Corporate Traveller partners with BitPay to accept cryptocurrency payments from its SME customers

Travel management specialist, Corporate Traveller, has partnered with BitPay, the largest global blockchain payment provider, to enable its customers to use bitcoin and bitcoin cash payments for business travel bookings. The company, which this year celebrates 20 years since its foundation by parent, Flight Centre Travel Group, says the move supports "an increasing demand" for Bitcoin payments among its clientele.

Corporate Traveller is among the UK's leading specialist providers of business travel management services to SME companies, says it has seen big growth from airlines and travel agents who are tapping into the massive blockchain market.

"The blockchain industry is growing exponentially and we are excited to be able to offer our clients the ability to pay in bitcoin," says Andy Hegley, UK general manager, Corporate Traveller. He believes the company is "the first business TMC to offer this payment option" to SMEs in the UK and supports its customer focus on a "service experience that clients will not receive anywhere else".

Using BitPay, payments received via bitcoin or bitcoin cash will settle directly in Corporate Traveller's bank account within two business days - and will be denominated in GBP. There is no price volatility or risk to the company, it explains, and as a push transaction, the user sends the exact amount of bitcoin or bitcoin cash needed to pay the bill with just a 1% transaction facilitation and settlement charge to BitPay, which is much less than existing credit card fees

BitPay enables transactions from any computer or mobile device and invoices can be generated by an email invoice, or as an online eCommerce transactions, making it convenient and reliable for users. In 2017 and again last year, it processed over a USD1 billion annual payments from thousands of merchants and B2B customers globally.

Now in its eighth year of operation BitPay is setting new records for transaction fee revenue after adding new customers like Dish Networks, HackerOne, and the State of Ohio in the past 12 months. Its B2B business also had a record year in 2018 growing almost 255% from the previous year as many law firms, data centre providers, and IT vendors signed up to accept Bitcoin.

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