Top players in the online travel booking space are collaborating with UATP, an alternative global payment solution accepted by airlines and travel merchants, to support the use of the payment tool for corporate travelers.
In a press release on Tuesday (Jan. 30), UATP said it’s partnering with Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity, a deal that sees these online platforms allowing their corporate customers to use UATP to pay for business travel bookings.
UATP, Universal Air Travel Plan, is a payment network owned by airlines themselves.
“Corporate travel is booming in the U.S.; GBTA [Global Business Travel Association] predicts that travel spending will reach over $296 billion in 2017,” said Expedia Global Payments Vice President Falk Richter in a statement. “This includes unmanaged travel that doesn’t go through travel management companies such as Egencia. Accepting UATP for payment will give us a competitive advantage to capture a portion of that…