Alliance Reservations Network, one of the largest destination marketers on the web, has integrated GE Corporate Payment Services’ vPayment electronic settlement tool in their hotel booking process. A virtual credit card solution for merchant model hotel transactions, vPayment allows for quick guaranteed payment of reservations and makes tracking collections from intermediary agencies obsolete.

The typical intermediary agency pays for the guest’s reservation 30-60 days after checkout. Some large online agencies even pay hotels 90-120 days later. With a reservation guaranteed by vPayment, the hotel collects payment on the date of checkout. The virtual account is activated when the guest first books a reservation and pays for the room-and-tax amount only. The hotel processes the vPayment MasterCard® account number just like a typical credit card transaction.

Peter Bertenshaw, President and CEO of Alliance Reservations Network, describes vPayment as a win-win for the intermediary and the hotels. “All of the hotels we’ve talked with are excited about the prospect of getting paid on the date of checkout and the time their accounting departments will save by not chasing down collections 120 days after their guests check out. Hotels won’t wait for payment while intermediaries make money on the ‘float.’”

In addition, the vPayment account given to the hotel at time of the reservation has transaction-specific dollar and date-range limits, Bertenshaw said. This capability ensures the hotel charges the correct amount, and streamlines the reconciliation process for the hotel and Alliance Reservation Network.

Jeffery R. Dye, Senior Vice President of GE Corporate Payment Services, cited another benefit. “vPayment streamlines international reservations by eliminating letters of credit, and expensive wire transfers, drafts, and overnight shipping of checks. This gives international hotels looking for more merchant-model distribution an opportunity to expand business without taking on additional risk for that inventory.”

Any hotel that accepts MasterCard credit cards can utilize vPayment, Dye said. More than 10,000 properties have settled transactions with vPayment in recent months. GE Corporate Payment Services introduced vPayment in December 2001, and since that time dozens of companies have integrated the settlement tool into their procurement, accounts payable and other online systems, paying for more than $500 million in goods and services.

About Alliance Reservations Network
Alliance Reservations Network (ARN), a Phoenix Arizona based company founded in 1996, owns and manages over 300 destination Web sites including their flagship site http://www.reservetravel.com and an extensive network of affiliate sites. ARN has long been a leader in travel industry technology developing its own proprietary virtual tours, interactive mapping, Microsoft .NET framework interactive Web sites, geo-search technology and now this revolutionary vPayment merchant model solution. For more information on Alliance Reservations Network, please visit www.allresnet.com.