Global Direct launches two new travel payment products at ITB Asia to shake up

08 Oct 2019

Two new disruptive, Blockchain-powered products are setting out to provide a simplified solution for outdated B2B travel payment and cross-border settlement issues facing the travel and hospitality industry.

Debuting at Asia's leading travel trade show ITB Asia from 16th – 18th October, the two new travel payment products, which have been under development by fintech solutions business Global Direct and its parent company SBC Travel Group, will streamline payment and settlement procedures within the travel sector.

TxRouter and Fenex dB2B will be showcased to travel industry buyers at the premier trade event in Singapore, with both of the new integrative travel payment platforms set to disrupt the global payments market and appeal to businesses looking to increase revenue, as well as send and receive cross-border payments faster, more cost effectively, and with greater transparency.

Built with the increasing demand for Alternate Payment Methods (AMPs) in mind, TxRouter is a flexible payment-interface platform that will increase revenue for businesses by providing a variety of alternate payment methods for customers, such as AliPay, WeChat Pay, China Union Pay, QR Pay, loyalty point schemes and crypto currency.

"Alternate Payment Methods are glocalizing the payments industry, which is placing tremendous pressure on the existing payments infrastructure. It's also creating pain points for businesses, as they need to look for ways to minimize lost opportunity by ensuring more payment options are available for travel bookings," said Mr Anthoney Jayasekera, Chief Digital Officer of SBC Travel Group.

This is particularly important for the burgeoning Chinese market, which is increasingly reliant on these types of alternate payment methods.

And as China continues to claim the highest rate of outbound tourism, with an estimated 166 million leisure trips expected in 2019 – up 11% from 2018 – it's more important than ever that businesses adapt their services to offer a diverse range of accepted payment methods for these savvy consumers.

"This technology will allow business to appeal to and capture a broader market of customers, as it will give them the ability to choose their preferred payment method, rather than being pushed towards using a certain channel. This is especially important for millennials, who appreciate the freedom of choice when it comes to making purchases."

In addition to increasing revenue by offering more payment options to consumers, the TxRouter platform also allows businesses to customize and implement their own set of procedures and guidelines to manage how users navigate the system, as well as offer multi-currency settlements, split payments, and varied payment methods.

Fenex dB2B will meanwhile provide an efficient option to outdated B2B transaction systems, providing an innovative and secure digital B2B payments and settlements platform instead.

Typically, B2B transactions can take an average of six days to process, the result of an redundant and inefficient system that is not only costly for businesses having to spend valuable time chasing payments, but also one that is time-poor, frustrating and often lacking transparency.

"Fenex dB2b was developed to serve as a much-needed gap in the travel industry and facilitate the fast adaptation to today's global travel demands," said Mr Jayasekera.

"For too long, businesses have been hamstrung by traditional cross-border payments, which lack transparency, and have lengthy processing delays.

"Now, however, businesses can take advantage of a 50% reduction in VCC and commission collection costs, a 33% reduction in cross-border international payment costs, and automated commission collection with the arrival of Fenex dB2B's block-chained powered technology, while also enjoying the peace of mind that comes with next business day settlement."

Global Direct's payment products will be showcased at ITB Asia from 16-18 October 2019. Visit the Global Direct team at Booth G39.

For more information on Global Direct, please visit: https://www.globaldirect.io/

For more information on SBC Travel Group, please visit: https://www.sbctravel.io

ENDS

For interview requests, further press information, and/or high res images please contact Lauren Falchi at lauren@nmedia.com.au or 0439 838 836.

SBC Travel Group Announces their White Label Travel Benefits Platform ‘SBC Direct Connect’ ahead of Official Launch at ITB Asia on 16-18 Oct

09 Sep 2019

SBC Travel Group, an emerging player in the travel tech, digital payments and business loyalty industry, has announced today – ahead of the official launch at ITB Asia on 16-18 Oct, ‘SBC Direct Connect’ their White Label Travel Benefits Platform, set to further strengthen the company’s position as a leading technology provider for the travel and hospitality sector.

Rising OTA commission costs, significant decline in direct hotel bookings, inability to identify new market segments, delayed or non-payments and inefficient settlement procedures are some of the key challenges faced by the travel & hospitality industry today. Perhaps most confronting is the increasing reliance of consumers on OTAs who processed more than 75% of global hotel bookings last year, costing hotels anywhere between 15% to 25% commission PER booking. It is expected OTA commissions would increase as OTAs continue to race to secure a larger share of the market.

‘SBC Direct Connect’ is SBC Travel Group’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) response to these specific industry challenges. The innovative middleware platform streamlines the travel industry supply chain by directly connecting hospitality and travel suppliers (eg. airlines, hotels and tourism attraction operators) to large businesses with established closed user groups (CUG) looking to increase customer loyalty and overall profitability through a white label travel benefits solution. The platform’s USP is built around the core service that enables travel suppliers to connect directly to the consumer. SBC Direct Connect disrupts the inefficiencies of traditional payment systems by facilitating new payment methods such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, QR pay and Crypto Currencies. In addition, the platform has the capability to enable additional payment types specific to different geographies, providing exceptional flexibility and convenience to the modern traveller. Travel suppliers on the other hand can expect to benefit from a minimum of 33% cost reduction over traditional payment methods for cross border payments and up to 75% faster fund transfer speeds.

The platform provides both travel suppliers and community groups (CUG’s) a variety of other products and services including; hotel booking engines, multi-currency prepaid travel card functionality, rewards and loyalty platform management, digital voucher and anti-fraud ticketing solutions, digital and crypto currency issuance and management and a range of comprehensive payment and collection tools. Additionally, businesses and community group members will enjoy a wide range of value-add incentives such as attractive hotel partner rates on over 175,000 hotels worldwide, client branding on all travel agency assets and access to a VIP concierge service that provides personalized travel itineraries for members including flights, accommodation and experiences.

Daryn Griggs, SBC Travel Group CEO added, “We are excited by the upcoming launch of the SBC Direct Connect Platform and the critical role it will play in the future of travel bookings. Our team’s industry expertise and knowledge of disruptive technologies has already proven successful with the signing of a number of hotel chains and large closed user groups in Chinese market .”

SBC Direct Connect will launch at ITB Asia 16-18 October 2019. For more information on SBC Travel Group, please visit: https://sbctravel.io/ For interview requests, further press information, please contact Daryn Griggs at daryn@sbctravel.io

About SBC Travel Group: With a founding team that has over 50 years of combined experience spanning technology, finance, foreign exchange, payments and loyalty, SBC Travel is at the forefront of the travel industry when it comes to offering innovative technologies for travel & hospitality partners across the world. The SBC Travel Group of companies aims to provide a unique, innovative, affordable, and efficient “Direct Connect” Platform as a Service (PaaS) to connect travel related suppliers with businesses with large membership and / or client databases who want to provide a fully branded travel benefits platform to increase their customer engagement, retention and profitability.

SBC releases its DIRECT CONNECT PLATFORM

29 Jul 2019

The SBC Direct Connect Platform is a middleware technology Platform as a service (PaaS) which connects Travel Suppliers directly to large community databases to promote and sell their products at a lower distribution cost than the market offers today.

Various products and services, such as an Online Booking Engine, a Multi- Currency Prepaid Travel Card and a Sophisticated Rewards & Loyalty Management Program are integrated and accessible by both, travel suppliers and community groups.

Contact and further info
info@swissbloc.io