American Express Card to Offer Conferma Solution

07/01/2010

The Conferma solution is now available to corporate card clients of American Express. American Express customers can benefit from the automated solution which was previously available only to clients of Barclaycard.

The agreement is already in effect and the process is being implemented in one of the card’s corporate clients with several others scheduled to follow in the new year

The Conferma Settlement Plan (CSP) makes use of a virtual credit card to identify and track every online hotel booking from the decision to travel through to ERP. Because of the use of a unique number every booking can be matched to an invoice representing that traveller’s stay at the property and the total amount spent can be identified as well as the booked rate and amount.

The automated process enables not only instant reconciliation but also payment. Hotels are paid within three days rather than the more usual 30 days from invoice. The system includes not only final settlement but all management information and data needed for audit.

Having all the advantages of a card without the risks involved either with issuing cards to individuals or the traditional billback process means that cash flow is improved and more detailed and accurate MI is automatically generated.

The automatic solution provides control and automation of corporate hotel payments and comprehensive reconciliation in a paperless, hassle-free environment.

Ian Reid, vice president corporate payment solutions at American Express, said, “Our collaboration with Conferma underlines our commitment at American Express to developing innovative travel billing solutions.”

Conferma ceo Simon Barker said, “We are delighted to be working with American Express. By combining the capabilities of the Vpayment and Conferma technologies our system will reduce financial exposure for travel management companies and automate much of the manual operation involved in hotel booking and billback.”

Conferma’s agreement with American Express underlines its independence and its commitment to work with any card company just as it will work with any agency and any GDS. Conferma is committed to being a neutral provider rather than an agent of any one partner. Conferma remains committed to its relationship with Barclaycard which is in no way affected by the American Express agreement.



NIBS

Confermation launched
Simon Barker’s blog has been launched on the Conferma website. Simon has already commented on hotel check-out times, MPs expenses and the effect of VAT changes in the new year. Read Simon on http://confermation.blogspot.com

Conferma Hote l Booker 0209 released
As part of its ongoing commitment and investment into its product development, Conferma has upgraded the booking element of its agent-facing software. New features include the ability to amend (add/remove nights) for in house bookings (when client’s traveller is in the hotel) and, for historic bookings, the ability to update additional information fields (used in financial back office handoffs) through a single click.

Andy Mathews joins Conferma
Conferma has strengthened its commercial team with the appointment of Andy Mathews as financial controller. Andy has most recently been head of finance at MoneyExpert and Surgicare.
He is a keen sportsman and a Liverpool supporter.