Users exhausted with constant anxiety over traveling to specified destinations for making a payment can now certainly be exulted. Galileo GDS has recently launched mSmart, a service enabling users to make payments for flights, rail or travel packages simply by using their mobile phones. Galileo is believed to be the first GDS in India to implement such a mobile phone payment service.
Powered by PayMate, this mCommerce product is made available to nearly more than 5,000 travel agents and a further 11,000 travel outlets. Galileo’s mSmart service enables users to quickly pay through their devices with utmost comfort, speed and safety. It also allows users to make payments using their credit cards through their handsets. The service has eliminated the need to be physically present for swiping the credit card. On the other hand, travel agents are enabled to quickly collect payments.
Talking about the innovative payment method, JB Singh, President and CEO of Galileo in India expressed, “I’m very excited about this path-breaking solution and the way it will offer our Travel agency partners a convenient and a hassle-free channel to receive the payments. Not only this, it would also offer increased convenience to the travel agent’s customers i.e., travellers who can now use their mobile phones to pay for travel services anytime, anywhere. Mobile value-added services are gaining rapid growth globally and after evaluating the available options in India, Galileo has tied up with PayMate to power the first mCommerce product “mSmart” by a GDS player. PayMate, is an established partner of choice of all the leading banks and will connect the transaction directly with the respective bank to verify & confirm the payment status.”
The inventive payment method mSmart can work on simpler devices and function across all operators without requiring GPRS. Its IVR based transaction platform permits easier functionality where users merely need to enter their credit card details over the secure IVR call via their handset’s keypad in order to complete the transaction process.
Remarking on the convenience of the service, Ajay Adiseshann, Founder and Managing Director of PayMate stated, “The mSmart service directly addresses the pain points of cash and cheque collections, something small businesses could well do without. Electronic Payment collections are a boon to any business. They add much needed efficiencies and transparencies and lower operational costs in the near to long term which ultimately reflects in the bottom line, apart from the huge convenience factor and customer delight.”
Users residing in underdeveloped and remote areas facing inconvenience of making cash or cheque payments to their travel agents are expected to benefit the most from this service. Galileo has not made any information available on its pricing yet.