American Express launches hotel chargeback

By Hannah Edensor

American Express Global Business Travel has launched a Hotel Chargeback Solution, but what does this mean for travellers?

Essentially, the move means that companies will be able to settle hotel charges incurred in Australia for non-card carrying travellers by billing to a nominated central account.

The Hotel Chargeback Solution is powered by The Lido Group, with the partnership also providing American Express Global Business Travel customers with access to a wide range of non-GDS independent and regional hotel content in Australia.

The Hotel Chargeback solution provides companies with enhanced booking data that gives them the power to match room rates and incidentals like Wi-Fi and breakfast with the traveller.

This data is useful for reconciliation purposes and provides companies with better visibility of their overall travel and dollar spending.

In addition to providing an alternative payment method for hotel accommodation, the partnership with The Lido Group provides American Express Global Business Travel customers with access to non-GDS hotel content including smaller regional or remote hotels, motels, apartments, and B&Bs.

Under this agreement, the 10,500 hotels affiliated with The Lido Group will now be available to American Express customers through online and offline booking channels. This partnership automates the process for booking these remote or regional hotels, and knocks off substantial time from the booking process.

“It’s not practical for some businesses to provide every employee with a corporate card,” American Express Global Business Travel, Australia and New Zealand vp and general manager Jo Sully said.

“Furthermore, companies that regularly use contractors, such as within the mining or pharmaceutical sectors, have indicated that a chargeback solution that can provide enhanced data for reconciliation purposes would be greatly beneficial. We are very pleased to be offering this solution to meet their needs.

“In addition, ancillary fees can often amount to 30% of total travel and expense spending in a trip.”

“With comprehensive reports on every corporate traveller’s spending, our customers can gain a better understanding of their purchasing patterns, achieve greater travel policy compliance, and be better placed to optimise their preferred supplier agreements.”

“Amongst our customers locally, there has been a noticeable increase in the appetite for access to a wider variety of hotel content, particularly across boutique and independent hotels, and those in second-tier cities and remote locations.

“Our partnership with The Lido Group provides us with an extensive portfolio of accommodation options across regional locations that supplements our existing portfolio available through the GDS.”

The Lido Group’s managing director Steve Mackenzie added that it was setting new standards for corporate travel.

“By enabling organisations to monitor 100 per cent of a traveller’s accommodation and incidental spending we are setting a new benchmark for the travel industry,” he said.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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