How Travala.com funded business payments using digital currencies

"It's nice to have a single platform that encompasses all our needs. Reap can basically do everything, eliminating the need for us to work with multiple parties such as credit card providers and payment service providers." - Charles Grenier-Green, Travala

Background

Founded in 2017, Travala.com (Travala) is a leading crypto-native travel booking platform with a vision to leverage blockchain technology to transform the way travel bookings are made. With a team of experts from the travel, fintech, and blockchain industries, Travala aims to make travel more accessible worldwide by enabling travellers to book using digital currencies.

Travala offers a wide range of travel services, including flights, hotels, tours, and activities. Users have the flexibility to pay with over 90 digital currencies or traditional payment options. Their extensive network spans across 2,200,000 properties in 230 countries and territories, over 400,000 activities, and partnerships with 600+ airlines globally. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and fostering innovation, Travala has been transforming the travel booking experience.

While Travala allows customers to use digital currencies, it's important to note that many vendors, such as hotels and airlines, only accept fiat payments. To address this challenge, Travala sought a payout partner capable of facilitating efficient fiat payments funded by digital currencies across various local payment corridors. This strategic decision enables Travala to easily accommodate its global network of vendors, ensuring a smooth booking experience for customers.

The Challenges & Solutions

1. a) Challenge: Access barriers to traditional banking infrastructure

Travala, like many Web3 companies, faced challenges accessing traditional banking infrastructure. Despite the progress of Web3 technology adoption, certain traditional financial institutions exhibit hesitation in collaborating with Web3 organisations due to factors like limited understanding, regulatory uncertainties, and risk perception. As a result, Web3-native companies often encounter difficulties in working with traditional financial institutions, which could disrupt their financial operations.

b) Solution: Flexible currency payments using Reap Pay and Reap Card

Reap Pay offered Travala a solution to overcome these challenges. Unlike traditional financial institutions that require a bank account for fiat payments, especially cross-border transactions, Reap Pay empowered Travala to make fiat payments without such requirements. They gained the ability to send USD worldwide (except for sanctioned countries) and use native currencies in multiple countries. This capability allowed Travala to conduct fiat payments in their clients' preferred currencies and payment corridors, eliminating the need to access and manage individual bank accounts for each desired currency.

Additionally Reap Pay enabled Travala to fund fiat payments using digital currencies. By doing so, Travala was able to settle transactions within a single business day, a significant improvement compared to the typical 3-7 days required by traditional methods.

Reap’s corporate credit card solution, Reap Card, also provided Travala with the opportunity to repay their monthly credit card balance using their preferred currencies. This allowed them to fully utilise their available currencies for business payments.

"Timeliness of payments is crucial for us, as we often require immediate transactions. With Reap, we experience a one-day turnaround instead of the three-day process with traditional methods." - Charles Grenier-Green, Travala

2. a) Challenge: Limited corporate cards for a large team

Travala was actively seeking a corporate card solution that would eliminate restrictions on the number of cards they could issue. If the limited cards utilised were compromised, it would significantly affect business operations.

b) Solution: Unlimited, instant corporate card issuance with advanced spend control using Reap Card

By utilising Reap's Visa corporate card solution, Travala can provide multiple cards to individual customer support teammates. This enabled them to efficiently handle transactions with their extensive client network simultaneously. The unlimited issuance also allowed for dedicated cards tailored to specific business use cases, including recurring expenses like software subscriptions.

With Reap Card’s instant issuance capability, compromised cards could be frozen and replaced within seconds, eliminating the traditional week-long wait for card replacement. This reduced the risk of disruption to Travala's business operations, as they could instantly create new cards when needed.

Moreover, the Reap Card empowered Travala with advanced spend control, such as department-wise budget allocation and restrictions on card usage to specific merchants and locations. This granular control, coupled with comprehensive oversight of company spending on Reap's expense management platform, elevated Travala's expense management practices. This level of control was particularly valuable in the era of remote work, allowing them to exercise greater trust with their employees.

“I feel more confident with Reap Card compared to our prior setup. I have a greater level of spending control.” - Charles Grenier-Green, Travala

The Results

Over 1 Billion USD payment volume processed and 1000+ card transactions processed
USD FX fees saved

With Reap's USD denominated card, Travala was able to execute all USD transactions without incurring FX fees.

Peace of mind with reliable customer support and personalised experience

Reap's customer support has also brought more certainty and reliability to Travala's payment experience. The timely responses from the customer support team have helped address all questions regarding payments, offering greater transparency and visibility compared to their previous solutions.

Moreover, Travala has been able to enjoy a personalised experience tailored to their specific needs. Reap actively listens to and acts upon their feedback, making product improvements to ensure a worry-free, secure, speedy, and operationally efficient payment experience, as well as overall financial operations management for Travala.

“Our account manager consistently provides prompt responses to all my inquiries, a level of support that is not typically found in larger traditional institutions. I feel confident that I can reach out to anyone on the team and receive quick answers, which is terrific. I also feel that my feedback is genuinely valued at Reap. There have been instances where I suggested improvements, and you guys actually implemented them” - Charles Grenier-Green, Travala