By Agustin Fiori, European Sales Director at Modulr, the payments platform for travel technology partners and online travel agents.
When a once-in-a-century event like Covid-19 happens, ‘good enough to get by’ isn’t good enough. Having to suddenly deal with an overwhelming number of refund cases across the travel industry at the height of the pandemic showed just how broken travel’s payments infrastructure was.
While people are becoming much less hesitant to travel, they will be looking for the terms and conditions that best suit and protect them. It’s also never been more important to provide a great customer experience. And a poor, fragmented payment or refund experience will lead customers on a one-way journey to competitors.
As we’ve all experienced, any and every plan can change overnight. It’s time to revolutionise travel payments by removing cash flow from outdated systems and replacing it with more control and transparency. As the travel industry continues to rebuild, it’s never been more important for travel businesses to have strong, reliable payments infrastructure to retain and attract new customers.
No room for disconnected payments
Research shows that the payments experience is vital for today’s customers, and they’ve no issue jumping ship to competitors that do it well. Consumers of all ages have high expectations around the speed and delivery of payments. The problem is the payments infrastructure for most travel businesses just isn’t set up to deliver the types of payment experiences the digitally demanding expect.
In an attempt to meet rising expectations, companies often fall into the trap of introducing new technologies in a disjointed way. As more technology is added, the stack becomes more complex and, crucially, more disconnected. This disconnect is costing businesses more than they realise. Payment inefficiencies also result in hidden costs which impact business agility, customer, employee and supplier experience and ultimately the success of the business itself. In fact, 78% of customers agree that there is no excuse for online brands to have outdated, inefficient payment processes.
Many save and plan endlessly for a holiday, so there’s even greater frustrations when refunds take too long. Consumers expect instant payments, immediate refunds and super-easy processes. If faced with a broken customer journey, customers will jump ship and take their travelling funds elsewhere.
Reimagining travel payment journeys
We’re living in the ‘digital now’. And travel companies need to rapidly improve their customer offerings to remain competitive. Switched-on travel businesses like online travel agencies, booking sites and airlines need to realise that they’ll miss out on new features if they try to retrofit practices and processes. They need to start with creating a payments infrastructure that delivers convenience, speed and security to customers.
Revolutionising travel payments will keep travel merchants happy and informed while giving customers the flexibility they want and need. For example, many travellers currently want to change bookings at the last minute – one of the primary behavioural shifts initiated by the pandemic. This practice would be penalised by pre-pandemic pricing strategies and airlines have had to adjust as a result.
Flexibility is now a top priority, and customers want peace of mind that they won’t be left stranded or liable for additional costs if something unexpected takes place. As a result, consumers are increasingly paying on credit cards that offer travel insurance and options for chargebacks. Added to this, naturally, health and wellbeing have become a central focus. As a result, travellers are increasingly using contactless cards and digital wallets as an additional safety measure throughout the duration of their holiday.
These changes are fuelling digital innovation, which has long played a key role in the evolution of the travel payment sector. The rise of in-app payments, increasing usage of digital wallets by travellers and the use of innovative technology were all becoming increasingly common in the run-up to the pandemic. It is now clear the pandemic has accelerated an evolution of digital channels that was already underway.
PaaS is the answer
Today, Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a practical option for companies of all sizes who want to meet the ever-increasing expectations of the digitally demanding consumer. And, just as PaaS is helping to reinvent the way consumers browse, buy and bank, it’s also helping travel businesses to reimagine the customer journey by taking advantage of the latest innovations in payments technology.
PaaS makes it easier for travel businesses to incorporate payments into their proposition and reimagine their technology stack, with no added fees or complexity. Embedding payments deep within systems creates easier and faster processes. It also means simple, tailored and fast oversea payments – something that’s hugely important in the industry. When payments need to be made across multiple currencies and countries, that speed and simplicity is vital.
Payments are an integral part of the travel experience. In order to meet customers’ high expectations, travel businesses need to build innovative and secure payment services into their propositions. This will deliver the convenient, easy-to-use experience of today’s travellers’ digitally demanding dreams.