Visa, Orbitz Take Off With T&E Partnership

Travel and expense management is a notorious part of enterprise, and if not done adequately, it could lead to massive financial losses for the businesses that use paper-based, manual expense management solutions.

Visa and travel booking site Orbitz are now linking up to provide travel managers with a more cost- and time-efficient way of managing travel expense payouts. In an announcement on Thursday (Aug. 6), the companies said that together they will combine Orbitz for Business’s travel booking and payment portal with Visa’s IntelliLink expense and report back-end solution.

The service, Visa Travel Manager, will be geared toward midsized companies and aim to strengthen their compliance and data intelligence capabilities. Corporate travelers can access the Orbitz for Business portal through Visa, and pay with their Visa business travel cards, to gain access to discounted Orbitz for Business rates.

That same platform for booking can also be used to generate and submit expense reports to corporate travel managers.

“This solution is targeted at middle market companies who want the capabilities of the Fortune 1000 without the overhead and complexity,” said Visa VP of global commercial solutions David Henstock in a recent interview with eWEEK. “They want turnkey, easy to implement, easy to maintain solutions that drive immediate value to their employees and their bottom line. This solution provides frictionless booking through an expense management solution with a single, integrated platform.”

He added that the partnership is strengthened by Orbitz’s ability to bring the convenience and familiarity of its consumer-facing services to business users. Part of that strategy is Visa Travel Manager’s compatibility on various platforms, including desktop, smartphone and tablet.

“Mobile is a key aspect of travel management and the use of digital devices proliferates,” Henstock said. “Business travelers are constantly in motion – from the office, to the airport, with business meetings in between – the ability to deliver a seamless and convenience cross-channel experience is paramount.”

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