The Virtual Payment feature, available through the Conferma platform, enables payments without the need for calls or faxes.
Key Points of Virtual Payment include:
- Virtual cards are unique 15- or 16-digit card numbers generated digitally at the point of sale and associated with a specific user
- Virtual cards are valid for single payment and discarded after use
- There is no physical card
- SAP Concur partners with Conferma Pay platform, which works with many banks to issue virtual cards
- Virtual payments are only available for hotels through Concur Travel currently
Note
If you are a TMC, you need to have an account with Conferma Pay.
There are many benefits to using virtual payments which include:
- Virtual Payment is automated, secure, and easily reconciled
- The use of Virtual Payments replaces the Hotel Direct Bill process
- There are less opportunities for fraud as Virtual Payments don’t use a physical card
Ghost Cards Versus Virtual Payment Cards
In some ways virtual payments are like ghost cards, and in other ways they are different. Let’s look at how ghost cards differ from virtual payments in the following topics.
- Exposure to Fraud
- Ghost Cards are used by multiple reservations with a high limit, so exposure to fraud is higher than a virtual card
- Virtual Cards are single use only with a tight credit limit, so the exposure to fraud is minimal
- Allocation
- Ghost Card charges can be difficult to reconcile if the correct information is not available
- Virtual Card numbers make allocations easy as they are unique and tied to a specific user
- Credit Limit
- Ghost cards are used for multiple people and bookings, so the credit limit is high
- Virtual Cards are only used once, so the credit limit s tied to a single purchase and tightly managed
- Centrally Billed
Both Virtual and Ghost Cards are centrally billed.
The Virtual Payment Booking Process
The virtual booking process consists of four basic steps as depicted in the above graphic which include:
- Requesting a Virtual Card – Concur requests a virtual card from Conferma Pay to use as a payment method for the reservation.
- Concur Travel provides Conferma Pay with the hotel property information (name, address, etc.).
- Concur Travel receives the Virtual Card details and uses the information to confirm the reservation via GDS.
- Conferma Pay communicates directly with the hotel property to confirm the direct bill. Once the direct bill is confirmed, Conferma provides the hotel details about the hotel booking as well as the traveler’s name, card (front and back), authorized amount, and payment instructions.
Accessing the Virtual Payment Admin
This feature is permission based. To access the Virtual Payment Admin page, you must have either the Company Administration or the Virtual Payment Administrator permission.
