of the Spanish food company is to help recover as many businesses as possible. According to Ferreira, it is expected that between 15 and 20% of hospitality businesses will close. “We want to help small businesses to recover sales so that sector’s volume can increase again”.

Marketplace: online distribution

Experts agreed on the digitization of processes as one of the solutions to help recover the industry, as well as following sanitary measures. This way, online distribution will play a key role, until now a measure that the industry has been reluctant to apply. “We are focusing on diversification and the online channel. A channel that has come to stay”, pointed out Jesús María Sanchez, Director of Selecta Area at Zamora Company. 

On the other hand, Campofrío is also opening a new online products line specialised in sanitary items, called Healthcare. “We have created a marketplace and we are receiving a positive response”, outlined Ferreira. At the same time, Agustín Bosch, Purchasing Director at SATOCAN Group, agreed on the importance of digitizing the purchasing process. 

Digitization of processes 

The digitization of processes will allow companies to be more efficient, freeing employees of repetitive and manual tasks and redirecting efforts to more valuable jobs. Furthermore, companies will have a major response capacity to face the current lockdown and strict security measures: “the greatest advantage of digitization is eliminating geographical barriers”, pointed out Almiñana. 

An example is the transaction platform baVel, which helps digitize the supply chain and invoicing. “We have to eliminate the paper of the supply chain to optimize the client experience”, added Martínez. 

In front of one of the biggest trust crisis, companies will have to diversify their offer, and adapt to the new customers’ demands. An opportunity that brings innovation and accelerates the digital transformation of the Hospitality industry.

Digitization has become a key aspect for retail companies in The Dominican Republic. The current security and social distancing measures are promoting that companies explore new technologies to change the daily processes that required physical contact, such as cashing checks and invoices. 

However, not all companies have the same needs of digital transformation. Especially, small and medium-sized companies that do not have many resources. 

On this matter, and after the success of the last session of the baVel Digital Summit, baVel’s team in Voxel Caribe wanted to prove to small and medium-sized providers that the digital transformation is accessible. Companies will only need a computer and Internet connection to start the digitization transformation. Companies that started this process and are currently using the baVel’s platform explained their experience during a Workshop held last May 12. 

Digitization, from the purchase order to the electronic invoice

The transactions platform baVel allows digitizing the supply chain from purchase orders to invoices, supply reception, claims and credit notes. 

“baVel allows us to receive purchase orders, and digitize and process them into our ERP; saving time and reducing errors to almost 0”, assured Julio Adames, IT Director at Álvarez & Sánchez. A&S was one of the first companies to start the digital transformation with baVel, “the fact of having baVel’s tool made our lives easier”. 

On this matter, they highlighted the adaptability and agility as some of the multiple benefits of having the transactional information on one point. “We eliminate the duplicate work and focus on added-value tasks”, pointed out the CEO at Ditex, Joan Juliá Calac. 

baVelPay, the elimination of checks 

On the other hand, companies also agreed on the importance of having a solution that allows them to pay while keeping social distancing and maintaining the company’s cashflow. 

On this line of work, baVelPay offers electronic payment services and let companies simplify their verification and issuance process and eliminate checks. This allows companies to rapidly adapt during the crisis and follow the security measures of the Dominican Government. “baVelPay eliminates the need to cash checks physically, which allowed us to work remotely and keep the social distancing measures”, highlighted Julio García, Controller at United Brands. 

Furthermore, baVelPay also contributes to cut costs in the administrative department and reduce the average collection period thanks to the automatic reconciliation of invoices. In Paola Hernández’s words, Operations Director at Le Buffet, “With electronic payments we could cut our costs and eliminate processes while saving time”. 

The e-Commerce 

Lastly, e-Commerce is a solution for companies with less technological capacity. In this case, the supplier can digitize the product’s catalogue to make clients order electronically. 

A simple solution to adapt daily processes into the digital world. It also adds some competitive advantages, such as reducing manual errors and increasing visibility and traceability of products. 

The digital transformation of the retail sector 

Once again, we could analyse first-hand how the retail industry is facing the current exceptional situation. Applying technology to the processes of the retail sector will be key to keep moving forward. A transformation that is becoming more accessible to all company sizes. 

If you would like to find out more about baVel and how it can help your company in the digital transformation, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. 

The actual change of paradigm is bringing new opportunities that could become the new norm for the travel industry. In the context of one of the major unprecedented crisis, the travel industry is working on the projects that before came second. These new initiatives could redefine the market as to how we knew it.  

Thereby, new realities like online check-ins and check-outs, a better sanitization and becoming cash-free could become the norm and put aside the practices we did before. Most of which are unsafe in the new context. 

“The major we had before it is not valid anymore. We have to think out of the box”, assured Marco Torrente, Chief Financial Officer at Europe WebBeds during the baVel Digital Summit, held last May 7th in an online session. 

Therefore, during what some have called a maintenance shutdown, experts agreed on that the industry has to bet for new technologies that would help them streamline their processes to adapt the strategy according to the demand and direction of the market. “The crisis brings new opportunities. We have to be flexible and digitize the customer journey”, added Valerio Duchini, Chief Executive Officer at B&B Hotels Italia SpA.

Flexibility, innovation and transparency

On these lines, Mike Carlo, Board Member at HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association), shared his vision as an industry representative and highlighted that the sector should bet on new initiatives such as the Open Payment Alliance. The OPA is a new standard of B2B payments that aims to create a unique payment channel for the touristic industry that will replace the current distribution channel: “We will experience a significant human change and we will have to renegotiate the trust in the industry”. 

In a highly uncertain context for the sector and with a lack of trust, flexibility, innovation and transparency will be key for the recovery. Even though it is mostly said that it will be a slow and difficult process, as it was one of the first affected industry and probably one of the last ones to recover, this crisis will bring new challenges that could define again the travel sector.