Travel companies are under pressure to behave more like modern retailers while operating on thin margins, complex supplier relationships and financial systems that were not built for real-time commerce. As travelers expect flexible booking, bundled trips and seamless service, outdated payment infrastructure can create hidden costs through slow settlement, limited flexibility, working capital constraints and weak risk management.
Those issues become more important as artificial intelligence begins to reshape travel discovery and booking. Agentic commerce may change how travelers search and transact, but fulfillment, liability, regulation and trust will still have to be managed by companies that can connect consumer payments with supplier settlement. That makes payment strategy central to who can serve the traveler effectively.
In this discussion, Jason Hancock, managing director of global travel at WEX, spoke with Phocuswright SVP of content Mitra Sorrells about legacy payment systems, the merchant of record model, virtual cards and why smarter payment infrastructure will be critical as travel commerce evolves.
Watch the full discussion below.
Why payment infrastructure will shape the future of travel commerce