Amadeus and Mastercard Broaden Access to Virtual Payments in Travel

Amadeus and Mastercard recently announced a five-year extended global collaboration to help broaden access to virtual card payments across the travel ecosystem. Through this relationship, Amadeus and Mastercard will continue to provide flexible, secure, and efficient ways for travel agencies to make and receive payments.

“The way travel agencies make payments to suppliers is changing. Virtual card payments help agencies respond to the challenges of Covid-19 by protecting cashflow, reducing risk, and improving back-office efficiency, whilst also improving settlement terms for suppliers,” said Amadeus Managing Director Payments Bart Tompkins.

The expanded partnership of the two companies builds on an existing strategic relationship committed to offer a fast, secure, and automated way to pay and get paid through Amadeus’ B2B Wallet payment platform with virtual payment technology offered through the Mastercard Wholesale Program. The program is a solution specifically designed for the travel industry utilising virtual card technology to help enhance payment protection and increase visibility for transactions between travel agencies and their suppliers.

“Our commitment is to ensure our customers can access a wide range of virtual card payment methods from the Amadeus B2B Wallet,” Tompkins said.

Virtual cards can protect cashflow, mitigate risk of default and simplify back-office reconciliation while helping to improve the payment experience for both travel agencies and travel suppliers, such as airlines and hotels.

Amadeus B2B Wallet is an Amadeus technical solution which provides access to financial services provided by financial service institutions regulated in their respective country of registration (“B2B Wallet Partners”).