Conferma - Virtual Cards

Modified on Tue, 3 Dec, 2024 at 2:53 PM

Conferma - Virtual Cards

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Conferma - Virtual Cards
- Introduction
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Pre-requisite Client tasks
Traveler Workflow Experience
- Troubleshooting common issues
Reporting and Billing

Introduction

Spotnana is pleased to introduce support for Virtual Card payments in partnership with Conferma.

The first section of this document contains a list of frequently asked questions to help introduce you to the concept of virtual payments and what advantages they offer your company and travelers in addition to some details about why we chose to partner with Conferma.
The second section has a short list of pre-requisite tasks you must complete before you can begin using virtual payments.
The third section describes what the settings you must configure in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool to enable virtual payments for your traveler’s bookings (e.g., hotel, car).
The last section illustrates what the experience of using a virtual payment method to book a hotel or rental car will look like for your travelers in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool. This functionality is currently limited to hotel and car bookings.

In addition, the set of slides attached to this page (scroll to the bottom) can help further educate you on the advantages of using Conferma virtual cards with Spotnana.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are virtual payments?

Virtual payments are a safe, secure, tightly managed payment method you can offer to travelers within or outside your organization to facilitate seamless payment of booking costs. Spotnana has partnered with Conferma to provide this payment option to our clients.

A virtual payment is a unique 15- or 16-digit card number (not an actual card) generated digitally during the booking process and associated with a specific user. This “card” number is only used once, for a single payment, and is then deactivated. No physical card ever exists.

The virtual payment also generates its own security code (CVV, CVV2, or CVC), similar to the three-digit number printed on the back of physical credit cards.

Who is Conferma?

Conferma, is a technology partner and leading provider of virtual payment solutions in the travel industry. They work with over 50 banks to issue virtual cards for use within their network of travel suppliers across 200 countries.

What sets Conferma apart from other virtual payment platforms is that they not only issue the virtual payment that Spotnana uses to make the booking (hotel/car), but also send the payment details and instructions directly to the vendor, essentially confirming the direct bill. This ensures that the traveler doesn’t have to provide an alternate form of payment upon hotel check-in or rental car pickup.

For more info, see https://conferma.com/

How is a Virtual Card different from a Ghost/Lodge card?

Virtual cards are similar conceptually to Ghost and Lodge cards in that both are centrally billed to a master account. However, since Ghost cards are used for multiple users and bookings, they must be configured with very high credit limits. Since Virtual cards are only used once, the credit limit is tied to a single purchase and is therefore tightly managed.

Another difference is the fact that Ghost cards are used more than once. As a result, they can easily be compromised and must then be deactivated and replaced. Virtual cards are single-use and employ a tight credit limit. The exposure to fraud is therefore minimal. In addition, Ghost cards require back-office staff to reconcile the centrally billed statement and direct the charges to the individuals or cost centers that incurred the charge. Since virtual card numbers are unique and tied to a specific user, allocation is simple and security is more easily managed. This results in lower ongoing administrative costs.

In addition ghost cards require CVV numbers to be shared widely throughout the company which compromises security. Virtual cards instead just generate a single-use CVV with limited access.

What are the benefits?

Virtual cards and payment methods offer many advantages. Some key ones are listed below:

Improved Direct Bill process: The virtual payment process is automated, secure and easy to reconcile with Finance departments. When using this form of payment, the credit card number is automatically passed to the vendor (hotel, car rental) via their preferred communication method (email, fax, API). As a result, the traveler is not required to present a form of payment at hotel check-in or rental car pickup (and there’s no direct bill because the vendor receives payment from the credit card company. In addition, unlike with direct billing, virtual payment reconciliation is automated because each card is tied to a specific account.
Ability to support non-employees, contractors, recruits: Virtual payment allows companies to cover the costs for their travelers up-front (without them having to use their personal card). Since many vendors require a CVV number (which is often unknown to travelers and can’t be easily exposed due to security concerns), ghost cards alone can’t adequately serve this use case.
No need for corporate cards for infrequent travelers: Virtual payment allows you avoid issuing corporate cards to users who travel only one or two times a year.
Improved security: There is simply more opportunity for fraud when there is a physical card. Virtual cards have pre-defined spending limits as well as fixed time-windows, so even if another party obtains the number, the exposure is limited.

What is Conferma Connect?

Conferma Connect is Conferma’s proprietary hotel database where they maintain hotel property details and communication preferences (email, fax, API) and is part of the mechanism by which payments are facilitated. Specifically, Conferma uses this product to send payment instructions to the hotel.

Conferma Connect is not used for rental car vendors.

How does it work?

The diagram below presents the average workflow for a traveler using a virtual card to pay for a hotel or rental car. Spotnana facilitates steps 1, 2 and 4.

What kinds of users would use Virtual Cards (when and why)?

Some of the kinds of travelers and use cases where Virtual Cards can really benefit your organization are regular travelers who require a central billing mechanism, job recruits (for interview-related travel), interns, or employees who only travel 1-2 times per year and therefore have not been issued a more traditional corporate card.

How much does it cost to have Conferma Virtual Cards enabled on my Spotnana account?

Contact a Spotnana agent for details on pricing.

Is there a list of banking partners that Conferma is already working with?

Yes, see this list of Conferma banking partners. If your bank is not on that list, have the bank contact Conferma at banking.partners@conferma.com to begin the process to be onboarded. Note that, in some cases, this process can take 6-12 months or more to complete.

What if the client has an existing relationship with Conferma?

If the client is already using Conferma with a different TMC and wants to switch to using Spotnana as their TMC for virtual card payments, the client must contact their bank to set up a new virtual card account with Conferma.

Should Spotnana be contacting the client’s banks for them to set this up?

No. The client needs to alert their bank that they would like them to start the process to get onboarded with Conferma and then the client bank has to reach out to Conferma

Pre-requisite Client tasks

Audience: Clients wishing to use Conferma - Virtual Cards payment methods with Spotnana

This section is related to all tasks that your company must perform for the integration to function as intended. The following steps should be done in advance to support your integration with Conferma and facilitate the use of virtual payment methods.

If you will be using your virtual card for rental car payments, you must have a direct billing agreement in place with the rental car company beforehand.

Verify that your bank and card network are already supported by Conferma. Refer to https://www.conferma.com/partners/. If your bank does not have an existing relationship with Conferma, your bank will need to contact Conferma at banking.partners@conferma.com to initiate that relationship (please instruct them to do so).
Alert your bank that you want to implement a virtual card program via Conferma and ask them to create a Conferma card pool account. If you will be offering virtual cards for both hotel and rental car bookings, you must create a separate card pool account for each (one for hotels bookings, one for car rentals).Contact Spotnana and provide us with the information in the table below step 4 (Spotnana will then use https://help.conferma.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411294813458-Boarding-Requests-Travel-And-Expenses-Workflow to get this information configured with Conferma):
If you will be using virtual cards with your rental car vendors, you will also need to complete the following steps. For each rental car vendor for which you plan to offer virtual card payments, you must add a corporate discount code and a virtual pay car ID on the Spotnana Online Booking Tool. To do this, select Company from the Program menu and then select L1 remarks from the Company menu on the left. Then:
- Scroll down to the Car corporate discount code section and click Add code.
- Select the rental car vendor name from the menu.
- Enter the corporate discount code associated with that vendor in the field provided.
- Select the Virtual Payments Only checkbox.
- Scroll down to the Virtual pay car ID number section and click Add code.
- Select the rental car vendor name from the menu.
- Enter the virtual card ID number provided by your rental car vendor. Note: For Avis, this will be the GEB ID).
- Click Save.

Information needed	Values provided by Client (Spotnana uses this column to input values provided by client)
Your Company Name	Full name of client company
Your Company Address	Full address of client company including zip/postal code/country
Email	Email alias to be used for virtual card-related communications and notifications. This should not be an individual’s email address, but rather, an account that is monitored by and accessible to more than one person (e.g., finance.team@mycompany.com or travel.dept@mycompany.com)
Country of issuance	Country of issuance for the virtual card account the client is using for Conferma payments
Card Provider/Bank Name	Name of the bank the client is using for Conferma payments
Currency	Name of the currency associated with virtual card payment account
Card type (OBT setting)	Type of card being used (VISA, Mastercard, Amex, Discover).
Supplier Instructions/Special Instructions (OBT setting)	for Hotels: Which hotel costs does the client want the Conferma payments to cover? Options are: (A) room and taxes,(B) room and taxes plus breakfast, or (C) all hotel costs for Car rental: Which costs does the client want the payments to cover? (A) Fare, tax and fee only; (B) Fare, tax and fee + Extras (20%); ( C) Fare, tax and fee + Extras (100%). The Extras, if included, will be a percentage of the total fare. Fare is the average daily rate for the selected vehicle times the number of days.
Required vs optional (OBT setting)	Will the virtual card be required or optional? For all legal entities within the client company or only some?
Types of users (OBT setting)	Which users within your company should be permissioned to use this payment method (Admin/Agents only or all users).
Add days (Additional days)	Number of days after end date that card remains available for charging. Recommendation: 7
Amount % Increase	Percentage increase to be added to cover charges not already included in cost. For example: for Hotels: taxes, meals, car parking for Car rentals: child seat, snow tires, GPS Recommendation: Taxes only = 20%. If using for meals and/or other expenses then increase in line with policy
Foreign Currency % Increase	Percentage increase to be added to cover foreign exchange fees and currency fluctuations. Only applied on overseas deployments. Recommendation: 5%
Maximum Deployment Amount	Maximum amount, in the card pool currency, that can be requested per deployment.
Advance Days	Number of days prior to trip start date that card is available for charging. Recommendation: 365
Per Day Amount	Fixed daily amount added to total card value to cover charges not already included in trip cost (for example, meals). Can be used in isolation or in conjunction with Amount % Increase. For example: If the Amount % Increase = 20 and Per Day Amount = 50
Enable CVV Access	Specify whether your travelers will be able to see the CVV of the virtual card.
Enable Non-Registered Email Voucher	Specify whether a copy of the card deployment (containing the masked card number), will be sent to the traveler’s email address along with with Conferma Pay App registration instructions.
Disable Resend Fax	Specify whether you want your travelers to be able to resend the email or fax (with confirmations details) to the vendor (or send it to a new email address or fax number) using the Conferma Pay app. Regardless of whether you enable this setting, travelers will still be be able to resend a fax or email when needed via the Spotnana Online Booking Tool.
Custom Data Fields (optional) Only needed if you have created custom data fields in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool that you want included on your bank statements. Otherwise, you can skip this row.	If you have created custom data fields (Cost Centre, Project Code, etc.) in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool that you want to include on your bank statements, Spotnana will need to enter those fields in your Conferma Pay configuration. You will therefore need to provide the following information to the Spotnana representative for each custom data field you have created: Label Name: The exact name of the custom data field in Spotnana that you wish to capture. Control Type: How is the custom data field is accessed. Options are: Free Text, Checkbox, Drop Down List, Validation Lookup, Autocomplete, Autocomplete with validation Lookup. Mandatory Field: Is this field required when a traveler is booking hotels? Only instruct Spotnana to set this as mandatory in your Conferma setup if it is also set as required in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool.
Contacts within your company	Main contact: - CC: Billing contact: The person or alias to which Spotnana sends the invoice. - CC

In addition, we recommend that you alert any preferred hotel properties that you are deploying the Conferma virtual payment program. Use the email template provided below. This is optional.

Email/Letter from Travel Manager to Preferred Hotels

Audience: Travel Managers

Spotnana recommends contacting your preferred hotel properties in advance to ensure they are ready to support both virtual payments and your company’s travelers who use them. Included below is a sample letter that you can reuse and send to your preferred properties. Feel free to edit it as needed.

The purpose of this communication is to let them know that you will be deploying a virtual payment program for your travelers and that you expect them to support you in this. All they then need to do is click on the link included in that communication to ensure they are in the Conferma Connect database and that their preferred communication method has been selected and that the necessary details for that method have been provided (example: email address or fax number).

Dear Valued Hotelier,

Re: Conferma Connect - Virtual Payment for Hotels

You will already be aware of the growing use of virtual cards to process payments for hotel bookings. We have been working with our technology partner Conferma Pay and Spotnana to deliver a more efficient hotel payment option for hotels.

What is Conferma Connect?

Conferma Connect will automatically identify the most secure and economic way of communicating the payment instructions to the hotel. Conferma Pay has developed technology to transmit the card details via multiple methods which now includes a secure email. Our preference for you, our hotel partner, is for this to be done via a secure email (and not be done by fax).

To update your communication preference please complete the online Opt In Form:

https://www.confermaconnect.com

Opting in is free of charge to hotels and allows you to select the form of communication for virtual card payments (fax/email to the front desk, fax/email to the accounting team). This ensures there are no issues for you or the guest upon check-out.

For more information, see the Conferma Connect FAQ: https://www.confermaconnect.com/en/help

Your support in this activity is greatly appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Name Surname

Role Responsibility

Company

Traveler Workflow Experience

Audience: Travelers and Travel arrangers

Your users (travelers or arrangers) who need to book hotels or rental cars will have an experience very similar to what they already know in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool. The process is as follows:

Traveler searches for the desired hotel or rental car and dates.
Traveler selects the desired hotel and room rate or rental vehicle and rate and proceeds to booking.
The traveler must then select a payment method to be used for the booking. Depending on whether your company has set the virtual payment method as required or not (for the legal entity to which the traveler belongs), the traveler will then do one of the following:
- For hotel bookings:
  - If the virtual card is set as required: Traveler clicks the Virtual cards tab and clicks the only virtual card that is selectable (the required one).
  - If the virtual card is not set to required: Traveler can click either the Credit Cards or Virtual cards tab and then select the specific credit card or virtual card they wish to use for this booking.
- For rental car bookings:
  - Since the virtual card will be linked to a direct billing agreement with the rental car company, no payment method needs to be selected. The traveler should just skip ahead to the booking step.
Traveler reviews the charges and clicks the Book Hotel or Book Car button. The booked is confirmed and payment (as well as a communication via fax or email) is sent to the vendor.
If needed, traveler can unmask the last 4 digits of the virtual card once the booking has been made and can unmask the full card number 24 hours prior to the hotel check-in or rental car pickup time.

Troubleshooting common issues

The table below lists some potential issues that travelers may experience when using Conferma virtual cards and suggested solutions for these issues. Many of these issues can be solved by the travelers themselves using the Spotnana mobile app or Online Booking Tool. For cases where that does not solve the issue, please reach out to a Spotnana agent.

Issue	Recommendation/Solution
Traveler needs to unmask the virtual card number	Although travelers do not present physical cards at check-in (for hotels booked with virtual cards), you may need to present evidence of the virtual card used to book (depending on the hotel). You may be asked to unmask the virtual card number when checking in. This can be done by the traveler via the Spotnana Online Booking Tool or mobile app, so long as it’s within 24 hours of the check in time/date. Travelers can unmask the last 4 digits of the virtual card once the booking has been made and can unmask the full card number 24 hours prior to the check-in time. Agents can unmask the card number as soon as the booking is made. Car rentals should not require a card to be presented at pick up because they require a direct billing relationship with the rental car vendor when using virtual cards.
Unable to generate a card on Spotnana Online Booking Tool	Contact a Spotnana agent. Agent will confirm if there is a technical issue or an incorrect setting. Depending on the cause, one of the following will happen: The agent may ask you to make the booking using a personal/corporate card. The agent may book the hotel or rental car for you using an alternate payment method.
Hotel isn’t available on the Spotnana Online Booking Tool	The booking can not be made using a Conferma virtual card. It will need to be booked outside the Online Booking Tool using a different payment method. This booking will then need to be manually added to the Online Booking Tool by a Spotnana agent.
Traveler is at hotel or car rental location and staff are not accepting the card	Traveler should ask hotel or car rental staff if they have received the Conferma Card Authorization form. If they can’t find it: Traveler can resend it from the Spotnana mobile app or Online Booking Tool to the email/fax address provided by staff. Traveler can contact a Spotnana agent. The agent can also resend the fax/email to a fax number or email address provided by staff. For Hotel: Traveller can reveal (unmask) the card on the Spotnana mobile app or Online Booking Tool for hotel staff to charge as ‘card not present’. An authorization form is also normally needed for this transaction. The authorization form can be emailed or faxed to the hotel by the traveler using the Spotnana mobile app. For Car: If the car selected was not compatible with what is allowed under the direct billing agreement, the traveler will need to either select an alternative vehicle or another vendor and form of payment. If none of these steps solve the issue, the traveler should contact a Spotnana agent. An agent can help the traveller to use their personal/corporate card. NOTE: These issues can occur when staff are not familiar with virtual card payments. This can differ based on experience or the region the hotel or car rental is located in.
Card declines the charge	This can occur if the amount the vendor is charging is over the limit assigned to the card, the vendor attempts to change the card multiple times, or the card has been used fraudulently prior to the vendor attempting to charge it. Traveler can contact a Spotnana agent. The agent can check if the amount being charged is higher than the deployment allows. If this is the case, the agent can update the value on the card (if the amount is within policy and what is being charged is allowed by the traveler’s company). If increasing the card’s value does resolve the issue, the agent can deploy a new card and cancel the original virtual card. The agent can then provide the staff with the new details. NOTE: If the card is being declined because the credit limit associated with the Conferma configuration has been exceeded, then your Finance Dept. will need to make an additional payment to your company’s bank to fund the virtual card. However, this will take 48 hours to fully fund the card. In the meantime, the traveler will need to use an alternate payment method.
Hotel or rental car company didn't receive fax or email	Traveler can resend it from the Spotnana mobile app or Online Booking Tool to the email/fax address provided by the vendor's staff. Traveler can contact a Spotnana agent. The agent can resend the fax/email to the email address provided by the vendor's staff.
Traveller is unable to unmask card number at check-in or check out	The traveler should be able to unmask the card number using the Spotnana mobile app or Online Booking Tool as long as it is within 24 hours of the hotel check-in or car pickup date. If the traveler is still unable to unmask the card number, traveller can contact a Spotnana agent. The agent can unmask the card number and provide it to the traveller or the vendor's staff.
Hotel or rental car vendor charges card for items not permitted by client settings For Hotel: meals or room service For Car: GPS, child car seat	Client must notify Spotnana agent if this occurs. The agent can request hotel or rental car vendor refund all charges to originally deployed card, then generate a new card and ask the vendor to make the permitted charges to the new card. Traveler should verify that the vendor charges are in compliance with the company’s policy for virtual cards. If they are not, the traveler must provide an alternate payment method for the extra charges that were not allowed (per client policy).

Reporting and Billing

You will receive regular statements from your bank that contain the travel spend associated your travelers' use of virtual cards as a payment method. You can use these statements (and the receipts your travelers collect and submit) to reconcile your virtual card spend. You can use the Hotel Transactions or Car Transactions reports (located under Analytics > Company reports) in the Spotnana Online Booking Tool to assist with reconciliation of your spend. If you require additional reporting to assist with reconciliation, contact a Spotnana agent to request access to Conferma Snap (they will provide you with login credentials).

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