Seamless Journeys | 🚦Davina McCall, Tap-on Travel, and Blockchain Efficiency—This Week in Travel

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📣 Editor’s Pick

What the Future of Travel Payments Really Looks Like

As global OTAs scale, even small inefficiencies in payment systems can create major friction—slowing growth, increasing fraud risk, and damaging supplier trust.

This week, we’re sharing Modulr’s guide to the future of travel payments, which explores how virtual card-based payment strategies can replace outdated practices and unlock smoother operations across markets.

Inside the guide:

• Key pitfalls of traditional funding and fallback card models

• Best practices for building scalable, secure payment flows

• How to reduce fraud risk while improving reconciliation

• Why virtual cards are becoming a travel finance essential

💡 If your team is still dealing with fragmented processes or legacy payment setups, this guide offers a clear path to future-ready infrastructure.
👉 Read the full guide here.

💭 Editor’s Insight

Why Quiet Reconciliation Errors Are Travel Finance’s Silent Profit Killers

After chatting to some of our audience working with or for travel/tour operators with niche target demographics, a common challenge seems to consistently crop up—month-end reconciliation. Finance and underwriting teams often find themselves quietly battling hundreds, sometimes thousands, of transaction records spread across booking systems, insurance policies, and third-party payment processors. While reconciliation might seem straightforward, subtle mismatches silently chip away at margins and operational efficiency.

For example, travel companies serving mature travellers face particular complexities with reconciliation. Mature travellers often book high-value, complex travel packages involving multiple providers, currencies, and insurance coverages. These intricate bookings create ample opportunity for minor discrepancies, significantly increasing financial complexity and operational risk. Mature travellers also expect accuracy, reliability, and seamless experiences—errors or delays caused by manual reconciliation can directly impact customer trust and brand reputation.

Industry studies suggest manual reconciliation discrepancies typically represent up to 3-5% of total transaction value annually, translating directly into lost revenue and elevated financial risk. To combat this issue, forward-thinking travel finance teams are increasingly turning to embedded payment automation.

Embedded finance solutions address these challenges by seamlessly integrating real-time API-driven payments within existing financial workflows. For example, embedded solutions can automatically generate unique virtual card numbers (VCNs) for individual travel transactions, ensuring each booking's payments are clearly traceable. Real-time transaction notifications through API integration allow immediate reconciliation, significantly cutting down manual checks and reducing potential mismatches.

This real-time automation transforms days-long reconciliation tasks into processes completed in mere minutes, dramatically reducing errors by as much as 90%. Beyond immediate efficiency gains, embedded payment automation empowers finance and underwriting teams to shift their focus to strategic initiatives.

In short, by subtly upgrading their reconciliation approach with embedded solutions, travel finance leaders can directly boost profitability, minimize risk exposure, and reclaim valuable time for strategic growth—all without major operational upheaval.

🌟Sector Spotlight

BRAND ENDORSEMENT

Davina McCall Announced As New Ambassador For Hays Travel Across The UK

High street travel agent Hays Travel is making a bold move by bringing Davina McCall onboard as its new face from May 2025—a decision as strategic as it is inspiring. With Davina’s reputation as a positive, trusted, and widely recognised figure spanning TV, fitness, and publishing, Hays Travel signals its commitment to both its loyal base and a broader, younger audience as it marks 45 years in the industry. The brand’s willingness to “think outside the box” in its choice of ambassador, as highlighted by Dame Irene Hays, reflects a modern approach to brand growth and retention in a competitive sector.

Davina’s involvement will stretch across TV adverts, social media, and the company’s website, ensuring her relatable energy permeates each customer touchpoint. Her genuine enthusiasm after meeting Dame Irene Hays suggests not just a business transaction, but a partnership rooted in shared values—a rare commodity in today’s eCommerce-laden travel market. It’s a win for authenticity, and a lesson in how people, not just products, can drive lasting brand loyalty.

RAIL MARKET DYNAMICS

Trainline Faces Share Decline Amid Government Competition and Strong Sales Growth

Shares in Trainline took a sharp hit—down nearly eight per cent—even though net ticket sales surged to £6bn and EBITDA grew by 30 per cent to £159m. What’s unsettling investors isn’t current performance, but the UK government’s looming plans for a rival state-owned ticketing service, which has already shaved more than a third off Trainline’s value this year. The company is ramping up its advocacy, pressing Labour for a level playing field and pointing to Competition and Markets Authority standards as its benchmark.

Despite domestic turbulence, Trainline’s European ambitions are noteworthy, with sales projected to hit £12bn by 2030, and Spain leading the charge as a model for digital, greener rail travel. Continued innovation, especially in AI-driven ticketing, has cemented its UK dominance and advanced industry sustainability goals, yet market uncertainty is likely to overshadow these achievements until regulatory clarity emerges.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT INTEGRATION

Edinburgh Trams Announce Launch Date For New Tap On, Tap Off Payment System

Edinburgh is raising the bar for public transport efficiency with the launch of its new tap on, tap off tram payment system, going live on 19 May. Passengers will enjoy seamless integration with Lothian Buses, with journeys across both networks automatically capped at the cheapest available daily and weekly rates—a win for both convenience and affordability. The system’s zone-based fare calculation ensures you pay only for the distance travelled, protecting riders from overcharging.

This upgrade is more than a nod to technology—it’s a big step forward in making low-carbon transport the default for city residents and visitors, particularly benefiting those on lower incomes and with mobility needs. Edinburgh’s council isn’t just following trends; it’s setting an example for similar-sized cities, investing in inclusive transit upgrades that demonstrate real foresight in urban mobility.

TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

Lufthansa Partners Use Blockchain and AI to Improve Travel Industry Efficiency

Blockchain is making waves in travel, and partnerships like Camino’s with Lufthansa Systems and SWISS show just how rapid this innovation can be. Bringing together tech and travel professionals at a hackathon in Frankfurt, the project focused on leveraging blockchain and AI for tangible solutions—think: slashing operational costs by up to 98% and improving sustainability by up to 50%. Not just theoretical improvements, these results were demonstrated with real prototypes and measurements.

What’s particularly impressive is the speed—integrating complex flight content that typically takes months, now done in days. Solutions addressed everything from carbon offsetting to connecting 300,000 Indian travel agencies, showing significant commercial promise. The next logical step is piloting these innovations, a move that could redefine efficiency and cost-savings across the travel sector. Blockchain in travel isn’t just hype; it’s fast becoming a practical advantage.

INNOVATIVE TRAVEL TECHNOLOGIES

AI-Powered Tools Are Not Yet Ready To Seamlessly Book Your Holidays

Booking a summer holiday is still more complicated than most of us would like, but artificial intelligence is poised to make the process much smoother—just not quite yet. Platforms such as Expedia’s Romie, Trip.com’s TripGenie, and Booking.com’s AI Trip Planner promise to handle the decision-making and research on our behalf, shifting travel planning from tedious task to guided experience. However, these tools are still in their infancy, often struggling with the nuance and flexibility that experienced travellers expect.

The real leap forward will be when AI can seamlessly handle all aspects of trip planning, from finding the best deals in eCommerce to coordinating complex itineraries, without missing a beat or misunderstanding user preferences. Until then, the dream of a fully automated, stress-free holiday booking experience remains just over the horizon—perhaps next year will finally deliver the effortless planning we’ve been promised.

PAYMENTS TECHNOLOGY

PAR Values Enable Consistent, Secure Transaction Tracking to Enhance Loyalty and Fraud Prevention

PAR values are emerging as a game-changer for merchants struggling with the fragmented customer insights resulting from multiple payment token formats like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and various network tokens. By acting as a universal, secure identifier linked to a card account—regardless of how it’s tokenised—PAR can connect disparate transactions, enabling merchants to map the entire customer journey without manual workarounds or compliance headaches. This means better fraud prevention, streamlined PCI compliance, and minimal disruption at checkout.

For loyalty programmes, the impact is profound: PAR lets businesses track purchasing patterns across channels and touchpoints, making targeted rewards and offers a reality rather than a guess. As payment ecosystems become more complex, adopting PAR can remove inefficiencies and turn data silos into actionable customer insights—a real quality-of-life upgrade for both merchants and customers.