The European Council has allowed France to impose the mandatory use of B2B electronic invoice.

On 17 January, the European Council authorized France to implement mandatory B2B electronic invoice, to be phased in beginning 1 January 2024 and ending 31 December 2026.

Once the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) approved the Budget Law that establishes the obligation to use the B2B electronic invoice, everything is in place for the mandatory use of the electronic invoice to become a reality.

What are the key deadlines for companies? 

Implementation of the B2B e-invoice in France will be as follows: 

• Large companies: by 1 July 2024. These are companies with more than 5,000 employees and a turnover exceeding €1.5 billion or a €2 billion balance sheet.
• Medium-sized companies: by 1 January 2025. 
• Small companies: by 1 January 2026. Small companies are those with less than 250 employees and a turnover of less than 50 million euro or a 43 million euro balance sheet.

As shown above, the implementation process will be phased and will take 1 year and a half. Once companies have completed this process, paper invoices will no longer be valid as proof of transactions or to justify VAT deductions.

Which electronic invoicing model will France follow?

The country will use a billing model called clearance. This model is gaining more and more traction and is already present in countries such as Italy and Mexico. In fact, it is the most widely used billing model in Latin American countries. 

Although it varies from country to country, the clearance model establishes that the state intervenes in the sending of invoices. In France, companies must either connect to a certified service provider (following DGFiP requirements) or report their invoices manually through Chorus Pro. Chorus Pro is the French government’s e-invoicing platform, which is already in use today for B2G invoices.

The transition and adaptation process required for implementing the use of electronic invoicing can be a challenge and many companies have relied on the expertise of a partner. 

Voxel develops solutions for the digitization of the value chain. Bavel is the reference platform for e-invoicing in the tourism industry. If you want to know how we can help you implement B2B e-invoicing at your company, please write to info@voxelgroup.net and you will be contacted by an expert from our team. You can also get more information at our website. 

La entrada France: The European Union authorizes mandatory B2B electronic invoice se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

Voxel and 24 other companies are co-founders of the first Cluster of Catalonia dedicated exclusively to technology applied to the travel sector.

After three years of preliminary work, the Tech Tourism Cluster of Catalonia is finally here. The organization promoted by the regional government of Catalonia through ACCIÓN is comprised of 24 companies, technology centers, universities and agents. In total, the cluster of member companies and agents provides jobs for 1,700 people in the travel and ITC application sector and its turnover is 254 million euros.

Who makes up the Tech Tourism Cluster?

The founding members of the Cluster are companies engaged in travel technology, consulting, reservations management and connectivity, electronic invoicing or management software for stores, among others.

The members of the new cluster are: Prestige, The Hotels Network, Voxel, Beroni Informatica, Amadeus, Vueling, CETT (Barcelona School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy of UB), Gremi Hotels de Barcelona, CoE in Tourism Innovation of Eurecat, GNA Hotel Solutions, SIRT, IQS (Institut Químic de Sarrià), Catalonia Hotels, The Net Revenue, Sekuenz, Efimatica, Persapia, James & Rita, Tourknife, Engisoft, Vivential Value, eMascaró, Diskover Catalonia and Viajes para ti.

What are the objectives of the Tech Tourism Cluster?

The objectives of the Cluster are to improve the competitiveness of companies in the travel and technology sector and promote internationalization. Also an objective of the Cluster is recruiting talent and accelerating the incorporation of new technologies. Consequently, its aim is to turn Catalonia into a benchmark in travel technology.

For Voxel, which is also a member of the Cluster board, this is an opportunity for establishing and strengthening new synergies. Also, to build a stronger network of companies in the sector with international outreach.

What is the working plan of the Tech Tourism Cluster?

Since 2019 the sector has been analyzed to understand its value chain, identify the actors and determine its main strategic challenges.

One of the most important challenges is to generate shared value by establishing a pilot program to help companies in the sector develop strategies for creating economic, social and environmental value.

Once the Cluster is established and introduced, the next few months will be spent working on tasks to connect members and generate new initiatives. As an example, one of these actions is to develop a Cluster internationalization plan that includes connections with other business groups or group participation in the London World Travel Market, which is the leading trade fair of the European travel sector.

La entrada We introduce the Tech Tourism Cluster of Catalonia se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

The draft bill that will make B2B electronic invoices compulsory in Spain has been passed.

With the aim of promoting economic growth and increase productivity, Spain moves forward in their commitment towards B2B e-invoicing. With this in mind, the Council of Ministers has passed the Draft Bill on Enterprise Start-up and Growth.

The draft bill is included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, an instrument for mitigating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

When will the compulsory B2B electronic invoice in Spain become effective?

Once the law enters into force (article 12), the government will pass a regulation containing the specifications of the electronic invoice. Electronic invoices will become compulsory one year after the regulation is approved.

Therefore, the compulsory nature of the B2B electronic invoice in Spain will be implemented in phases:

• Firstly, a year after the regulation is approved, for companies and independent contractors with an annual turnover exceeding 8 million euros.
• Secondly, during the 3 years following the approval of the regulation, for companies with an annual turnover below this threshold as well as for independent contractors.

Everything indicates that in the next 2 years, B2B electronic invoices will become a reality in Spain.

What are the objectives of B2B electronic invoices in Spain?

The promoting of electronic invoicing provides many benefits. From the government’s point of view, one of the elements that e-invoices allows mitigating is the default rate in business transactions. However, there are other objectives: the digitizing of business relationships, lower transaction costs and promoting transparency.

For companies, it provides additional advantages such as fewer errors, improved invoice traceability and quicker payment collections.

What are other countries doing in terms of electronic invoicing?

Spain is following the model of other European countries that are also considering compulsory measures such as Belgium, Germany or France. The adoption of electronic invoicing in Europe is becoming a growing trend.

If your company is still not using e-invoices and you wish to get ahead of the legislation, please contact us. Send us an email to info@voxelgroup.net or visit our website. baVel is the benchmark electronic invoicing platform for the travel sector and HORECA in Spain and around the world.

If you want to stay informed about the new legislation, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

La entrada B2B electronic invoicing in Spain is one step away from being compulsory se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

Associations, companies and experts expect 2022 will be a good year for business travel. Let’s see what the numbers say in this regard.

The pandemic outbreak brought the entire travel sector to an abrupt stop. Since then, a lot has been said regarding when pre-pandemic levels are expected to be reached in one of the most important businesses in the world.

Leisure travel was the first sector to recover. According to data from Exceltur, the travel sector in Spain closed 2021 with 88 billion EUR of activity; about 7.5% of the GDP. In this year 2022, sales are expected to reach 135 billion EUR. In fact, some companies in the travel industry are already seeing pre-pandemic turnover figures.

What about business travel?

Even though technology has allowed us to remain connected to the world, the truth is that business travel is still a requirement for companies. In contrast to some opinions expecting this segment would disappear, experts predict that 2022 will be a pivotal year for the business travel segment.

According to the latest survey conducted by Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), 75% of travel managers believe the volume of business travel in 2022 will be the same or a bit higher than the previous years. Likewise, specialized companies also expect their income to increase this year. The same association expects a full recovery to occur in 2024, when pre-pandemic levels will be exceeded.

What do corporate travelers want?

Employees still prefer face to face meetings. In fact, according to this report by Amadeus, 75% of travelers have indicated they expect to travel in 2022.

Even though the use of the word “bleisure” (a blend of the words “business” and “leisure”) had become fashionable, the trend is now evolving towards using “workcation” (a blend of the words “work” and “vacation”). This means that business trips will be longer and business meetings will be combined with wellness activities. In fact, 1 out of every 3 corporate travelers indicate they would like to include a leisure activity in their business trips, as explained by the BBC.

In this sense, data from Amadeus has shown how the duration of the trips have increased compared to 2020.

Technology for users but also for companies

Technology has also played a key role throughout the pandemic. Contactless, artificial intelligence, online check-in, VCCs and even online communication are now essential tools for companies in the travel industry as well as travelers.

In this sense, companies in the travel industry have had time to analyze and restore their internal processes to become more efficient once the business volume returns to normal levels. For this reason, new technological solutions are being adopted, such as Payment Manager, to digitize and optimize processes that were highly inefficient before the pandemic such as B2B payments. Companies have understood that in order to emerge stronger from the crisis, they need to apply technology to all their processes and not only to those related with the end user. 

In conclusion, the sector is ready. Everything indicates that 2022 will be the year when we will stop reporting negative figures and begin reporting corporate travel growth prospects in green. Business Travel will return in full force.

La entrada Outlook of business travel in 2022 se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

The solutions provided by Diners Club Spain have been especially designed for Business Travel and payment to suppliers in the travel industry.

Voxel partners with Diners Club Spain to continue promoting B2B payments in the travel industry. Thanks to this partnership, Diners Club Spain is now part of baVel Pay’s payment providers. From this point forward, all companies connected to baVel Pay’s Payment Manager can begin using the services provided by Diners Club Spain without needing to carry out a specific integration.

Diners Club Spain for the travel industry

Diners Club Spain has designed two products to meet the needs of companies in the travel industry and specifically, of travel agencies and intermediaries.

Through products such as Travel Account and Travel Services Account, Diners Club Spain offers a payment method that allows grouping all payments of a company that has been issued a card, providing an easy way of reconciling accounts, more detailed data and a safe payment via its VCN (Virtual Card Number) solution. In addition to offering greater liquidity and being limited to paying for travel services, these two Diners Club products have specific characteristics depending on their use.

The Travel Account can be issued in the name of a travel agency, as long as it is used to pay for travel expenses related with a specific client company. This way, the Travel Account offers a wide travel insurance coverage for all travelers from said company in cases where their travel or lodging has been purchased using this method of payment.

The Travel Services Account of Diners Club Spain is designed for players in the travel industry and is registered with IATA as an alternative transfer method. With permission from the airline company, the Travel Services Account can be used for purchasing IATA airline tickets. This way travel intermediaries can centralize all purchases related with the travel services they intend to sell to their clients using a single method of payment.

On the other hand, baVel Pay is a platform created by Voxel that creates a channel, other than the bookings channel, to transmit B2B payments in the industry. baVel Pay is capable of automatically articulating a sophisticated flow of B2B payments from start to finish, without errors or frictions and taking advantage of an ecosystem of payment providers such as Diners Club Spain. baVel Pay’s Payment Manager is the first payment manager on the market to implement the Open Payment Alliance standards defined by HEDNA and HTNG.

Benefits for companies in the travel industry

Nonetheless, companies in the travel industry that decide to use the solutions provided by Diners Club Spain through baVel Pay may benefit from:

• Longer payment deadlines and consequently, increased cash-flow.
• Cross-border payments that are cheaper and free of exchange rate commissions.
• Maximizing sales without the risk of IATA limiting your payments. Lower guarantee requirements by IATA.
• Automatic articulation of a sophisticated flow of B2B payments from start to finish without errors or frictions.
• Rules engine capable of choosing the best method of payment for each transaction.
• baVel Pay value added services: e-Billing and Bill-back, reconciliation, electronic settlement and full reporting.
• Omni-channel and automatic payment distribution.

If you wish to start using these services, please contact us at info@voxelgroup.net and our team will get back to you and explain how we can help.

La entrada Diners Club Spain is the new payment supplier added to baVel Pay se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

Voxel attends Fitur with the clear objective of encouraging innovation in the area of B2B payments in the travel sector using Payment Manager.

Voxel, the leading electronic payments and ebilling company in the travel sector, will present the latest news related with Payment Manager at Fitur. Payment Manager is the cornerstone of the Open Payment Alliance, which is the new B2B payments standard that has been specifically designed for the travel industry.

The introduction of Payment Manager in the sector and consequently, the adoption of the standards set by the Open Payment Alliance, will entail a paradigm shift in terms of innovation, digitization and automation of B2B payment processes in the industry. This is how it has been described by important associations in the sector such as HEDNA and HTNG, who have been the promoters of OPA.

Technology in the distribution channel and in the payments channel

Over the past decades, distribution in the travel sector has grown exponentially, which has resulted in the appearance of new actors and intermediaries. This growth has been possible thanks primarily to three key technologies: the Internet, VCCs and Channel Managers.

However, the managing and distribution of B2B payments has not evolved at the same pace and the process to manage these is currently highly manual, complex, inefficient and a source of errors and losses for companies in the sector. In fact, in the current scenario, payment processing costs can have an impact of up to 5% of a hotel’s revenue, according to data provided by Voxel.

Open Payment Alliance proposes a new channel that is different from the reservations channel and which allows channeling a flow of payments from start to finish in a manner that is optimized, without frictions and adapted to the specific needs of companies in the travel sector.

In this sense, Voxel has developed baVel Payment Manager, the first Payment Manager on the market, which, in addition to implementing the standards set by the Open Payment Alliance, adds new modules that can be used by travel companies to automatically process payments while also benefiting from other innovations. These modules are: omni-channel connectivity with GDSs, Channel Managers, etc.; a rules engine for automatically selecting the best payments supplier and automatically executing the payment process; a virtual payments hub with more than a dozen payment suppliers; the safe distribution of payments and value added services such as invoice recovery, FX, automatic reconciliation, etc. baVel’s Payment Manager has passed the first concept tests and is currently being used by a dozen companies such as Palladium, Hotusa, MTS Globe, TUI Iberia…

Voxel at Fitur

For the second year now, Voxel will participate in Fitur with a clear objective: promoting the adoption of Payment Manager by the travel sector. In addition to presenting the latest innovations in Payment Manager, the company will also showcase its solutions for digitizing all the back-office processes of hospitality and travel companies at stand 8A14.

La entrada Voxel presents the latest news related with Payment Manager at Fitur 2022 se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

The most popular topics have been legislative news and the evolution of B2B payments in the travel sector, among others.

2021 is coming to an end. And that’s why we want to review the most read posts throughout the year. Although still in the midst of the pandemic, 2021 has been the year in which travel and hospitality activity has started to pick up. It was also a year in which innovation in these sectors gained momentum. Finally, 2021 has been characterised by many legislative changes in relation to electronic invoicing.

And all this has been reflected in our blog.

Legislative changes to e-invoicing around the world

2020 was already a year of legislative changes due to the pandemic. And these have continued in 2021. For this reason, the articles in which we explained these new developments have been among the most read. From Portugal, through Italy, Saudi Arabia, France, Spain, the United States… Every country in the world is making progress in the implementation of electronic invoicing. And regulations change frequently. In this article, you can find out what’s new in legislation for 2022.

B2B payments in the travel sector

The distribution channel in the travel sector is fully digitised and works frictionlessly with multiple actors. Until now, payments in the sector travelled through this channel and did so in a very manual and unoptimised way.

2021 has been a key year for innovation in B2B payments in the travel sector. In January, we were already talking about digitalisation and automation trends. And in September, Voxel made a very strong commitment to innovation in B2B payments in the sector by acquiring the startup Troovo.

The digitisation of the value chain

“2021: Where are the hotel, catering and retail sectors heading?” was another of the most read articles on the blog. Among the sectors that are suffering the most from the consequences of the crisis, digitalisation is here to stay.

Dominican Republic digital agenda

The Dominican Republic’s commitment to electronic invoicing has been in the news throughout 2021 and will continue to be so next year. The DGII wants to make electronic invoicing mandatory in 2023 for large taxpayers. Dominican Republic is preparing for digitalisation. And, as a trusted partner, at Voxel we have resolved the most frequently asked questions about this project.

2021 has been the starting point of a new era in our industries. Let’s make 2022 a revolution in B2B payments and process automation!

La entrada The most read posts of 2021 se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

La entrada Electronic invoicing: legislative developments for 2022 se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

La entrada Voxel and Pax2Pay partner to boost B2B payments in the travel industry se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.

Xavier Ginesta, Chairman at Voxel, will present the most innovative modules of baVel Pay on the Travel Forward Stage.

Voxel, the leading e-invoicing and B2B payments company in the travel industry, will present the latest developments in B2B payments in the industry at the World Travel Market in London.

Xavier Ginesta, Chairman at Voxel, will present the paper “baVel Pay. The B2B payments revolution” on the Travel Forward Stage. This presentation will share Voxel’s vision of the radical evolutionary leap that B2B payments will undergo in the travel industry in the coming years and will present, for the first time after the recent acquisition of Troovo, the new functionalities and features of the baVel Pay platform.

In particular, the paradigm shift that the introduction of the Payment Manager and the adoption of the Open Payment Alliance standard will bring in terms of innovation, digitisation and automation of B2B payment processes in the sector will be analysed.

B2B payments in the international travel sector

Over the last decades, distribution in the travel sector has grown exponentially, giving rise to the emergence of new players and intermediaries. This growth has been made possible mainly thanks to three key technologies: the internet, VCCs and Channel Managers.

However, the management and distribution of B2B payments has not evolved at the same pace and the process for managing them has become increasingly complex, inefficient and a source of errors and losses for companies in the sector.

Following the recent acquisition of Troovo by Voxel, baVel Pay has added new and innovative functionalities and features. baVel Pay is now able to automatically orchestrate highly sophisticated end-to-end B2B payment flows, from retrieving the booking from a GDS or Channel Manager, choosing and generating the optimal payment method for that booking and taking out exchange rate insurance that mitigate exposure from exchange rate fluctuations; to distributing the payment directly to the hotel, obtaining and reconciling the electronic invoice, settling the payment and finally sending a reconciliation report to both the payer and the payee. Fully digital end-to-end business process execution without any manual intervention and therefore frictionless.

The baVel Pay service is articulated through the first Payment Manager in the market that implements the Open Payment Alliance standards defined by HEDNA and HTNG.

Commitment to innovation and digitalisation

For the first time, and coinciding with the first face-to-face edition of the WTM after the pandemic, Voxel will also participate in the event with a booth (TT738). Located in the Travel Forward, the event dedicated to technology and innovation within the World Travel Market, Voxel’s proposal will focus on boosting innovation in the field of B2B payments in the travel industry and contributing to the recovery of the travel sector through digitisation and automation of back-office processes.

La entrada Voxel presents the new baVel Pay platform at WTM se publicó primero en Voxel - Blog.