This summer, Conferma Pay, a leading travel fintech company, set out on a mission – #MissionCashless – to discover whether the most popular business destinations around the world were in fact ready for a completely cashless way of life.
Money is changing. And there is no doubt that the way we pay in our consumers lives is penetrated by rapid innovation and is continuously shifting. Conferma Pay wanted to find out what does this really mean for business travel? Could you travel around the world and get by without the use of a plastic card or cash?
Conferma Pay put this theory to the test with an independent voice and sent Aurelie Krau at FESTIVE ROAD on an adventure to find out. Aurelie is a millennial, business travel tech geek, tasked to make her way around the world, whilst reporting on the cashless readiness of popular business destinations along the way. The twist is that she can has to use only virtual cards or face the burden of expense admin back at the office. Aurelie could only use her Apple Pay Wallet and behind the scenes it was powered with Conferma Pay virtual cards, paying with an Apple Watch and iPhone on the go or in apps. No cash allowed. Mobile wallet only.
Kelly Cleeton, Kelly Cleeton, Director, Global Business Development, Conferma Pay “We thought it would be fun to find out an independent frequent traveller, to embark on a series of trips using our virtual cards enabled in their mobile devices to pay for expenses. We were looking for someone fun, passionate about travel tech, not afraid to voice their opinion who is willing to share their experiences real time. We sent the #MissionCashless brief to Aurelie and she accepted!”
During her travel, Aurelie assesses the ease of virtual card payment for the most common travel expenses such as; purchasing coffees, restaurant meals, buying lunches, travelling by taxi, metro and booking hotels and train tickets. Aurelie travels with her camera and vlogs directly from each destination, sharing her experience and rating each city as she goes. The journey begins in Paris where she gives us a glimpse into her daily millennial business life.
Aurelie Krau, “Conferma Pay appointed us to represent an independent view, the idea was to provide balanced feedback on where we are concretely on virtual payments as an industry. We wanted to do something different and authentic. I took the challenge! I discovered that most cities have the basics covered. Some places truly WOWed me and paying using my phone was a clear “no brainer”. However, the level of maturity across cities really varies and the most common challenges I faced were around the acceptance among the smaller local suppliers, the public rail transportation as well as in app. The technology is out there and is READY to use! It’s the infrastructure that we need to engage to make it a reality.”
There is no doubt that in the next decade we`ll still be exchanging pieces of paper, but digital payments are becoming the norm, whilst “card only” signs are becoming more and more frequent. We can see that the top cities are starting to enforce these changes and move towards a more cashless way of life.
The Conferma Pay app is a cashless solution for business purchases. In 2019, Conferma Pay enhanced their mobile app, with innovative technologies to empower authorised employees to make any purchase on their business account straight from a mobile. This made Conferma Pay the first company to be able to add virtual cards into a mobile wallet, pioneering the use of Apple Pay and Google Pay for business purchases.
Findings from Aurelie’s travels have proven that the world is embracing a cashless approach to business travel and embarking on mobile contactless technology. However, some cities more than others have some way to go.
NOTES TO EDITOR:
About #MissionCashless
#MissionCashless is a travel show-and-tell vlogomentary series following Aurelie Krau, as she travels, revealing the cashless readiness of the world`s most popular business destinations. No cash allowed. Devices and a mobile wallet only. Will it work?
Conferma Pay is a global financial technology company. We design and integrate virtual payment systems that provides a more efficient, seamless and secure way to pay for for businesses.
Conferma Pay was born in Manchester in 2005. Since then we have connected over 700 TMCs, and directly integrate with all the major GDSs and OBTs. Our roots lie in corporate travel payment integration.
We enable our payment providers to flow virtual cards into the preferred purchasing process of any business travel buyer. Crucial to this is our network of banking partners, who have issued virtual cards in over 200 countries, in 40 currencies with over 45 commercial banking partners via all major card networks.
Our ecosystem continues to expand to meet the growing requirements of our global customer base.
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