International View: In Search Of Acceptance By Sandy Gennrich, Vice President & Business Leader, US Commercial Products Corporate card acceptance is the lynchpin of payment success for multinational and global travel programs RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 78 percent of international business travelers say their companies require the use of the corporate card for business travel purchases. On average, companies that mandate corporate card usage realize 83 percent of corporate international T&E spend on the card; among companies that do not mandate card usage, just 68 percent of T&E spend is placed on the card. When travelers do not use a corporate card for T&E spend, 59 percent of the time it is due to the vendor not accepting the card. 53 percent of international business travelers have been caught in an awkward situation due to corporate card non-acceptance of international business travelers rate acceptance as the "most important" or a "very important" consideration when contracting 94% with a corporate card provider.* Executive Summary While all major corporate card providers have dramatically expanded their acceptance networks over the past 10 years, there are still gaps to be closed. Low credit card acceptance overall persists in certain international business destinations, but partnering with a card that provides the largest network possible could build credibility with the travel program and drive better compliance and, therefore, better data than a mandate alone. According to a recent RPMG study, best-in-class corporate card programs see 93 percent of travel spend placed on the corporate card, but this can only be achieved when the card is broadly accepted. The vast majority of business travelers recognize the critical importance of broad card acceptance; awareness of the issue hit home with many surveyed travelers who have been caught in an awkward situation that compromised their productivity, derailed a travel itinerary or eroded their reputation in front of colleagues or worse, clients. The bottom line for travelers, however, is that they should not be individually responsible for whether a merchant accepts the corporate card, and 68 percent do not confirm card acceptance before availing themselves of travel goods or services. They depend on their corporation to deliver the right payment solutions for the business markets they are expected to serve. When that does not happen, seasoned international business travelers say business goals are at risk. * All statistics, unless otherwise sourced, were derived from MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey May 2012 ADVANCING INSIGHTS ADVANCING COMMERCE JULY, 2012
"Dinner for 12: When told card was not accepted, I told the waiter and manager that they had a problem, as we had already eaten how would they like to handle? They ended up taking my personal check." MasterCard Corporate Card Acceptance Survey Demographics This white paper is based on responses to an online survey fielded by Equation Research and MasterCard from May 14-21, 2012. The survey polled attitudes and experiences among 206 business travelers who made at least four international trips over the prior 12 months. Respondent business travel spanned the globe, but the number of respondents traveling to given regions reflected current trade and business patterns for U.S.-based companies, with Europe pegged as the highest volume market, Asia/Pacific and Canada in a close heat for second and the emerging South American market slightly further behind. Though the survey showed perceived rates of credit card acceptance varied from region to region, 78 percent of surveyed business travelers were required to use a corporate credit card whenever possible. Card Acceptance Domestic vs. International Domestic acceptance of major credit cards is almost a foregone conclusion for hotels, airlines, restaurants, rental car counters and other vendors heavily used by U.S.-based business travelers. Even taxis and fast food outlets commonly accept credit cards. Regions Travelled To which of the following regions do you travel internationally on business? 26% 32% 39% 51% 49% 66% 64% 81% 0 20 40 60 80 100 Europe Asia/Pacific Canada South America Mexico Caribbean Middle East Africa Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 Payment can be more complicated in the international arena. Some countries and regions traditionally rely on cash payment even for air, hotel and other large expenses. Nearly all respondents (95 percent) while traveling internationally have encountered vendors that do not accept any credit cards. According to business travelers surveyed, vendors in Canada are the most accepting of credit cards outside of the U.S., scoring 4.82 on a five-point scale rating overall acceptance of credit cards. Europe is next followed by Mexico, Caribbean, Asia/Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. When compared to the regions most traveled by survey respondents, Asia/ Pacific and South America are potential payment pain points for many international business travelers. Smaller European cities may also prove problematic, particularly for companies that have partnered with corporate card providers that post lower acceptance rates overall. That said, acceptance rates should always be compared to and aligned with travel patterns when sourcing a card provider. Card providers tout their broad acceptance in the global marketplace, but every business traveler knows that not all credit cards are created equal. Nearly threequarters of respondents, 73 percent, have encountered vendors who refused the corporate card brand but accepted some other card brand. Some companies try to alleviate non-acceptance by issuing more than one corporate card. But when the primary corporate card is refused, most business travelers surveyed fell back on a personal credit card or cash, which erodes the quality of the data that a card program can contribute to achieving full visibility into travel spend. As an extension, that data becomes less persuasive when negotiating with travel suppliers. Creating a comprehensive travel program with a strong card program is critical for building the confidence of travelers, travel managers and suppliers. 2 ADVANCING INSIGHTS ADVANCING COMMERCE
Card Acceptance: Regional Differences On a scale of 1 to 5, please rate the following regions in terms of overall acceptance of credit cards. 3.29 4.46 4.14 4.08 4.04 3.97 3.92 4.82 "Mostly in Asia When corporate card was presented for a dinner I was hosting for more than 25 people, it came back unaccepted and I had to use a personal card." 0 1 2 3 4 5 Canada Europe Mexico Caribbean Asia/Pacific South America Middle East Africa Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 Fortunately, worldwide acceptance continues to grow. According to the 2012 Nilson Report, MasterCard and Visa far outpace their corporate card competitors when it comes to acceptance. MasterCard and Visa have 33.3 million merchant acceptance locations worldwide, up from 26 million locations five years ago and 24 million a decade ago. Other card issuers have also experienced growth, but have a long way to go to reach these numbers. Discover Financial offers 19 million merchant locations, with recent growth largely based on interoperability with Japan-based JCB, China Union Pay and Diner s Club, according to Nilson. Global merchant acceptance for American Express is close to 16 million, up from 9 million five years ago and 7 million a decade ago. Card Usage Rates Respondents overall put a mean of 80 percent of their international business travel expenses on a corporate card, but the degree of compliance varied. Nearly half of respondents, 48 percent, said they put more than 90 percent of all business travel expenses on their company card. Nearly a fifth put 81 percent to 90 percent of expenses on the company card. A tenth put 71 percent to 80 percent of expenses on the company card; another tenth put 60 percent to 70 percent of expenses on the company card. And 14 percent put less than 60 percent of business travel expenses on the company card. Travel managers should watch out for their most frequent international travelers, too. Among this group admittedly, the smallest in the survey only 25 percent put more than 90 percent of all business travel expenses on their company card. Whether that is because they feel less constrained by policy or because they encounter the most acceptance issues is a question that individual companies must determine and then mitigate with the right policy and the right payment tools. The good news for corporations is that mandates work. Travelers whose companies Card Brand Acceptance: Worldwide Merchant Locations (in millions) 33.3 MasterCard & Visa 20.8 JCB 19 Diner's Club/Discover Network 19 BC Card 15.8 American Express* 14.1 Maestro 10.7 China Union Pay (CUP)* Note: BC cardholders have access to the Diner's Club/Discover network. CUP cardholders have access to Diner's Club/Discover network in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. * Figure estimated by Nilson Source: 2012 Nilson Report, HSN Consultants, February 2012 International View: In Search Of Acceptance 3
"A hotel did not accept any credit cards and no ATM available. Prevailed upon hosts to lend us the money and we paid them back when we got back to a metro area." Unacceptable: Rebate Realities While small cash expenditures are a fact of any type of business travel, there should be no legitimate reason for business travelers international or domestic to reach for a personal card to pay a business expense. When they do, it compromises data collection for supplier negotiations and has real effects on negotiated rebates with the company's payment partner. International travelers who responded to MasterCard Worldwide's Corporate Card Acceptance Survey put 80 percent of their business travel spend on their corporate card, obscuring 20 percent of international travel spend overall. Assuming that 7 percent of the time, these travelers paid with cash and 13 percent of the time, they paid with a personal card, their travel managers can say good-bye to more than 16 percent of their corporate card rebate from international travel spend. That's a loss that travel managers should refuse to accept. *Assuming 100 basis point rebate and $40M in T&E spend. Results will vary based on size of program **MasterCard Analysis required corporate card use put an average of 83 percent of travel and entertainment dollars on company plastic. That compares with just under 68 percent of T&E expenses charged to the company card by travelers with no mandate. Compliance seems to slip, however, when measured by transaction volume. On average, 75 percent of T&E transactions overall are captured on the corporate card according to the survey respondents. Why the compliance difference by dollars versus transactions? Compliance is easier with a few high-cost items. Larger transactions likely involve international airlines, hotel groups and other global vendors who accept payment across multiple cards and channels. The lower compliance by transaction numbers reflects more small purchases, often from smaller vendors that are more attuned to local payment preferences than international standards. These are the small charges into which more travel managers are looking to gain visibility especially when it comes to meals and ground transportation that add up quickly for total trip costs. That said, what goes for small local purveyors may filter into payment preferences at independent hotel properties or even local low-cost airlines.in certain markets, these suppliers operate largely outside of global distribution systems and are not constrained to "industry norms," in such areas as payment. In these situations, survey respondents reported that they have resorted to using personal credit cards, or if no cards are accepted at all using all of their cash reserves, driving 100 miles to make an emergency trip to an ATM, writing personal checks or imposing on their hosts to "trust" them until they could make a cash transfer from a larger metropolitan area. Travel managers may need to do a better job of ensuring that local partners accept the preferred payment solution and impress upon travelers that when they cannot use a preferred partner, travelers should double check payment options as a healthy majority of survey respondents admitted that they do not. Indeed, despite the fact that 94 percent of survey respondents said that acceptance was the most important criteria when choosing a card, more than 68 percent of the same travelers said they do not use corporate card acceptance as a criteria when choosing a vendor. Bottom line: international business travelers don't want to think about credit card acceptance when they are on the road trying to get work done. They want to assume that they will be covered. For the minority of respondents (32 percent) who realize that they can't take corporate card acceptance for granted, more than 70 percent confirm card acceptance with restaurants before sitting down, nearly 60 percent confirm with chosen hotels and more than half confirm card acceptance with airlines. Slightly more than 40 percent confirm acceptance with car rental providers. When these same travelers are inconvenienced by vendors that do not accept corporate cards, the majority of the time they are able to choose an alternate vendor with comparable pricing. Nearly 16 percent of the time, however, they choose a higher priced vendor that accepts the corporate card. That's a relatively small percent, but it can add up to a large expense for a travel budget when multiplied by the number of international travelers within the company 4 ADVANCING INSIGHTS ADVANCING COMMERCE
and/or by the number of clients or colleagues in the mix. Reasons for Not Using the Corporate Card International travelers have plenty of reasons for not using the corporate card, from the personal (I want points on my personal card!) to the technical (the merchant phone line was down). But the most common reason for using an alternative means of payment is the vendor refusing to accept the corporate card. Non-acceptance was the reason nearly 59 percent of travelers gave for using another card or cash. Survey results underscored the logical outcome of merchant relationships: users of corporate cards with fewer worldwide merchant locations cited non-acceptance more often than users of cards with larger merchant networks. There were other reasons, as well, for travelers using an altnerate card or cash: More than one-third of travelers wanted points from a personal card, while slightly more than one-quarter simply prefer to use cash. Just under 5 percent gave no reason for not using the company card. Again, having a card mandate made a difference. Among travelers required to use corporate plastic, 61 percent cited non-acceptance compared to just 48 percent for employees without a card mandate. And when it came to collecting reward points on a personal card, under one-third of travelers with a mandate used a personal card compared to almost 53 percent who had a choice in cards. More evidence that mandates can drive spending behavior but not always. There are certain expenses for which travelers simply require cash. Nearly all travelers use cash for taxi fares, 91 percent of travelers with a card mandate and 89 percent without a mandate. Hotel tips are another frequent cash expenditure. Other common cash purchases are subway, restaurant tips, restaurant bills and rail tickets. The Search for Acceptance When vendor choices are dictated by corporate card acceptance, what is the most common outcome? 81.2% Choose a more expensive vendor that accepts the card Choose a comparably priced vendor Choose a less expensive vendor 3.1% 15.6% Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 Card Acceptance A Factor In Vendor Choices Which of the following vendor choices are dictated by whether the vendor accepts your corporate credit card? 23.4% 40.6% 40.6% 51.6% 59.4% 70.3% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Restaurant Hotel Air Car Rental Other Ground Transport (taxi/car service/rail/subway) Entertainment Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 International View: In Search Of Acceptance 5
"Hotel in Brazil did not accept Amex and bill was too high to be electronically accepted by my personal credit card provider, Visa. Was stuck at hotel for almost two hours." There are a limited number of ways travelers can access cash. Over half bring personal cash on business trips while almost 42 percent use a personal card to access cash from an ATM. Only 21 percent use a corporate card to access ATM cash and just 14 percent get a cash advance from the company. Accessing cash or using a personal card on the road may not be a burden as long as it is confined to the occasional small purchase. Larger expenses for which corporate cards are declined can create serious issues for travelers. Supporting Travelers & Business Goals Nearly 53 percent of international travelers surveyed reported being caught in an awkward situation because a corporate card was not accepted. Fully 25 percent of the most frequent travelers noted that cards are not accepted more than 20 percent of the time. Non-acceptance can easily translate into a productivity issue. One survey respondent reported, Hotel in Brazil did not accept Amex and bill was too high to be electronically accepted by my personal credit card provider, Visa. Was stuck at hotel for almost two hours. Common Cash Expenditures When traveling internationally on business, for which of the following do you commonly use cash? NON-acceptance hinders business travelers Have you ever been caught in an awkward situation where your corporate card was not accepted? 11.4% 6.2% 5.7% 5.7% 29.5% 28.4% 48.3% 39.8% 63.1% 90.3% 0 20 40 60 80 100 Taxi Restaurant Tips Car Service Business Gifts Hotel Tips Restaurant Bills Printing/Shipping Other Subway Rail Transportation Other Business Services Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 47.3% 52.7% It can be embarrassing. A hotel did not accept any credit cards and no ATM available, wrote a respondent. Prevailed upon hosts to lend us the money and we paid them back when we got back to a metro area. And it can be a potential business killer. Drinks with customer after meal; cash only so drinks are on customer. Not a good situation, lamented a respondent. No Yes Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 Having a card refused also disrupts travel. Planning on a prepaid airport transfer left one respondent rushing for an ATM to pay a $100 taxi charge when the prearranged transport didn t appear. And alerting the issuer of international travel may not help. 6 ADVANCING INSIGHTS ADVANCING COMMERCE
Before heading out on every trip I notify the credit card company. I even go as far as telling them the anticipated date and time, name of the vendor and a ballpark amount to be charged as well as my travel dates, wrote a respondent. And still I often have problems. Most travelers resolve the problem by paying with a personal card (64 percent) or paying by cash (67 percent). Another 7 percent look to colleagues or the client to pick up the slack. None of the alternatives reflect well on the corporate travel program. Building a corporate card program with a card that is frequently declined eats away at program credibility. Requiring travelers to use a card that is declined in the destinations they use most suggests that the travel program is equally problematic in other areas. And non-acceptance only reinforces the use of personal cards that cuts into program compliance, data collection, and contract fulfillment and/or rebates from the payment partner. Travelers themselves recognize the importance of card acceptance. When asked what is more important than acceptance in selecting a corporate card, the overwhelming answer was nothing. Sizeable numbers suggested that enhanced traveler services, reward programs, low fees and ease of use are key features, but card acceptance emerged as the single most important attribute of a corporate card among users. Conclusion When it comes to international travel, small cash expenditures and minimal charges on personal cards are to be expected and companies should address these regional realities within their travel and expense policies. International Travelers Prioritize Card Acceptance How important should credit card acceptance be to a corporation when contracting with a corporate card provider? 62.6% 31.5% Most Important Very Important Somewhat Important 5.9% Source: MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012 When it comes to providing robust payment solutions, however, a corporate card must deliver acceptance across regions. Asia/Pacific and South America are two critical markets identified by seasoned international business travelers where their corporate cards continue to underperform, especially considering the volume and importance of business travel to those emerging regions. Travel managers need to do a better job of matching high volume business travel markets to acceptance rates of their preferred payment solution. Ignoring these challenges continues to put the corporation's business goals at risk by compromising traveler reputation in front of clients, derailing business schedules or itineraries and leaving the traveler grasping for resources. In addition, when business travelers default to cash payments or personal cards to cover significant business travel expenses, the corporation not only compromises the quality of its travel data used for supplier negotiations, it also leaves an average of more than 16 percent of the potential travel rebate on the table, when based on international spend. Overseeing a function that supports revenue growth as well as delivers value to the corporate bottom line, travel managers need to educate themselves on the key role that a best-in-class corporate card can play in their program. Whether their ultimate role is to manage that relationship or make recommendations about the right products to support the traveler and the corporation, the time is now. "Small bar for drinks with customer after meal; cash only, so drinks were on customer. Not a good situation." International View: In Search Of Acceptance 7
MasterCard Worldwide MasterCard is leading the corporate card industry when it comes to acceptance, and corporate travel and expense managers must seriously consider the impact on their programs if they are working with a payment solution that does not meet the best standard available. To learn more about how MasterCard products and services can help your T&E program, contact your MasterCard account representative or go to mastercard.com/commercial. Sources MasterCard and Equation Research, Corporate Card Acceptance Survey, May 2012. The Nilson Report, HSN Consultants, Inc., February 2012. RPMG, 2011 Corporate Travel Card Benchmark Report About the Author Sandy Gennrich Vice President, Business Leader, U.S. Commercial Products MasterCard Worldwide Sandy is vice president product management for MasterCard, where she has responsibilities for managing the U.S. Large Market corporate card business segment. She brings over 19 years of travel and technology industry experience to the organization. Prior to joining MasterCard, Sandy worked for Sabre, GetThere and Travelocity, focusing on B2B products and services through a variety of product management and operations roles. Sandy holds a BA, Political Science, from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and an MBA from the Cox School of Business, SMU. To learn more about how MasterCard products and servies can help your T&E program, contact your MasterCard account representative or go to mastercard.com/commercial. 2012 MasterCard. Proprietary and Confidential. All rights reserved. 8 ADVANCING INSIGHTS ADVANCING COMMERCE