Control your payments - and sleep better at night

Fast-growing Swedish tour operator Rolfs Flyg & Buss decided it was time to get to grips with their card payments. So in 2017 they implemented Amadeus B2B Wallet virtual payment solution. One year down the road we talked to their CEO Emanuel Karlsson, to find out what he thinks about it all.

Rolfs Flyg & Buss has grown steadily over the past five years, which has earned them the prestigious Gasell prize. Today, they handle 100,000 travelers spread over 2,500 groups and 350 destinations. Needless to say, this means there are many travel providers to deal with. All spread globally, all with their own payment conditions.

For Emanuel Karlsson, CEO of Rolfs Flyg & Buss, always looking for ways to optimize operations, this was a serious headache. So in 2017, he decided to test Amadeus’ payment solution B2B Wallet.

What was it about B2B Wallet that piqued your curiosity?

We are longtime customers of Amadeus. And I had read about B2B Wallet in Travel News, and thought to myself ‘Hold on now, this sounds interesting’. My key expectation was to get better control over our payments. In particular, our credit card payments.

How did you work with payments before?

We managed our card payments with a company card; all our office staff used the same one. Some departments even had a photocopy of it!

After nearly one year of using B2B Wallet, what is your impression?

With B2B Wallet we have a solution where we can issue as many virtual cards as we need, decide how much money each virtual card should hold and limit the expiry date.This means we have better control over our cash flow. And issuing several virtual cards for different departments in our office gives us better control over our spending.

Besides air, what other providers do you pay with B2B Wallet?

Mainly rail, and hotels in the US, where they usually demand card payments.

If I have a supplier who wants to be paid by card I am happy to use B2B Wallet as I havebetter control over the payments. To send money back and forth is a nuisance; paying with a virtual card is a lot smoother. As I said before; using the physical card was a pain… now I can control the process in a completely different way. It’s no doubt the smoothest way to pay one’s travel costs.

So, a more practical question: how do you actually use B2B Wallet?

Basically we use it in two different ways:

We issue virtual cards that can only be used once. This can be for anything, from buying toners to making hotel bookings. What we really like is how fast we can create a virtual card; it takes less than one minute.

Staff who make many card payments, have their own virtual card with no transaction limit. The name of the person is registered for this card, which greatly facilitates the reconciliation process.

Was it difficult to switch to B2B Wallet?

Absolutely not. It’s not that complicated. It took us a while to get started – you need to get into the product and think ahead before you start to transfer large sums of money. This process can take some time, and maybe it’s something you easily procrastinate … But no, it was really easy, and the switch was done just like that. What I do dislike is my own slowness in this. Looking back, we should have made a quick switch – it’s really that simple.

Have there been any unexpected surprises?

For me, as the head of the company, it has been positive that I can sleep better at night. I know that I can control and stop the flow of money in a way which was not possible before.

How will B2B impact your business moving forward?

B2B Wallet makes it easier in the larger scheme of things. With 2,500 groups each year there’s a lot of money to keep track of, so anything that makes that easier is welcome.

And, of course, all new revenue is good revenue. It’s really good that you can choose between two virtual cards: the pre-funded card which gives you a rebate, and the debit card to avoid credit card fees. The debit card is also good to have when paying airlines which only accept payments which don’t cost them anything.

Last but not least: Emanuel, would you recommend this solution to a peer?

Absolutely not. They are, after all, my competitors :).