How do you transform payments to deliver connected journeys that are more intuitive and enjoyable for travelers?

It’s been an engaging few months in my new role as CEO of Outpayce from Amadeus. Payments are integral to our experience of a journey, occurring at booking, the airport, the hotel, and, thanks to advances in digital retailing, everywhere in-between.

At Outpayce we process eight million payments daily – or 4,000 every minute - and as a key part of Amadeus we’re working closely with the rest of the group to ensure each of these payments is an enabler of a more connected journey.

Travelers expect each stage of their journey to be seamless - from finding initial inspiration to completing check-in, immigration and boarding. Ensuring payments are smooth, simple and even invisible is fundamental to the connected travel experience.

At Outpayce our mission is to orchestrate payments across the entire journey. We are uniquely placed to achieve this mission for three key reasons:

1- Unmatched data assets let us improve the quality of real-time payments decisions, reduce fraud and align payments to commercial objectives. With unique insight into both travel and payments transactions, Outpayce can help our customers outperform by growing acceptance rates, boosting conversion, and reducing the overall cost of payments.

2- Native travel payment flows mean our customers like airlines, hotels and travel sellers, can accept payments anywhere, in any channel. Whether a travel agency payment via EDIFACT or NDC, a traveler’s payment at the airport, call center, front desk, website or app, or a payment for an airline sale based on Offers & Orders. Outpayce ensures a smooth and consistent payment experience however the traveler chooses to pay and whichever standards the travel company uses to run its business, anywhere across the Amadeus ecosystem and beyond.

3- Technology leadership helps our customers connect to the widest range of fintech partners easily with modular cloud technology and open APIs. Our team has developed the industry’s most advanced orchestration logic that means every aspect of a payment can be optimized. With proven commitment to long-term R&D investmentOutpayce has the resource to continue investing in new payments innovation.

Since joining, I’ve been inspired by the Outpayce team’s commitment to building a payments platform that connects the worlds of travel and fintech together, increasing the speed that travel companies can benefit from fintech innovation.

Central to our strategy has been the application for (and awarding) of an eMoney license, which, among other things, means Outpayce can now issue payment cards.

Today, I’m pleased to reveal that since receiving our eMoney license we have made significant progress with our plans to issue payment cards. Several significant customers are now live in production and successfully issuing pre-paid virtual cards with the help of Outpayce’s cloud-native fintech platform. More specifics on this exciting news to follow soon.

More broadly, the team has been busy identifying and solving payments pain-points – whether it’s:

1- Working with IATA to help airlines accept new Account-to-Account payments that lower the cost of acceptance.

2- Building the industry’s first automatic payments reconciliation engine in partnership with a major network airline to transform back-office efficiency.

3- Giving airlines the detailed information they need to identify and connect to the right fintech partners through the first payments marketplace dedicated to travel.

4- Forming major partnerships in hospitality with the likes of Worldpay, Adyen, Wordline, Paypal, Stripe and Planet - integrating their payments services with Amadeus’ iHotelier booking engine.

5- Progressing with plans to enhance virtual card payments with our new issuing capabilities and solutions that improve how VCCs integrate with the travel ecosystem.

Payments isn’t just ‘the plumbing’. It’s no longer a ‘behind-the-scenes’ discipline. It’s not just about ‘taking the money’. It’s a strategic area of the business that directly impacts commercial performance, operational efficiency, and travelers.

Providing smooth payments is fundamental for travel companies seeking to deliver a seamless travel experience - one that builds loyalty, trust and satisfaction.

I look forward to engaging with our customers, partners, and teams as we combine the strengths of Outpayce and Amadeus to ensure payments contribute to more intuitive and enjoyable journeys.