2022 marks the 17th anniversary of Hotel Booker, the first corporate hotel booking platform with integrated virtual card payment.
Virtual card usage continues to go from strength to strength, and for several years they have been the predominant payment method for bookings made in Hotel Booker, with physical corporate or personal cards now representing less than 5% of all payment methods used.
A consequence of EU Directive PSD2 (Revised Payment Service Directive) (“PSD2”) is a requirement to adopt enhanced security protocols when making physical card payments. This results in payment providers implementing more rigorous authentication processes, typically using Strong Customer Authentication ("SCA”) when any physical card is processed.
What does this mean?
As virtual cards are out of scope for PSD2, Conferma Pay has taken the decision to make Hotel Booker a virtual card only booking platform.
In line with the United Kingdom’s implementation of SCA on 14th March 2022, guarantee to an individual’s credit card and guarantee to a SINGLE client card will be removed as payment options within Hotel Booker. In addition, any services that support storing a physical card number will be decommissioned.
For existing customers using virtual card payment, nothing will change. Virtual cards will remain the primary payment and guarantee method within Hotel Booker. Please note that guarantee to IATA and Premier Inn Business Account will continue to be supported.
What next?
Should you wish to migrate customers to virtual card payment, please contact your payment provider or your Conferma Pay account manager and we will be happy to support you in this process or answer any queries that you may have.