Onyx CenterSource, which provides B2B payments and business intelligence for the hospitality industry, has launched a new virtual credit card intended for use by hospitality and travel clients, according to a report by Hotel Business.
Brian Clubb, Onyx CenterSource senior vice president of product and marketing, said in the report that the challenges of the pandemic made it necessary to strive for something of this type.
“With the unique impacts of COVID-19 on the market — including many of our clients quickly moving to a remote-work environment — some additional challenges came with that,” he said, according to Hotel Business. “Of course, for those clients still receiving payments via paper checks, those payments may be delayed or more difficult to process if teams are not in their usual office environment. Virtual credit card payments were always aligned with our strategy and solution suite, and combined with the challenges our clients faced from COVID-19, we heard the demand and wanted to answer it.”
Clubb said virtual cards are a way of helping to stop fraud, with the ability for virtual payments to go through without any exchange of bank information, the report stated. In addition, he said other benefits include the ability to do away with some overhead costs, to shorten the time it takes to pay or days in accounts receivable, and to accommodate newer business practices that don’t use paper checks.
Clubb added that virtual cards could also help companies closely manage or restrict use to boost security and lessen inquiries and first-contact resolution, according to the report.
Onyx recently partnered with payment processing provider WEX to implement virtual services for travel payments, PYMNTS reported. WEX’s work with virtual payments made it suitable to help companies in the hospitality and travel industries ravaged by the pandemic, like airlines and hotels, to boost efficiency.
