At least 68 percent of business travel managers believe that the risk of fraud is worse in 2019 that it was two or three years ago, according to a survey by AirPlus International in partnership with the Global Business Travel Association.
The survey revealed that there were 338 hospitality sector breaches in the past 12 months in the USA, the second-highest of any sector, with 90 percent of breaches targeting point-of-sale systems.
Virtual credit cards offer a potential solution. Used to settle a specific vendor payment transaction, virtual credit cards are issued for a specific monetary amount, but have identical functionality to that of a standard plastic credit card.
A virtual credit card's unique 16-digit card number is created for a single transaction up to a certain amount of time, and is only active for a designated period of time.
Should the virtual credit card be obtained by a hacker, the data would be useless, as until the number is activated the credit amount is set to zero. Upon activation, the card data is sent to the merchant in real-time and the transaction is executed.
Hotel managers can integrate VCC payment methods into their property management system, and accepting virtual credit cards is as simply as using a physical plastic credit card. The process is similar to receiving a booking online.
