Discover how Novum Hospitality has digitized 100% of invoices through baVel

You can find out more success stories of leading companies in the sector with baVel here.

Find out how Selenta has digitized the procurement process from purchase to pay with baVel

In 2011, the Selenta hotel group decided to optimize its procurement process after realizing that it had several inefficiencies. Up until now, the procurement process was centralized and invoices had to be signed in person at their main headquarters. This methodology involved manual and repetitive tasks, which in many cases caused errors and delayed the management period and payments.

Facing this situation, Selenta decides to automate the issuance of purchase orders and delivery notes and the reception of invoices with baVel eBilling, the electronic invoicing solution of Voxel Group.

Its main objective is to automate the entire P2P process: the issuance of the purchase order, the reception of the merchandise, the issuance of the self-delivery note, the reception of the invoice and, finally, the issuance of the payment.

Thanks to baVel’s automation, Selenta has a robust and agile P2P cycle, with which they have been able to reduce the processing time and management of payments and invoices. In addition, the platform has also allowed them to increase the volume of transactions processed and have obtained extra benefits such as saving paper and eliminating physical storage space.

Do you want to know more details of the savings figures? Read the full success story here:

On our website, you will find more success stories of leading companies in the sector.

Discover how RIU Hotels & Resorts has digitized its supply process in Spain and the Dominican Republic via baVel

After digitizing the issuance of B2B invoices with baVel, RIU’s team decided to streamline its supply process in Spain. The hotel chain wanted to eliminate the repetitive work derived from managing purchase orders, delivery notes and invoices manually. A process that often results in errors and a non-value-added workload for the administrative team.

Facing this situation, RIU decides to digitize the issuance and reception of purchase orders and the reconciliation of invoices via baVel, the electronic invoicing platform of Voxel Group. Its main objective is to connect electronically with suppliers and automatically reconcile the invoice with the delivery note, without the need for manual intervention.

Thanks to baVel, RIU was capable of increasing the number of suppliers and the volume of transactions processed, without the need to increase the administrative team. In addition, automation has made it possible to eliminate errors and redistribute the functions of the management team to tasks with more added value.

Currently, RIU and baVel are working together to digitize the supply chain of their hotels in the Dominican Republic.

Read the full success story and find out the savings figures here:

You can find more success stories of leading companies in the sector with baVel here.

Soho Boutique Hotels is a great hotel chain that has 46 hotels, the vast majority of which are urban hotels. During the national and international expansion, the corporate team realises the need for optimizing the invoicing process in order to address the huge volume of invoices. 

Up to now, each hotel managed their own invoices, making it difficult to standardize the process and centralise it. Furthermore, documental control is limited which in most of the cases increases the invoice delivery time for clients and, consequently, delays payments. 

At this point, Soho Boutique Hotels decides to digitize the submission of B2B invoices via baVel eBilling, the electronic invoicing solution of Voxel Group, in order to scale and streamline the invoicing process. 

Thanks to baVel’s implementation, Soho has automated the invoicing process, eliminating manual tasks and obtaining better visibility to solve discrepancies in real-time. Furthermore, the accessibility and traceability of baVel have allowed Soho to reduce the invoice delivery time and accelerated the average collection time. 

Do you want to know how many invoices Soho is capable of automatically manage thanks to baVel? Find all the saving figures in the case study: 

Also you can find more success cases of leading companies in the sector here.

Find out how RIU Hotels & Resorts digitized the emission of B2B invoices via baVel 

When RIU decided to centralise the management process of its hotels, the need for a global solution to manage the huge volume of invoices in an efficient manner got exposed. 

Until now, and with a manual invoicing management system, workers had to do repetitive tasks manually and in the case of making a mistake, the invoice could be paused and delayed. An invoice containing multiple services made the situation worse. 

At this point, RIU Hotels & Resorts decides to work next to baVel, the electronic invoicing platform of Voxel Group, and automate its invoicing process digitizing the issuance of invoices to its B2B clients. 

Thanks to baVel, RIU is capable of issuing invoices automatically, gaining traceability and obtaining better visibility through the platform. The hotel chain could reduce the delivery time and, because of that, cut the average collection time. Furthermore, the adaptability of baVel has allowed RIU to comply with the distinct legislations of the countries where they operate, contributing to international growth. 

Check all the details of the process and the savings figures of RIU, downloading the full case study: 

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When hotels started selling their rooms and services via the Internet, the number of channels where end-customers could buy, compare rates and availability rose to the point that electronic hotel distribution became an industry unto itself. And with that, the cost of distribution for hotels skyrocketed. 

In the past, the cost of distribution for hotels was based on call centres and travel agencies expenses. However, nowadays this cost comes from multiple actors – OTAs, GDS, CRS, TMC, among others – and each one of them applies a percentage rate over the total cost. This means that the total percentage can be between 15% to 25% fee that hotels have to assume. 

Furthermore, most hotels, especially small independent hotels, are not aware of the real cost of distribution and how it affects its annual income. “The reality is that you have to add payment costs and cancellation costs to the distribution cost. And for many hotels these are not costs registered on a book or Excel”, assured Founder and CEO at Fastpayhotels Àlex Gisbert, during the baVel Travel Summit event, held in Barcelona last May.

The distribution cost is divided among the OTAs, which they usually applied the highest percentage; payment costs, where the cost of virtual credit cards is raising, cancellation costs, which can represent a 2% fee of the total distribution cost; and breakage, which is the total amount of money hotels are under-invoicing. 

Unfortunately, breakage is a cost that hotels don’t even see, but it can represent a great amount of loss every year. Invoicing wrong amounts, forgetting to charge a card or undercharging are some of the most common flaws. “Breakage is a big source of money for some bed banks and, unfortunately, it is a cost that hotels don’t have in mind”, regretted Gisbert. Furthermore, it is complicated to have breakage under control as in most cases it doesn’t depend on hotels. 

To Gisbert, the main problem is that for many hotels the cost of distribution has doubled but the rates have not. Due to the rise in the number of hotels, rates have not increased or, in some cases, have decreased, which can become a sustainable or financial problem for some small and medium hotels. 

In order to change this situation and in front of a growing demand for personalised products, hotels are enhancing direct sells on their websites. This way they can offer better services, increasing their profit margin and cutting distribution costs. 

“Many hotels are adapting themselves to new technologies, offer better connectivity and exchange their static rates for dynamic rates which allowed them to cut costs”, explained Gisbert. He added: “Although direct sales have their own costs – ads, payment gateways, e-Commerce platforms – the profit margin – for hotels – is higher”. 

The distribution cost is changing the way hotels offer their services and products to the end-customer. Direct selling offers the opportunity to provide personalised products and services where they can apply discounts. However, most hotels can not only have a unique distribution channel. At this inflexion point, the players of the extended and complex travel distribution network should think of collaborating to create a new sustainable model for the future. 

The 6^th edition of the baVel Travel Summit took place on the 22^nd and 23^rd May in Barcelona with more than 190 professionals from the Travel Industry excited about the opportunity to experience a unique event with a mix of networking activities, talks and round table discussions revolving around innovation in B2B Payments and technological trends related to electronic Invoicing in the sector.

Advances in the implementation of the Open Payment Alliance, a HEDNA initiative, set up to create a specific cannel to process B2B payments for the Travel industry was the star of the show and the best-rated session by the attendees. “Last year we formally announced the OPA, this year we’re talking about the first pilots and next year we’ll be talking about the first success stories” highlighted Xavier Ginesta, Voxel Group’s Chariman.

Ginesta presented the first operational version of the Payment Manager, the equivalent to a Channel Manage for Payments. He talked about the several pilots currently underway involving the participation of various hotel chains and OTAs, where it’s being used to optimize not just VCC flows but also for BTGs (Bank Transfer Guarantees), a new payment method presented as an alternative to virtual cards and offering various advantages for hotels. The main objective of the OPA is to optimize the payment process independently to the booking channel and in the case of BTGs until funds have been deposited in the supplier’s bank account.

VCC’s, the most frequent payment method

In the VCC arena Mastercard, Barclaycard and VISA, the main sponsors of the event, participated together in a panel to discuss virtual cards and their use in the travel industry. The three companies defended the role that cards play today and into the future within the industry. They spoke about the need to continually listen to clients and their requirements in order to continue improving and launching new solutions for the ever-changing industry. Regarding short-term trends in B2B payments, Rohnny Swennen, Director of Mastercard Enterprise Partnerships defended the importance of interconnectivity, integration and data exchange to achieve even greater processing advantages. On their side, José Cuevas, Director Global B2B Partnerships at Visa Business Solutions highlighted the importance of collaboration and working together to create an optimum user experience. David Price, MD, Head of Corporate at Barclaycard Commercial Payments explained that innovation has to stem from the real needs of both the supplier and the buyer with new value-added layers and new and tangible benefits.

In the payments area the summit attendees also got to hear what a technological giant like Amazon had to say. Thomas Gmelch, Head of Travel & Mobility at Amazon Pay, shared with the audience, the need to differentiate oneself in a saturated and price sensitive market, through user experience (UX) and specifically in the Payments process in the Travel industry.

Clients’ feedback as the key to business success

Among the sessions at the baVel Travel Summit this year the hoteliers’ experience was also highlighted, with Javier Mármol, VP Experience & Quality at NH Hotels Group, explaining the process that the hotel chain is going through to modify all of its services based on the feedback they’ve received from their clients. Mármol spoke about the check-in process being totally automated which some of their Hotels are already doing and some of the advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI)

Sergi Mesquida, Automation & Innovation Manager at Hotelbeds, shared with the event’s attendees the current innovation strategies in place at this class-leading bedbank, which stem from internal innovation as much as external innovation, whether it’s collaborating with start-ups or entrepreneurs or purchasing companies that bring added value to their strategy within the sector.

Finally, everything related to PCI/DSS regulation and fraud were the main focus on a panel that combined the vision of a payment provider, Xanderpay, a hotel chain, Meliá Hotels and an OTA, Booking.com. 

The Voxel Awards

The 2^nd edition of the Voxel Awards took place at the Summit’s gala dinner. Awards created to recognize the evolution of Voxel’s clients in relation to their very own corporate values. The prizes went to Kuoni GTS in the “Change Lovers” category, Jet2Holidays in the “People Freaks” category, Fastpayhotels in the “Challenge Maniacs” category and finally RIU Hotels & Resorts in the “FUNtasticTeamPlayers” category.

The award ceremony closed the second day of the baVel Travel Summit, where Xavier Ginesta, Voxel’s President exclaimed “the baVel Travel Summit has consolidated itself as the reference event for B2B payments in the travel industry”.

The event also hosted diverse “speed dating” sessions, organizing 140 meetings and a Funworking activity that helped the attendees develop more personal relationships in a relaxed atmosphere in various Barcelona beach bars.

If you missed this year’s event, you can watch some hightlights here:

The German technological service provider 42GbmH has developed ‘Easy Invoice’, a software capable of connecting two existing systems to facilitate the electronic invoicing. ‘Easy Invoice’ was possible thanks to the cooperation between 42GbmH and baVel. This electronic invoicing solution was a request from Novum Hospitality.

The 42GbmH software translates Novum PMS database – called Protel – to a legible format for baVel. On the other hand, baVel’s eInvoicing solution receives all the information and issues the electronic invoice. baVel offers all usual customisations , but it stands out the automatic issuing of complaints.

Easy Invoice is already working in NOVUM Hospitality where it ensures the electronic invoicing of the group in a B2C environment, for hotels customers, and in a B2B environment, for tour operators and booking platforms.

“Our aim is to offer smart solutions to get the maximum benefit to our clients. With Easy Invoice, we offer to the hospitality industry a tool to significantly speed up internal procedures, reduce costs and more transparency”, says Chief Information Officer in Novum Hospitality, Martin Stegner. He also praises the easy functionality and the mitigation of errors that they are already registering in their hotel chain.

Digitalisation of Invoicing procedures

In Germany, and in the travel industry in general, technological solutions to the front and back office are seen as an opportunity to digitalise and automate procedures, increase efficiency and speed up administrative processes.

If you would like to know more of this alliance and the Easy Invoice launch in Novum, you can read this article (in German). If you want to start digitalising your invoicing processes like thousands of companies in the travel industry, check baVel eBilling.