For those readers not familiar with TripActions, it is a 2015 Silicon Valley startup that provides travel services through a platform with booking and expense management features. The company has estimated funding near the $1 billion level from some heavyweight names.
This particular release, appearing in Tearsheet, discusses the company’s launch of a new offering called Liquid, which is a corporate travel payment solution that uses both physical and virtual card form factors. Since we have not had a briefing, we must assume that TripAdvisor is sponsored by a bank issuer (likely one of the funding entities), and offers cash back on payments booked through their platform:
TripActions is getting deeper into payments. With the launch of Liquid, the corporate travel management platform is introducing a payment solution that frees up employees from having to personally pay for corporate travel expenses. The new product: Liquid essentially issues physical Visa cards and virtual trip-enabled cards which embed spending policy into the card.
The cards are only available to U.S. HQ companies. As many readers who know the commercial card business are aware, the U.S. has no current regulatory restrictions on commercial credit card interchange, which allows more flexibility in revenue share. This is not the case in many foreign markets (i.e; Australia), so we shall see what developments occur in other markets.
The control and reconciliation features of the payment solution, along with mobile capability, are reasonable selling points anyway, even without cash back, since the modern approach provides some easier experience for those traveling on behalf of the company.
The article references a GBTA study of U.S. travel managers that indicates relatively slow take-up of virtual cards as a payment vehicle in travel. This is likely not a surprise to many, since these are typically tied to mobile services (and eventually payments) that lag in the U.S.
Because the U.S. essentially invented the market, corporate cards have been a common tool for decades. So, the new versions will move into the market at an increasing pace as mobile becomes more ubiquitous.
“Implementing TripActions Liquid took minutes and we’ve seen immediate improvements to our travel payments process,” said David Wieseneck, vp of finance at letgo. “With TripActions Liquid, we’re getting top reviews from travelers who appreciate the experience, as well as our finance team who love that reconciliation of travel payments now takes less than ten minutes.”
TripActions’ first product, the corporate travel management platform, has driven 5X year over year growth at the startup…With embedded finance, various industries and companies are embracing banking and payment tools. The travel industry, like retail and transportation, is building more fintech solutions to better serve its ecosystems.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group