Mitsis Hotels and Voxel Give Insight on B2B Digital Payment Solutions for Travel Industry

Greek Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Mitsis Hotels President Christina Mitsis and Mitsis Hotels Managing Director Stavros Mitsis. Photo source: Mitsis Hotels

Over 140 professionals from the travel, banking and digital sectors gained valuable insight and were informed on the future trends of B2B digital payments in hospitality during a conference held recently in Athens by Greek hospitality group Mitsis Hotels and software company Voxel.

Held at the Sofitel Athens Airport hotel, the event hosted speakers from top-notch companies in the travel and fintech industries.

Opening the event, Mitsis Hotels Managing Director Stavros Mitsis underlined the hospitality sector’s substantial contribution in the Greek economy, the Greek society and the prosperity of local communities.

During his speech, he highlighted that digital technology is now an integral part of the tourism industry and spoke of how Mitsis Hotels has embraced the digital revolution.

Mitsis Hotels Managing Director Stavros Mitsis. Photo source: Mitsis Hotels

“In recent years, we have increased business value through cutting-edge technological innovations, that are digitizing our guests’ entire customer journey and our internal business operations,” Mitsis said.

Greece’s largest privately-owned hotel chain, Mitsis Hotels has been a tourism pioneer for over 45 years now, making its own mark on Greece’s tourist industry, driven by a customer–centered philosophy and the promise of an unparalleled holiday experience.

Mitsis Hotels has invested in innovations such as its Megaportal, its Mobile App, the Mitsis Intranet and Brand Centre, the group’s Online Concierge and Open Text, its online Metasearch archive.

E-billing and payment solutions for travel industry

Voxel Chairman Xavi Ginesta. Photo source: Mitsis Hotels

On his part, Voxel Chairman Xavi Ginesta presented the company’s solutions in the area of electronic invoicing and B2B payments for the travel industry.

Ginesta presented Voxel’s Bavel solution, a platform leading the way in electronic billing and payment solutions for the industry and currently in use in over 100 countries.

According to Ginesta, more than 1,000 travel companies are using Bavel to automate their invoicing and payment procedures with a network of over 50,000 leading hotels and other travel service providers.

Source: Voxel

“Frictionless B2B payments are going to be the new normal in 10 years and the main players in the travel industry will be in this scenario,” Voxel’s chairman said, adding that many companies are partnering right now, and it will become a reality in a few years.

“Collaboration is the true vector and with this event, we demonstrated it, 20 years ago this event wouldn’t have been possible. It’s time for collaboration,” he said.

During the event, Ana Arjones, Director of Travel Enterprise Partnership at Mastercard, shared the financial trends the company envision’s for the travel industry.

Moreover, Eva Benesova, Back Office Operations Manager at MTS; Katrin Jakobus, Financial Controller Accounts Payable Destinations at TUI; and Sofoklis Limniotis, Head of Digital Payments at Hotelbeds shared with the audience their success stories in using Voxel technology to automate and digitalize their invoicing and B2B payments processes.

Minister: Greek economy to be fully digital by 2027

Greek Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis. Photo source: Mitsis Hotels

Greek Minister of State and Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis also addressed the conference and highlighted that the Greek government has made tremendous efforts in the recent 3,5 years to “aggressively” transform itself.

Greece’s central tenet of the digital transformation is gov.gr, the core portal of the Greek government

“We have actually digitized and simplified more than 1,500 services and in the next four years we will digitize 4,000 more,” the minister said.

According to Pierrakakis, by 2027, the Greek economy and the state will be fully digital, while the country’s telecommunications system both on mobile and on fiber are expected to have penetrated at levels higher than 95 percent.

Panel discussion on “Working together to accelerate the transition to a brighter future”. Photo source: Mitsis Hotels

The last session of the event featured a panel discussion under the title “Working together to accelerate the transition to a brighter future”, with the participation of Athanassios Daflos, Senior Manager, Head of Transaction Banking Solutions, Eurobank; Stefanos Spanakis, Senior Manager, Piraeus Bank; Simone Colombo, Senior Vice President, Planet; and George Moraitis, Head of Payments and Cash Management Solutions, Corporate Transaction Banking, National Bank of Greece.

The representatives of Greek banks and pioneer companies in the field of e-payments discussed the current and future trends of electronic payments in the hospitality sector, including integrated payment processes, automation solutions and the use of open APIs.

The “Future Trends of B2B Digital Payments in Hospitality” conference by Mitsis Hotels & Voxel was held under the auspices of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).