U.S. Bank and Amadeus bring revenue back to your bottom line

Managing and reconciling payments manually is costly and prone to errors. Expenses like wire transfer fees, credit card surcharges and FX fees, as well as cross border payments, often mount up to exorbitant amounts. According to Phocuswright, 61% of travel agencies are issuing payments in more than one currency and the number of travel companies accepting payments in over 10 different currencies has doubled in the past couple of years.

After working with various travel agencies and OTAs across the U.S., we identified a need to reconcile payments in a more streamlined fashion. Travel agencies want to reduce costs and impact the bottom line. Once OTAs receive payments from consumers, they then want to make a payment to the supplier – whether a hotel or an airline – in the most efficient manner possible. 

Interestingly, we have been able to help the travel agencies with successful solutions by taking ownership of the payment process. Through our merchant processing company, Elavon, and our relationship with Amadeus, we have been able to really impact programs and make OTAs more successful as we are both the issuer and the acquirer. We helped set up those payment types for the vendors that are the most cost-efficient.

Then, to facilitate OTAs being able to pay their suppliers in the most efficient way, U.S. Bankentered a strategic alliance with Amadeus to offer the bank’s virtual payment technology to its U.S. travel agency subscribers using Amadeus B2B Wallet. This solution provides an end-to-end payment flow with choice, reach and orchestration. It also gives customers the ability to access a range of payment methods such as the flexibility to prepay or pay later. And depending on volume, both options can earn you rebates and minimize surcharges. The Amadeus B2B Wallet powered by U.S. Bank results in the reduction of costs and time as well as the ability to streamline the reconciliation process and bring revenue back to the bottom line. 

Most of all, it optimizes payments to suppliers! In this innovative virtual solution, virtual cards work like traditional payment cards, except new card details are created with every transaction to keep security in check. Amadeus B2B Wallet replaces invoicing, wire transfers, debit cards, checks and cash advances and puts you in full control of your payments to reduce costs and increase efficiency.