S4BT has launched a mobile Wallet with Pliant, letting business travellers add authorised hotel virtual cards to their phones and pay by Tap-to-Pay.
The Wallet was developed by Trevium, the finance technology brand of S4BT – Solutions for Business Travel, in partnership with B2B payments platform Pliant. One day before check-in, travellers receive a message with a secure link that lets them add the virtual card linked to their booking to a compatible mobile wallet. Because access is browser-based, travellers do not need to download or activate a separate app, which makes the service simpler for corporate clients and travel management companies (TMCs) to introduce.
Bringing virtual cards to the traveller
In most corporate booking flows, a virtual card is generated in the background and sent directly to the hotel, so the traveller never holds it. When payment is split, with room and breakfast paid centrally and additional services paid at the hotel, travellers often use a personal card and submit an expense claim afterwards. This also creates extra work for travel and finance teams, particularly where booking, payment, and reconciliation run on separate systems.
Christopher Hecht, CEO of Trevium and Global Payment Solutions Officer at S4BT, stated that business travellers are used to paying with their smartphones every day, and that an authorised hotel payment should be just as simple. According to Hecht, the Wallet makes the authorised virtual card available on the traveller’s phone before arrival, while preserving the control, security, and support that companies rely on through S4BT’s existing processes.
Integration and payment models
Enabling the Wallet requires two changes: virtual card generation is routed through the Trevium Payment API, and booking data is sent to the Trevium Booking API. Pliant remains the card provider, so hotels receive booking and card details as before, and finance teams use the same statement files for reconciliation. In the direct model, one card is sent to the hotel, while in the split-payment model a second card for additional services is placed in the traveller’s mobile wallet.
The hotel and the traveller draw on the same authorised balance, so an amount charged through one channel is no longer available through the other, which helps prevent duplicate payments. The Wallet is the second product from the Trevium–Pliant partnership, following Guaranteed Transaction Enrichment in July 2026. Lukas Gottschick, Chief Commercial Officer at Pliant, stated that the Wallet extends that work to the point of stay, combining Pliant’s payment infrastructure with Trevium’s hotel payment expertise.
