Modulr at World Travel Market London 2024

Modulr was on show in London’s East End on the 5th November, as World Travel Market London kicked off its annual three-day conference with the biggest event in its 44 editions. With a resurgent travel industry looking to seize opportunities around new markets and trends, but facing sky-high consumer expectations, the schedule saw technology solutions and the payments industry in particular take a prominent role. 

More than 45,000 travel professionals took part in this year’s event and Modulr was among 4,000 exhibitors. While the packed consumer agenda was dominated by overtourism, sustainability, new markets and trends such as the growth of the cruise sector and the popularisation of ‘luxury’ experiences, in the B2B space, the major theme was friction. The specific point many were asking was how to get the travel industry to standardize and facilitate data exchanges and financial transactions, as pressure to provide seamless customer experiences continues to stretch the fine margins across the sector.

The pay-off in travel payments  

The Technology zone around Modulr’s stand was buzzing with various B2B exhibitors demonstrating the latest innovations aimed at helping the industry scale up these efforts without slowing down the flow of cash.  

Payments, of course, plays a key role in reducing friction within the travel business – something recognised by the topic kicking off one of the first panels – Customer Experience.  

Mark Lenahan, Head of Retailing Strategy at Travelport, discussed how the effect of customers expecting easy journeys online meant payments had a material impact on the customer experience – with failed payments and poor accessibility enough to encourage many customers to simply take their business elsewhere.

The technology stream moderator, Timothy O’Neil-Dunne from T2Impact, was clear on the fundamental importance of payments, stating in a follow-up session, Trust in Payments, simply: “this is something of real value, that affects everyone here”.

The panel noted that flexible payment options – such as buy-now-pay-later and instalment plans – could help travel sellers increase conversion rates, basket values and revenues, but it was noted that the airline industry in particular continued to struggle with friction and was as yet unable to break through many specific challenges created by both regulatory requirements and self-imposed processes.

Panellists agreed that airlines urgently needed a solution that meant the (sometimes self-imposed) complexity of the industry didn’t impact customer experiences at the front-end.

Travel strategist Paul van Alfen of Up In The Air explained that where the airline industry has focused on customer centricity and cost reduction it has tended to lead to a “zero-sum game” that doesn’t markedly improve payment experiences for customers or relieve B2B friction.  

Van Alfen highlighted the airline’s tendency to take payments at booking whereas hotels or car rentals prefer to pay at check-in or checkout, for example, and he noted that although there was an ongoing trend more broadly to embrace flexibility in travel payments, there was still work to be done in many areas.

Joining the dots on technology in travel 

When asked how to improve the industry and reduce B2B and payment friction, joined-up thinking, partnerships and education were all called out by the panel – sentiments echoed by our conversations with attendees and exhibitors during the conference.

The event’s Technology panels ended with a poll on whether technology or business processes are the primary source of complexity in the travel industry – the result from both the panel and the audience was a tie.

O-Neil Dunne noted that drilling into the cause of complexity was perhaps redundant as long as we knew how to solve it. If consumers expect “as smooth and seamless a search, shop, book and pay experience as they get with Amazon et al,” he said, “it’s not going to be easy, but we have to put the work in.”

A recurring theme across the event was the ready embrace of technology that has perhaps not been taken fully until now. A number of individuals that we spoke to during the conference noted that the intimidation factor of both finance and technology topics was probably preventing travel businesses from making immediate efficiency gains in fintech and specifically payments, but competition in the travel sector was so fierce that many were now rolling up their sleeves and embracing change.

“Technology brings down barriers and it makes things more efficient,” said Stergios Panagiotakis, CEO of the technology business Cyberlogic. “Automation is there to bring down the time and the cost, to provide speed and sustainability in core operational models. Using it is sensible to grow, but also just to survive.”

Rob Farmer at Trip.com Group also noted a willingness to leverage payments for competitive advantage. “Payments are certainly more strategic than they ever have been,” he said, “and I think that’s due to a recognition by travel firms that payments should be taken seriously and used strategically to grow the business.”

Making embedded payment accessible

A frictionless solution needs to be accessible and easy to implement and manage, of course, something noted by Tony Hart, Chief Sales Officer of Pax2Pay – the travel payments solution that uses Modulr’s API. “This industry is a highly dynamic one driven by demand,” he said. “Any kind of failure in that process can drive costs up or leave customers with zero availability of their dream holiday.”

Attendees and exhibitors we spoke to noted how payment efficiency is taking a more important role in conversations, as tech stacks evolve, competition rises and margins continue to be squeezed.  

While the stakes are both high and clear, Hart noted that payment solutions must free travel businesses and consumers from extra mental load, even while their growing functionality and influence is better explained and embraced.

“Consumers want a seamless booking experience,” he said; “they don’t notice the complexities going on in the background and if that can be as seamless a process as possible, especially in the checkout side of things, [despite there being] a B2B payment facilitating that consumer’s dream holiday, then that’s absolutely what they need.”

If you want to know more about how embedded payments can work in the background to power your travel business, speak to one of our team.