Category: Travel

Learn how adult and student travel firms use their prepaid Mastercard and Visa payments solution. B4B Payments provides smart and flexible payment processing solutions, which enable any size organisation to manage expenses, simplify payroll and offer employee rewards and incentives.

Case studies Travel

B4B International Payments Support Travel Industries

The project, in simple terms

B4B Payments’ position as a leading multi-faceted payments system provider has enabled it to help several travel companies improve their payment systems. These systems have, in turn, had significant positive impacts on the respective business metrics.

Seamless International Payments

AVEA LA POSTE is a French association offering summer camps for children and teenagers aged 4-17 in France and abroad during all school holidays.

By adopting B4B’s international payments service, AVEA LA POSTE can

reserve hotels and accommodations faster
book activities and other services for the camp stay abroad more efficiently

These are critical benefits for parents/guardians, such as being able to arrange the trip with minimal fuss, as they have other things to worry about. A complex purchasing process can also be a barrier to conversion, leading to a loss of market share and a drop in success metrics.

Enhancing Efficiency and Cost Savings

B4B integrated a payment service into Avea La Poste’s systems. As a result, AVEA LA POSTE can now send international transfers in a fraction of the time it used to when using their traditional French bank.

Now, AVEA LA POSTE can avoid the following issues when using their traditional bank, including:

The FX rate is the day’s rate, but when the payment is made and accepted, not when they make the request.
Also, the minimum is ten days, even longer sometimes, to make the payments.
If it’s not accepted, the transfer is sent back to AVEA, and they must restart the process.
Pay commissions on top of the fees.

Conclusion

AVEA LA POSTE has been with B4B since 2018, benefiting from various international payment options, including faster payments, CHAPS, SEPA, SWIFT, and US ACH with 25 currencies. Notably, Faster Payments offer instant transactions, and SWIFT payments are cheaper and take a maximum of 4-5 days.

‘We can now send our international transfers more easily, quickly and economically than with our French bank,’ says the AVEA LA POSTE accounting team.

Account Director Tim Robson and B4B French account manager Anais Paingris visited AVEA LA POSTE in Paris last summer to discuss how we have been supporting them.

Transforming Travel Finances: Acacia Africa’s Decade-Long Partnership with B4B Payments

Background

Initially recommended to B4B by a former supplier, Acacia is Africa, is a premier provider of diverse holiday experiences in Africa. They have partnered with B4B Payments and used their financial services for nearly a decade. Offering a range of tours, from professional camping overland adventures to small group safaris, Acacia Africa’s success story demonstrates the innovation of travel finances with Card and Payment Solutions.

Financial Flexibility and Risk Management:

The traditional challenges of tour guides carrying large sums of money were significantly mitigated by adopting B4B’s card and payment platform. This not only reduced operational risks but also enhanced accounting accuracy for Acacia Africa.

The expense cards allow Acacia Africa to quickly distribute funds to tour leaders out on the road. The cards facilitate seamless access to cash through local ATMs, card transactions, and online payments. The B4B platform is particularly helpful in mitigating risk. Cards can both be loaded and unloaded instantaneously, providing certainty and safety to both tour guides and the funds.

In a recent incident, Acacia Africa withdrew funds from a card due to a tour leader’s unexpected illness. They quickly transferred the budget to the replacement leader.

Real-Time Monitoring and Control:

A pivotal aspect of Acacia Africa’s success with B4B Payments lies in the platform’s real-time monitoring capabilities. The ability to instantly track expenditures provides Acacia Africa with immediate insights into tour leaders’ spending. This newfound control eliminates the need to chase receipts weeks after a trip concludes, offering a more streamlined and accountable financial management process.

“It’s flexible, and it makes things far less risky. And it’s better for accounting because I can see when and where the money is spent, and that’s important,” Vivian McCarthy, the Director of Acacia Africa, says.

B4B’s Dedicated Account Management:

Acacia Africa also highlights the importance of having a dedicated account manager as a key component of successful partnerships with B4B Payments. The need for swift assistance, especially during critical situations. This collaboration aspect has proven crucial in ensuring effective communication and problem resolution. “Having a dedicated account manager who understands both the client and the client’s industry is a key value driver for B4B Payments,” says Tim Robson, B4B’s Director of Accounts.

Conclusion:

Acacia Africa’s case exemplifies the transformative impact of B4B Payments on travel finances. The seamless integration of innovative payment solutions has not only addressed traditional challenges but has also positioned Acacia Africa for sustained success in the dynamic landscape of African tourism. The partnership is a testament to the importance of real-time financial management and dedicated account support in the travel industry.

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Tags baas, BIN Sponsorship, Case Studies, payments

Case studies Education Insights Payroll & Payouts Travel

Education First chooses B4B for simplified travel payment process.

Shot of a young woman working at a construction site

Education First, (EF) is a world leader in educational travel and has been opening up the world through education for over 50 years. Founded in 1965, the team continues to inspire young people through immersive cultural experiences, helping teachers and students to study abroad, explore historical sites and access academic degree programs. With 612 offices and 52,000 employees, EF offers experiences in 114 countries across Europe, Asia and North and South America.

As a group tour operator offering immersive learning experiences, EF needs to be able to quickly and easily send funds from its headquarters in Zurich to tour directors out in the field. These tour directors are at the heart of the cultural experience, expertly guiding groups around exciting destinations and local landmarks. Easy access to a payment solution is vital.

EF and B4B Payments have worked together since 2017 to provide an efficient but flexible solution to ensure funds are easily sent around the globe to the right tour director at the right time.

Prepaid expense cards mean less admin and more time; Time to do the things that matter most.

As a result of our partnership, EF is making use of our round-the-clock corporate expense management system across the world, from London and Lima to Tokyo and Krakow, ensuring greater efficiency throughout the entire company.

“We worked with B4B Payments to install a payments solution that is efficient for the central back-office as well as our global tour needs. We’re very happy with the B4B product and the service we’ve received from the team in London. Not only the initial product we procured in 2017 but also the incremental services they have brought to us based on our changing needs and feedback. B4B understands that we’re not a static business and is happy to grow with us as we move forward.”
Steve Clark, Education First Finance Director

EF uses B4B corporate expense cards to distribute funds to its tour directors all over the world. Our prepaid expense cards are simple to use, which allows tour directors to easily cover on-the-road expenses freeing them up to focus on their number one priority, the travellers.

Mitigating risk and a clear audit trail of funds was a primary goal of EF’s brief to B4B when the programme was set up. It was just as important that the back-office users could find the system easy to use and reduce admin tasks along with the associated stress and pressure these bring. EF uses the B4B’s system ability to bring ‘four-eyes’ onto financial transactions, set differing authorisation and budget levels depending on the tour. Overall, these benefits lead to greater efficiency and optimal performance as our premier expense management platform cuts business costs and excels at a global level.

B4B simplifies payment for Italian tour operator IPV

Based in Rome, Idee Per Viaggiare (IPV) is a leading Italian Tour Operator. Since 1995 it has specialized in realising tailor-made itineraries to a wide number of long haul destinations.

Cooperating with the world best airlines, the most prestigious hotels & resorts and the most important tourism boards of the world, IPV is recognized as a key partner for Italian outgoing leisure tourism market.

In 2016 they won Best Tourism Catalogue at the Italian Travel Awards again. This success was repeated in 2017 and 2018 when they won both the Best Emerging Tour Operator as well as the Best Facebook Page awards, a recognition that fully captures the development and growth trend over the years of Idee per Viaggiare.

IPV have been working with B4B Payments since 2017. “We are very happy to be working with B4B,” says CFO Roberto Viola. “We count on our partners to support our client offering. B4B makes the payment process very easy.”

B4B Payments works with travel companies both in the UK in Europe but also in the US too.

“We are very pleased to partner with IPV. It’s a pleasure to provide a payment solution to their customers”, says B4B Director of Accounts, Tim Robson. “B4B works with many travel companies both in Europe but increasingly in the US too. Our prepaid solution is ideal to support the industry where security and convenience are key.”