LONDON - SafeCharge, a leader in advanced payment technologies, announced that it has been selected by online travel agent (OTA) Anywayanyday to provide payment services. Anywayanyday was looking to improve transparency and control around its payments, to better combat fraud and improve business efficiency. As part of the collaboration SafeCharge will be providing card acquiring, enhanced back office and financial reporting, improved resilience, with unparalleled availability, and travel-specific fraud protection. The announcement builds on the continued growth of SafeCharge in the travel sector with wins such as El Al Airlines.
The travel industry is increasingly demanding, with the traditional agency model giving way to a digital-first approach with OTA's like Anywayanyday growing rapidly. These OTAs are not only accepting payments from consumers across an increasingly multi-channel environment - especially as mobile becomes more popular - but also need to reconcile payments with their travel partners: airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc. The delay between booking the service and the use of that service (often months) creates risk as the card used for the initial booking may later be found to be fraudulent when the full transaction is settled.
Furthermore, OTAs are subject to frequent fluctuations in transaction volumes, creating a need for a payments platform with continuously high uptime. Businesses operating within the travel sector run the risk of incomplete transactions, reducing bottom lines and increasing customer churn if the payment system cannot meet this need.
"As the market becomes more demanding, clear and concise financial reporting is critical to business performance. The ability to drill-down as far as a single transaction will give us the transparency we need when working with multiple partners across different geographies over extended time frames," said Evgeny Shukhlin, CEO, Anywayanyday. "The unparalleled uptime of SafeCharge ensures we're always open for business, and the simple yet sophisticated fraud solution - managed from a single point - safeguards our customers and our partners. This level of transparency and control is unprecedented, in our experience. SafeCharge has put us back in control of our payments."
"The travel industry is transforming as traditional players and digital platforms collide. This means that existing payment solutions aren't fit for purpose in many cases," said Yuval Ziv, COO at SafeCharge. "We're invested in transparent, resilient and highly secure payment services, designed specifically for the travel industry to meet its challenges head on. Anywayanyday is a major win for us as we grow our footprint in the sector and it is a testament to the effectiveness of our services."
