Travel companies operate in a unique environment. On the one hand, they must pay much attention to branding and maintaining a positive reputation, as customers are primarily guided by reviews, ratings, and word-of-mouth. On the other hand, travel companies need modern solutions for fast, secure payments, no less than their colleagues in the financial or tech sectors.
In this article, we will look at the case of a fast-growing travel operator that managed to launch its payment solution and gain complete control over costs thanks to the Wallester White-Label and Wallester Business platforms.
Why White-Label?
During the planning phase, the company’s executives had to reject several alternative solutions:
- Launching their own payment service — due to the complexity of obtaining licences and compliance with international regulations.
- Applying to traditional banks — due to the limited possibilities of customising payment instruments and the long bureaucratic integration process.
- Direct cooperation with payment operators — due to high transaction costs and insufficient flexibility in customisation.
The company needed a solution that would allow it to launch cards quickly and securely for its customers, personalise their designs, and choose the best settings for use in international travel.
Why Wallester?
During the brainstorming session, we decided to cooperate with the Estonian fintech company. Its service was chosen due to the following advantages:
- Instant issuance of physical and virtual cards. Partnership with Wallester helped reduce waiting periods by several times, significantly increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Seamless integration with a proprietary application. Wallester’s open API gave customers the ability to view card status and control travel expenses in the travel agency’s app.
- Full compliance with international regulatory requirements. This platform has greatly simplified the approval process. Moreover, it allowed customers to use their cards in all countries where the VISA payment system is represented.
Wallester took care of all the technical, security, and regulatory aspects, allowing the travel agency to focus on its primary development objectives.
An Additional Benefit: How a Travel Agency Used the Wallester Business Service
Of course, the convenience of payments is important both for customers and employees. Moreover, it is essential for the management to control costs, especially in such a dynamic and market-sensitive industry as the travel business.
Therefore, an additional argument for cooperation with this provider was the possibility of connecting to the Wallester Business platform. It allows you to:
- Issue an unlimited number of physical and virtual cards. This is convenient for testing new directions and seasonal projects. Creating new cards allows you to clearly control budgets and avoid overspending.
- Flexibly configure the rules for using corporate funds. Travel company managers spend much of their time on business trips. On the one hand, they need a certain amount of freedom of action, as it affects the speed of decision-making. On the other hand, they are tempted to use a corporate card for personal purposes. Wallester Business allows you to individually select specific payment destinations and secure counterparties that do not require manual confirmation.
- Receive real-time payment notifications. If an employee needs to make a non-standard payment, they don’t have to go through many stages of approval and write numerous explanations. It is enough to make a request in the mobile app — the manager will instantly receive it and make the appropriate decision in a few seconds.
What Was the Integration Process Like, and What Did It Bring?
The connection to the Wallester White-Label service was carried out in the following sequence:
- Business registration and verification. All formalities took 2 business days, including verification of business integrity according to AML standards and approvals.
- Development of card design and branding. Close cooperation with Wallester employees allowed us to create the product’s final look in just 1,5 weeks.
- API integration and testing. Full synchronisation with the booking system and mobile application was completed in a week, as the company’s engineers had the opportunity to get acquainted with the open-source code on GitHub in advance.
- Launch and access for customers. Testing, fine-tuning, and final preparations took another 2 weeks.
Thus, the integration of Wallester White-Label took only 5 weeks, or 6-7 weeks if you consider the brainstorming stage and the search for a reliable provider. To understand how fast this is, compare the timeframe with the banks’ proposals, which envisaged integration in 3-4 months or the launch of their payment solution in 6-18 months.
By choosing Wallester White-Label, the company achieved the following results:
- Card issuance 80% faster than in banks;
- Complete customisation of the appearance and functionality of payment instruments;
- Lower costs for international transactions;
- Possibility to use cashback, bonuses, and affiliate programmes;
- Corporate expense management on the Wallester Business platform;
- Maximum security for customers and employees.
Next Steps: Plans of the Travel Agency and Wallester
Cooperation with the innovative provider has allowed the company to set new strategic goals. It has planned to expand the list of travel destinations, add multi-currency accounts for VIP clients, and create an AI assistant to optimise travel costs in 2025-2027.
Wallester services also continue to evolve. According to the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sergei Astafjev:
“Our team achieved major breakthroughs in 2024 despite many challenges thrown at them, both by external factors and general market conditions. We never stopped believing in our ability to deliver exceptional solutions for our partners and clients. We are ready to fly into 2025 and build on our success to make Wallester the best it can be.”
The improvement of innovative fintech products opens up new horizons for the development of the travel industry and other sectors of the economy.
