eNett International – a joint venture between Travelport and PSP International – is introducing its innovative Virtual Account Numbers (VANs) to agencies of all sizes in the Nordics region.
LONDON – The continuing downward pressure on profit margins and the cost of manual processes are driving the uptake of eNett VANs which reduce risk, improve reconciliation and produce financial rewards, agencies attending a seminar in Copenhagen will learn today.
Data from PhoCusWright’s survey into the global travel payments marketplace found that 40% were already using or planning to use virtual card payments. It also found that 40% of respondents listed fraud as the top payment concern. Other key concerns included invoice reconciliation (25%), chargebacks (24%) and currency conversion (22%).
eNett International – a joint venture between Travelport and PSP International – is introducing its innovative Virtual Account Numbers (VANs) to agencies of all sizes in the Nordics region. Following phenomenal growth in Europe since launching in 2011, eNett VANs allow greater access to cutting-edge payment solutions traditionally only available to larger players.
A VAN is an automatically generated 16-digit MasterCard number for each booking transaction, making reconciliation simple for everybody in the value chain.
eNett Managing Director and CEO, Anthony Hynes, said that EUR1.1 billion was wasted on labour-intensive and time-consuming manual payments handling and reconciliation each year.
“For an average agency with about 20 to 75 million euros turnover, around 22 hours each week or 60,000 euros a year will be spent on resources to manually manage reconciliation, process chargebacks and other related functions,” he said.
“VANs help you reduce this cost, simplifying your workflow through integration and automated reconciliation in real-time.”
eNett client, Ticket.SE, a leisure travel agency with 72 stores across Sweden and Norway, is boosting its bottom line by increasing efficiency in supplier payments using VANs.
Asa Svensson, Finance Administrator, of Ticket.SE, said VANs help save precious time previously spent in laborious and manual processes, particularly around airline ticket payment reconciliation and refunds.
“When you consider the cost-savings in handling time, plus the rebate we receive for each payment transaction, we have saved about SEK 4 million,” said Ms Svensson, explaining that VANs, protected by the MasterCard guarantee, also reduced risk from unauthorised transactions and supplier default.
Mr Hynes said VANs are driven by the emerging needs of agencies, including the growing demand by agencies for best dynamic rates or net-commission rates that require immediate payment.
“Traditional payment methods such as cash or cheque may limit your access to more dynamic content or net-commission rates that allow travel retailers to earn immediate commissions. Or, if you pay by corporate cards or store cards, you might incur significant reconciliation issues which can leave you vulnerable to fraudulent use,” he said. “Add opaque foreign exchange and international transaction fees, and it’s not hard to see why VANs are continuing to gain traction in Europe.”
VAN payments are immediate and available in 27 currencies, 15 of which can be settled locally, including SEK, NOK, DKK and EUR. eNett’s partners provide transparent and competitive foreign exchange rates in real-time, providing price certainty at the time of booking.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
