Sabre partners with Revolut for virtual payments

Partnership allows travel agencies to manage convenient international B2B payments

Travel technology provider and GDS Sabre Corporation FinTech company Revolut have announced successful results of its partnership.

The two tech companies revealed its success in onboarding more than 40 customers in less than a year and together are changing the financial landscape for travel agencies.

Revolut’s virtual cards are now generated within the Sabre Virtual Payments platform, allowing customers to easily pay airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers with enhanced flexibility and security.

This allows travel agencies using Sabre Virtual Payments to enjoy more streamlined and agile practices, personalisation and speed to market.

“Bringing the virtual payments solutions that our travel agencies value and need is a strategic focus area and always a top priority for us, and we are thrilled to see that this partnership is doing exactly that.

“I’m very proud of the great collaboration between our Sabre Virtual Payments team and Revolut, especially when it comes to implementation times, addressing operational efficiency and cross-border B2B payments needs for our customers,” said Celia Pereiro, managing director of payments of Sabre.

Some of the pain points this partnership is helping solve for Sabre-connected agencies using Sabre Virtual Payments include rapid onboarding process, seamless integration of virtual card technology into existing workflows, access to a suite of commercial card products that improve payment acceptance rates and preferential rates in the conversion of one country’s currency into another.

It also provides real-time insights through a streamlined Foreign Exchange management, for transparency and visibility across international payments while facilitating informed decision-making.

It allows the agencies to provide a better experience for travel suppliers, who now can get paid on time in their preferred currency, using negotiated payment acceptance rates.

"Revolut is excited to drive digitalization in the travel sector alongside our partners at Sabre.

“Together, we are streamlining transactions through our suite of virtual cards, real-time foreign exchange and API-based payment products. We brought our joint offering to dozens of businesses this year, and we look forward to delivering even more value to customers in 2024,” said Will Hannan, global head of embedded finance sales of Revolut.

According to Future Market Insights, virtual cards market is predicted to reach a worth of US$ 1.3 trillion by 2032, with 12.2% projected growth between 2022 and 2032.

The main drivers of this growth are the increasing adoption of API virtual card issuing platforms, the demand for secure and convenient payment solutions, and the growing penetration of smartphones and ecommerce.

Through its platform, Sabre Virtual Payments facilitates a single point of integration between travel agencies, Revolut and various booking tools.

It automates payment reconciliation and delivers comprehensive payment data reporting to offer secured and fully integrated end-to-end payment services.