What's Happening?
BCD Travel, in collaboration with Conferma, has introduced the travel industry's first Virtual Card Acceptance (VCA) Rating. This new system provides business travelers and travel managers with enhanced
visibility into hotel payment reliability. The VCA Rating evaluates hotels based on their ability to process virtual cards successfully, scoring them on a scale from one to ten. This initiative is part of the expanded partnership between BCD Travel and Conferma, focusing on seamless, data-driven payment innovation. The rating is powered by live transactional data captured through Conferma Connect, ensuring a reliable source of truth for hotel payment reliability across various currencies, banks, and hotel chains. The system aims to streamline operations and build traveler confidence by making payment acceptance transparent.
Why It's Important?
The introduction of the VCA Rating is significant as business travel increasingly shifts towards digital and frictionless payment methods. Virtual cards are becoming essential in modern expense management due to their speed, security, and simplified reconciliation. By providing a transparent view of payment acceptance, the VCA Rating helps travel managers and travelers make informed booking decisions, reducing the need for manual reporting of hotel charges. This development is expected to benefit travel buyers by allowing them to benchmark suppliers and make data-driven negotiation decisions, ultimately enhancing the efficiency and reliability of corporate travel programs.
What's Next?
The VCA Rating is available globally to BCD customers who are currently utilizing virtual cards. As the adoption of corporate virtual cards is projected to triple by 2030, this rating system is likely to become a standard tool for travel managers and buyers. The ongoing partnership between BCD Travel and Conferma aims to further modernize business travel by moving towards an intelligent, interoperable ecosystem that benefits buyers, travelers, and suppliers alike. Future developments may include expanded functionalities and integrations to further enhance the payment infrastructure for business travel.
Beyond the Headlines
The VCA Rating represents a shift towards greater transparency and trust in the payments ecosystem, which is crucial for the transformation of business travel. By automating payments and centralizing hotel expenses, the system reduces friction and enhances operational efficiency. This initiative underscores the importance of collaboration across the payments ecosystem to achieve true transformation, highlighting the role of technology in building a connected, secure, and scalable payment infrastructure.
