The need for a payment process revolution in the travel industry. Interview with Taylan Taspinar

“TGX is constantly working on innovative ways of adding value to its clients.”

Taylan Taspinar works as a Product Manager at TravelgateX, and his department focuses on innovative solutions on the B2B payments industry. Taylan has been working in TravelgateX for over a year now.

“As our product is still in the development phase, we have the opportunity to listen to our clients and shape the product accordingly which we feel fortunate,” explains Taylan.

Keep reading to find out what Taylan thinks about working at TravelgateX and the need for a payment processes revolution in the global travel industry.

Taylan, What do you do at TravelgateX?

TGX is constantly working on adding values to its clients in its platform. We would like to be the one-stop-shop for the global travel trade, and I am in charge of the innovative projects in relation to payment solutions which is an essential part of the trade. We are working on offering all payment methods in one platform.

You talk about products a lot, what are the different products HotelPay-X, Payment-X, Direct-X?

There are several projects in progress at the moment as we strive to respond to our customer’s demands. Payment-X is the name of our department, and our priority is to take care of all the technical hassle of managing B2B payments in the travel industry, whereas HotelPay-X is a solution for Hotels only and enables the hotels to store and process their clients’ credit cards.

Direct-X, on the other hand, is an inventory of direct products offered for free to all our client base while we manage the payments via virtual credit cards on their behalf. It may sound confusing but actually, it is all related, and our primary goal is to use the big data we manage for our clients to make their payment processes easier.

How can these new products help TravelgateX customers?  

They can have access to several B2B payment methods with basically no technical requirement. Operationally speaking, as we manage the booking flow already on their behalf, taking care of the payment execution completes the full booking process for them.

We make the payment automatically for the buyer, and we collect the payment automatically for the seller. Both parts then only need to reconcile this in their accounting systems, and that’s it. If you think about how international our client base is, our added-value is definitely making it time and cost effective for companies to move funds between them.

What have you learned in the experiences with your clients?

Although in different markets or in different parts of the travel trade chain, we see surprisingly similar needs from our clients. Competitive FX rates, PCI compliant systems, lower card processing fees as well as operational benefits are definitely most sought-after.

What do you think will be the next trends in the coming years regarding this sector?

The travel industry has the reputation of being an early adapter of new technologies. However, we see slow progress in terms of payment processes. There will definitely be a lot of revolutionary changes in the coming years which will allow travel companies to focus more on their business and worry less about the payment processes.

Which countries are more advanced in these systems? What can be learned from them and their companies?

In terms of digital banking, UK based companies are doing very well. On the other hand, digital wallet businesses are growing rapidly in Asia thanks to solutions like WeChat or AliPay.

What are the safest payment methods for hotels, travel companies?

A virtual credit card is the dominating payment method in terms of safety. These are created per transaction and then disappears once the payment is collected and mostly works as a pre-paid card.

Basically zero risks, however, there are challenges like the beneficiary must be PCI certified, be able to store and process the cards and pay a hefty processing fee. We believe our payment platform will provide a complete solution and will give freedom to our clients to choose any payment method they need.