Mastercard is expanding its partnership with Agoda to enhance B2B payments in the travel and tourism industry, making it easier for digital travel platforms to make payments to hotels, airlines, suppliers and vendors globally.
The collaboration will also address the challenges of legacy payment processes and drive innovation beyond traditional card payments.
With B2B payments currently relying on manual and time-consuming processes such as paper invoices, Mastercard and Agoda recognise the urgent need to modernise these payment systems and streamline transactions between digital travel platforms, hotels, airlines, suppliers, and vendors globally.
Through the exclusive issuance of Mastercard virtual credit cards, Agoda will be able to make and receive B2B payments globally wherever Mastercard is accepted. The expanded partnership will also focus on driving smoother and smarter end-to-end travel experiences such as bringing timely and curated offers for Agoda customers using Mastercard’s data insights, joint-marketing propositions to further enhance customer satisfaction, and loyalty rewards when booking with Agoda using a Mastercard card.
Yunsok Chang, executive vice president, market development, Asia-Pacific, Mastercard, said: “Mastercard has been long-time partners with Agoda and is proud to expand on this decade-long partnership that harnesses the power of collaboration to simplify B2B payments and fortify defences against fraud, all while enhancing the customer experience and fostering greater loyalty.”
Mai-Linh Bui, chief financial officer at Agoda added: “Together, we are redefining the landscape of B2B payments within the travel and tourism sector. Recognising the challenges posed by outdated payment processes, our collaboration aims to revolutionise the way digital travel platforms engage with hotels, airlines, suppliers, and vendors worldwide.”
