The Open Payment Alliance (OPA) keeps moving along. Recently, the two main sectoral associations that promote the OPA, Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) and the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA), have published the phase II comprehensive specification and schema messages document.

These new specifications support, among others, the commission payments from a hotel to its booking partner. Thereby, the OPA moves along the simplification and automation payment processes, also in the indirect distribution channels. OPA’s main goal is to standardize the way payments are processed today, improving operational efficiencies for hotels while providing a better check-in experience to travelers.

B2B payment channel today

Payment innovations have not evolved at the same pace as some other technologies, such as the distribution channel, due to their complexity. With many forms of payment used in the indirect sales channel, each one of them comes with different payment and processing instructions which ultimately lead to inefficiencies and overhead costs.

These inefficiencies may include:

• Use of a technology that does not always support the transmission of payment data required for compliance and regulatory reasons
• Post-booking reservation changes that can not be communicated.
• Limited or non-existing technology to transmit payment instructions.
• Loss of revenue or extra costs due to manual and legacy processes and technology.

In order to find a solution to all these problems, the Open Payments Alliance first defined the role of a ‘Payment Manager,’ a solution that transforms payable data into instructions to automatically initiate and settle payments between two parties. The Payment Manager is a solutions exclusively designed for the travel industry that allow travel companies to streamline payments. The payment instructions that travel between a provider and a client through the Payment Manager specify the terms for which payment for a given booking should be executed, and enable the flow of money into the intended recipient’s bank account, among many others travel industry specifications.

Voxel boosts the OPA through the Early Adopters Program

Voxel has developed the first Payment Manager on the market following the specifications set by the Open Payment Alliance. And, to drive adoption of this standard among companies in the industry, Voxel has launched two Early Adopters Programs in collaboration with Mastercard.

Nowadays, more than 20 companies in the sector, including Palladium Hotel Group, Hotusa Group, TUI Iberia, Odeon Tours, Juniper and MTS Globe are already developing the connection to the baVel Payment Manager and will soon begin to exchange payment instructions.

Are you interested in discovering the new B2B payment channel for the travel industry? Drop us a line at info@voxelgroup.net

La entrada The Open Payment Alliance moves along: phase II specification published se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

The Open Payment Alliance (OPA) Early Adopters Program continues to attract leading firms in the travel industry. After the success of the first edition, with the participation of 20 companies, Palladium Hotel Group and Grupo Hotusa are now the first to join the Early Adopters Program 2.0. This second edition will likewise be sponsored by Mastercard.

Palladium and Hotusa are now among the pioneering group of companies in the industry that will soon begin to use the B2B payments standard defined by the Open Payment Alliance. To that end, both companies will develop their connections with the baVel Payment Manager, the first functional Payment Manager on the market. Once the technical connections have been completed, both companies will start managing optimized payment instructions.

Palladium and Hotusa will thus join the companies in the first Early Adopters program: Methabook, TUI Iberia, 3FullStep, Grupo CDV, Odeon Tours, CN Travel, SHL, World Destination, Webbeds, Protel, Prestige, Bentour Reisen, Hoist Group, Caribbean Atlas, Juniper, Nixi, Hoteldo and MTS Globe.

Benefits of the Open Payment Alliance

The Open Payment Alliance sets a new specific standard for the travel industry, with the aim of solving one of the biggest difficulties in the business: B2B payments. In general, businesses in the industry have put substantial resources into improving processes related to the end customer. However, the back-office processes are still highly manual. Consequently, errors, discrepancies and chargebacks are very common.

The OPA proposes creating a new channel, decoupled from the reservation channel, to manage all payments through the Payment Manager, equivalent to the Channel Manager in the reservation channel.

The benefits of adopting this new B2B payment channel are manifold for both suppliers and purchasers:

• A specific channel guaranteeing execution of all terms agreed in a payment instruction—method of payment, currency, moment of collection, etc.
• Automation, optimization, traceability and transparency throughout the process.
• Reduced manual work in administration.
• Greater scalability of the business.
• Different forms of payment, according to the supplier’s and the client’s needs. Access to different payment partners through one single integration.
• Automatic settlement and billback.
• PCI Compliance. Legal compliance in all countries where the company operates.

For travel suppliers such as Palladium and Hotusa, the benefits of adopting the OPA have been heightened in 2020. Amid the crisis caused by the coronavirus, insurance companies have quickly withdrawn credit from all operations in the industry. Consequently, hotels and other tourist suppliers have had to run the risk of non-payment. The OPA allows risk to be shared among all the members of the value chain through the traceability and transparency of the entire process.

Early Adopters Program 2.0.

The Early Adopters Program 2.0 remains open to all businesses that wish to innovate in their payment processes. Any companies that take part in this edition will benefit from a discount on integration costs.

For further information, please write to us at info@voxelgroup.net or click here. Your Voxel contact person will also be pleased to help.

La entrada Palladium Hotel Group and Grupo Hotusa join the Open Payment Alliance Early Adopters Program se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

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