Solving Global Payments in Travel with Airwallex with Erich Ko, Senior GTM Partnerships Manager

Money movement is the hidden engine powering travel and too often the root cause of stalled bookings, compressed margins, and delayed supplier payouts. In this episode, we sit down with Erich Ko, Senior GTM Partnerships Manager at Airwallex, to break down the full financial journey from traveler checkout to final supplier settlement and outline practical ways travel brands can replace slow wire transfers, hidden FX costs, and manual reconciliation with a unified, programmable global platform.

We unpack the real challenges tour operators face when pricing trips months in advance while paying suppliers in appreciating currencies. Erich explains how local payment rails, multi currency wallets, and like for like settlement reduce spreads and eliminate unnecessary fees at every stage. We also explore transparent FX with real time fee visibility, automated rules that lock in conversions at target rates, and programmatic execution that removes human delay from critical transactions.

The conversation explores how virtual card issuing increases control and speed for supplier payments, why embedded payment acceptance boosts conversion through wallets like Apple Pay and Alipay, and how flexible options like deposits and BNPL better align with traveler cash flow in today’s higher rate environment.

Canada stands out as a proving ground for globally ambitious travel brands that have outgrown domestic first banking tools. With local licensing, on the ground teams, and purpose built products, Airwallex enables seamless movement of funds across US, Europe, and Asia corridors with same day reliability and end to end visibility.

Looking ahead, speed and reliability are no longer differentiators. They are expectations. The competitive advantage lies in programmability through APIs, wallets, and flexible payout infrastructure that can adapt to AI agents, emerging distribution channels, and increasingly dynamic travel products.

The practical playbook is clear. Map your entire funds flow. Quantify the true cost including headcount and delays. Consolidate onto a single multi currency platform. Design your payments stack to be AI ready from day one.

Learn more at airwallex.com.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

We're kind of just going down the line and testing everything in the travel space. And so you should see us coming out in the near future in quite a few different areas of travel. But this has been the main focus so far just to understand kind of the core of travel.

Spotlight On Airwallex

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Travel Trends and a special spotlight edition of Travel Trends. This is your host, Dan Christian. And today we have the opportunity to shine the light on a company that we've had a great partnership with over the last year at our events, a company called Air Wallace. It was a company that I knew little about before we started to collaborate together. And I've developed a great affection for their team and a really good understanding of their business, but there's still lots for me to learn. And so we wanted to bring the spotlight episode together. And today I'm joined by Eric Koe, who is the senior go-to-market partnerships manager at Airwallets, who's based here in Toronto with me. Eric, great to have you on Travel Trends. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. It's exciting. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm keen to make sure all of our listeners understand a

What Airwallex Does Globally

SPEAKER_01 1:06

little bit more about AirWalllocks. So why don't we start there and then we'll talk about your role? But give everyone an overview of Airwallets.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

So AirWalllocks is uh essentially a global finance platform, and we're really here to provide kind of an all-in-one end-to-end service that helps businesses as they're scaling globally. Um, I won't get into all the details yet, but it means uh a lot of different things for finance teams across the travel industry.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Well, this is where, you know, given your focus on payments and travel, so I'm I'm very keen to get into the travel specifically, the fact you're in uh Toronto and Canada's a big expansion market. But tell us a little bit about the background on Airwalls and before you guys kind of venture into the travel space, because you guys are a global business. Tell tell us a bit more about the scale of the business and the other industries you operate in.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

So the the really cool thing about Airwallics, I think, is that we get to help everybody in every industry. Uh, you know, there's obviously focuses on e-commerce, uh, SaaS and tech businesses, uh, manufacturing, let's say. Um, but but really it's any business that wants to expand globally, that wants to have cross-border operations, uh, but banking and and finance always seem to be a hurdle for them. So we're we're kind of here to help bridge that gap and help these businesses with a seamless expansion outside their countries.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Well, uh, people read today a lot about fintech companies and you know, this future of global banking.

Why Focus On Travel

SPEAKER_01 2:24

You know, we certainly live in a world now where uh digital currencies, even crypto, and how people actually manage payments and work with partners has become more complex and it's obviously particularly challenging within the travel industry. I still remember a time when I first joined the travel industry and everyone was using fax machines and people were still doing all they were doing wires, and like it's things have evolved considerably in the last 20 years. But uh tell everyone why AirWallox decided to focus on travel.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Well, first of all, say I still have my Rolodex as well, uh, with all the numbers in it. So I uh I I do remember fax machines and everything. Um you know, when as it pertains to to how Air Wallace works with travel partners, um I think we work really closely with travel businesses across North America, partnering with you know OTAs, tour operators, corporate travel programs, and platforms to modernize how money moves through their ecosystem. Um, for me in particular, my role as a partner manager day to day, I'm working with partners and our customer success teams to help travel businesses with anything from supplier payments to multi-currency accounts and spend management. Um, essentially, you know, the software infrastructure that sits behind every booking uh and processes uh itinerary coordination, let's say. Um a big focus for us right now in travel is connecting fragmented finite stacks. And this is really important to me and to Airwalllocks because we're replacing multiple banks, payment providers,

Scale, Markets, And Travel Segments

SPEAKER_02 3:50

and manual processes with a single global platform. Um, we also recently launched payments uh processing in Canada, and that allows businesses to collect online payments in multiple currencies uh and you know, local payment methods, really boosting their global acceptance rates.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, what I find it really interesting. I mean, the company is more than 10 years old now, and having started in Melbourne, Australia, where I lived for a number of years, and you see a company that scales, and now, as people heard in my introduction, the company is now worth over $8 billion. You're on a Series G race. You're you know, the you have such global scale, and it's like $235 billion have been processed by Airwalls, and you're in 70 countries. It's it's amazing to see uh you know an idea and how it scales from one country and and also multiple industries. Like you guys were uh very involved in in SaaS and software and e-commerce, um, and but the travel industry, whether you talk about you know tour operators, agencies, or hospitality, I know there's kind of those are big kind of the three of the big markets uh within travel. Tell us a little bit about what you guys offer in the travel space specifically. And I go what I'm what I'm keen to understand um is what's unique about Airwallics, because is it a problem that you guys are solving for travel that didn't really exist? Is it bringing a combination of things together that's unique in your offering? I know multi-currency is a big factor for you and managing at risk with foreign exchange. But yeah, tell us a little bit about you know why uh people in the travel industry are choosing airwallets.

Solving Cross‑Border And FX Friction

SPEAKER_02 5:22

You know, I I think we are solving kind of an age-old problem, and and uh travel seems to feel this problem quite a bit. Um first of all, I'll say I think the best companies are solving those kind of old problems that have always existed. But um it goes back to our our our own thesis, which is businesses need to be able to pay cross-borders, right? They need to be able to move money across borders into different countries, they need to be able to do it easily without incurring the Swift fees and having to do wires and wait, let's say, two to five or even ten business days for uh a payment to hit. Um, and so it's really about global accounts, cross-border payments, um, the ease of being able to transact in those currencies and not worry about the relationships that you have with your partners or with uh anyone in the travel industry because a payment's delayed.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Well, the one uh specific industry that I'm very familiar with is tour operators. And I think people have heard on the Travel Trends Podcast and when I've appeared on other podcasts, I've talked about my background having worked at a you know $2 billion 40 brand global uh privately owned travel company. One of the big focuses for us was interest in foreign exchange. It was actually what drove a significant amount of the profit line. And you know, obviously, interest is one key consideration because if you collect money early, um, there's an opportunity to make money on that until you actually then have to pay out on the suppliers. And you know, you don't get there until you have scale. A lot of small businesses are trying to wrap their head around how they uh might hedge currencies or be able to realize uh uh interest rate uh benefit, but the reality is they just don't have the scale. But once you get to a certain point of scale, those financial instruments become really interesting. And the foreign exchange is obviously another big consideration, especially a tour operator who is taking, say, US dollars for Americans that are traveling to Europe and now they're paying out in euros. And here we are having this conversation in

Tour Operators’ FX And Pricing Realities

SPEAKER_01 7:13

2026, and uh all of a sudden the euro is even more expensive than the American dollar. And that's all of a sudden a new challenge because you need to make sure that whatever you're getting people to pay in, that you and a lot of tour operators have to set their prices. They can't dynamically update their pricing day to day on like a spot rate for um a dynamic exchange rate because they have uh fixed costs that they know that they have to pay to operate these trips. So there's again, that's where there's so much complexity in tour operators. So let maybe let's focus on them for a minute because I'm keen to know what draws Tor operators to Airwallet.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Well, I think you you touched on it right there, right? The foreign exchange is one of the biggest things there. When they're converting at checkouts, uh, and again when paying suppliers, there's often, you know, it's at a 1 to 3% rate above the interbank rate. Uh plus there's the cross-border card fees, there's Swift fees. Um, there's a lot of this additional cost that goes on when you are dealing with these international payments as a tour operator. Um, you know, I think what we do is we help reduce those FX rates, we help reduce the double conversions, the force conversions, right? Um, which ultimately saves you quite a few base points. And you're right. Like as you're when you're small, it might not mean as much, but I think you have to start thinking about that early on so that when you do scale, you never run into these issues.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Well, that I mean, that's absolutely right. I guess one of the things that uh just to highlight, too, for all of our listeners that may find it interesting, just as we have this discussion here, Eric, about how the industry works, some of this is going to be very relevant to many of our listeners, some of it will be new information. But when you have to cover the cost of running a tour and then be able to collect enough money to make sure you can cover the cost, so that's a critical consideration is hedging currency to make sure that you protect yourself, uh, that in the eventuality that the cost substantially changes, that you're not exposed. But the other thing is reconciliation. And I know that's another so working with you know tour operators listening to this that are working with travel agencies, because I know you work with OTAs, online travel agencies.

Cutting Fees And Double Conversions

SPEAKER_01 9:18

And so if you're and clearly many of these companies work with you for payments, so which is the cleanest, simplest way to to partner with a company like Airwalls, is that you know you can offer various payment options with credit cards and and uh and also the fees, because that's what people fixate on, of course, and understandably so, because of sometimes the cost when those fees do add up. But the reconciliation one is really interesting for me because you know when you have to pay intermediaries like travel agencies, and you need to be able to take out a certain, you know, 60 you've collected the funds and 60 days before the departure, you know, you may pay the commission out. Sometimes you pay it after travel, sometimes you pay it uh right before they travel, knowing that you've taken 100% payment. Tell us a little bit about how reconciliation works in Airwalls' platform.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

This is where I think we really shine. Um because we are operational in over 120 countries, because we operate with over 60 different currencies and we've built out our licenses and and our banking infrastructure, we're able to have these businesses bank or with us on local rails, right? And and so this means same-day transactions or same-day um fees landing in your account. So the reconciliation uh like it, you know, it comes back around like it's easy to get paid, it's easy to make payments, but in terms of the actual reconciliation of it all, um, you know, we have a lot of infrastructure in place to kind of take all of that, all those complex deals and transactions from different teams from different countries, um, and and automate a lot of the organization of it, right? Because you're burning a lot

Reconciling Complex Flows At Scale

SPEAKER_02 10:54

of time on, let's say, operational overhead every single month, manually matching all the transfers and the systems and everything like that. And um, and and we just kind of help keep everything consolidated into one platform for you and and keep it global.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Well, and let's explore that a little bit further because I think this will be interesting to our listeners as well, knowing where Airwalllocks fits into the marketplace is that when a travel agency is entering a new market, and I'll give an exact example. Over the past year, I was helping a company out of Australia uh called Global Journeys set up an office in Toronto so they could service North America. So we had to lease an office, hire a team, but we also had to get bank accounts set up and make sure we could accept payments and had all the licensings and so all these things that add a quite a bit of complexity. And we had to choose a traditional bank to work with. And I know the team, I'm not going to reveal the bank or the payment solution, but I just wanted to highlight the challenges. So I'm not calling anybody out on this, but it's uh you know, it's a traditional bank. And I want you to ask, is that and they they even asked the Australians who were, is this really how bad the banking experience is in Canada when they had to like make payments on the platform? And I had and I think like this is like banking from 10 years ago. And I was like, Yeah, that's that's the platform, that's the that's what we work with. And um, and so and then when it came to the payments, even uh the processing fees, and so within a few months, they were looking for an alternative. It was like, this is not ideal for our global travel business, and we need better integration

Entering New Markets Without Legacy Pain

SPEAKER_01 12:22

with from an accounting point of view with our back office. Um, so tell all of our listeners, and I'm really keen to know this myself because it may be relevant to them and others, is why AirWallox is better suited for global travel businesses compared to traditional brand banks or legacy payment providers.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

I think there's there's a lot to unpack there, and I'll try to keep it within a few points. Um, you know, the first being something that I touched on is the speed of transfers, right? And the speed of transactions. Uh you're not sending wires anymore, you're not uh incurring the SLIF fees and everything on your cards. Um with us, it's it's on local Rails. It's it's usually same-day transactions. Um, so I think first of all, that speed and reliability in terms of fund transfers is there. Um, the second piece I'd say again is the operational overhead. A lot of these teams are not spending multiple days every single month now manually matching bank transfers and card statements. Um, you know, it's consolidated, it's a lot of it's automated through our different APIs and embedded finance solutions. Um, and and so we're really kind of baked into your system to help it move faster to automate and be a little bit more reliable. So we're helping the finance teams, the operations teams, um, you know, which ultimately leads to uh a better degree of control, I'd say, for the various teams in these

Speed, Local Rails, And Automation

SPEAKER_02 13:45

businesses. Um and that actually leads to better brand, it leads to more profitability, right? You're you're increasing your margins or not losing on your margins anymore. Uh and and so I'd say it kind of comes down to that, and it comes down to the speed, the reliability, the efficiency of what we do globally.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Well, um, now I appreciate that perspective. I guess one of the things I'm also keen to explore, because if we look at the different layers of this, we have in that scenario a company like Global Journeys operating now in Toronto, taking a payment from an American uh traveler with an American credit card. And so all of a sudden you have the point of sale, and this is a quite what big question about travel, like who's the merchant of record, and the company that now is taking the funds, they obviously then have to remit those funds to the travel supplier, um, less the commission to their owed typically is kind of the way that it often works, although not always. Um, I won't get into the complexity of that because sometimes um you send the customer direct and agents get their commission afterwards. Sometimes they collect the full amount and they remit that amount less the commission. But point being uh the way the money flows. So let's let's just go through that for a moment because I think this is really important for partnerships and also making sure that suppliers get paid. Because this, you know, in order for tour operators to keep up great relationships with local hotels, uh,

Merchant Of Record And Supplier Payouts

SPEAKER_01 15:05

there is an importance to make sure they get paid on time or they get paid in in advance in particular. And so take take us through how that works from Airwall. So if you have you have an OTA that takes payments, yes, so they collect the funds, but then if you have tour operators that are getting those funds like remitted to them to then cover the cost, then they put they're paying their suppliers to be able to execute against this trip. Um that includes the guides and so forth. So tell us a little bit about that trickle down effect and how maybe using a platform like Airwaleks would be advantageous for like the the entire vertical.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

I I think that comes down to uh you know a very limited ability uh or ability to control measured FX or any like fee leakage on the foreign exchange, right? Because if you're trickling down that many times, and arguably a lot of them are going to be in different countries, right? Um, you don't want to pay the conversion fees every single time you're paying out or remitting to somebody. Um, you know, money can get lost, money can be delayed in sending to somebody else across uh across another country. Uh and so for us it's very seamless because you'll have the wallets, right, in the different currencies in the different countries, and you'll be able to pay on the local rails as if you're a local yourself. Uh and so it's moving faster, and you have uh actually a high degree of visibility on where your money is at each stage. So between the different parties,

Multi‑Wallets And End‑To‑End Visibility

SPEAKER_02 16:30

there's no more ambiguity around, you know, where is my money? When is it coming in? What fees are are going to be added on that I don't know about right now when I have to transact or or when I have to exchange the currencies. Um and so we just add a really, really nice layer of clarity on how your money is being handled.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah, and I was keen to ask that because when I was looking at the different partners you work with, Navon is one of them. Navan's been on our podcast, they've since gone public, and you know, they're one of the biggest players in uh the corporate travel space. You work with companies like Qantas, you know, you've got airlines, you've got vacation packages, like authentic vacations, secret escapes, you work in hospitality with like Plum Guide, like this there's really interesting, and each of those companies have their own complexities because they operate in slightly different areas in travel, which is why I wanted to dive into that a little bit deeper. And I specifically know we have a ton of tour operators that listen to our podcast and are always looking for uh guidance and advice to become more efficient, more profitable, and also like just reduce friction. So, like for them, there is the benefit of if they can increase

Partners Across Corporate And Leisure

SPEAKER_01 17:34

bookings, um, but then if they can improve the efficiency of the supply chain management, because the one thing you guys offer as well that I thought was really interesting is programmatic foreign exchange. So it's take taking out the human equation. Explain to us about how that works.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

You know, it's we're designed API first, right, for high volume programmatic payments and virtual card issuing. So, really, what we're doing is helping travel companies automate supplier payouts at scale. Because again, like this process is manual, it's it's exhausting. Um, and so doing it from this perspective, kind of being tech first with it, I think has really allowed us to help save time, help save money, right? Help improve the efficiency. And what we're offering with that, uh, and you know, I think it's important to kind of bring it back to where it's going as well, is it it's offering like a unified infrastructure that's ready for AI because this is going to continue to evolve. The problems will evolve around this, the solutions need to evolve as well. And so while we're doing this, we're, you know, we're understanding how uh, you know, our accounts, payments, foreign exchange, and spend data live on one platform, how the programmatic payments and the virtual card issuing is actually helping to automate the supplier payouts at scale, um, and what we can do to be more proactive, what we can do to action some of

Programmatic FX And Virtual Cards

SPEAKER_02 18:55

these things to improve the efficiency on on how we're we're automating these processes.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Now, one of the things when you're automating processes and is trying to make sure there's transparency. And this is one of the things that I think a lot of people are frustrated about um when dealing with other banks and you know what how much um disclosure there is with the different fees and the different rates, because it's very easy for uh banks to be able to control uh the uh exchange rates and the different experiences that a cut and a customer, uh, whether they're a business or even a consumer, are going to be unaware. And I'm gonna highlight for our listeners two, I'm gonna give you two travel hacks right now that I've learned over time. And one of them, and this is this highlights the example, and I've got a question here for you, Eric, on how Airwall's approaches this with like how much transparency you give to finance teams, they don't get with traditional providers. Because one of the things that if you're a consumer and you're checking out of that hotel, I'll use the example. I'm Canadian traveling to the US quite frequently, or I'm in the UK and I'm paying in pounds, and they the platform gives you the option to pay in your currency or to pay in their local currency. Well, I can tell you this they're already putting in their currency exchange rate into that local currency. And so, as I've been reminded, always check, always pick your home currency because then it's up to your credit card to be able to then decide. And usually you're going to get a more advantageous rate from your own credit card than what that payment provider is

Transparent Pricing And Treasury Controls

SPEAKER_01 20:28

doing. So there's they're they're rounding up intentionally. So there's one, there's one tip. And the other one that I learned, Eric, and I found this fascinating with our bank, and this is a traditional bank, a traditional Canadian, large, one of the big five, uh, they had highlighted to me is that when I'm traveling and taking money out because I'm a premium client, I then get premium exchange rates, which does not get activated on the machine. So if I go to a bank machine and withdraw euros, pounds, or US dollars, I get a worse exchange rate than if I actually go into a bank or deal with someone who will then recognize my status. So it doesn't even carry over in the technology. And I'm amazed at the difference. Like if it's a significant amount of money, that foreign exchange adds up. So you realize the profitability on the end. And this is where uh so I wanted to highlight those two. So hopefully that's beneficial to many of our listeners. Um, but this is a pain point for the industry. So as people wake up to this, they're then looking at new partners to say, well, how are you going to make this more transparent for me? So I truly understand what a good exchange rate is. So yeah, how does Airwallet's approach that?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I mean, I mean, first of all, I'll I'll tell you like if you haven't been in our web app yet, uh when you're doing an exchange or a conversion, there's a little drop-down and it shows you the exact fees that are being charged to you. Uh so transparency starts like right from there. Um, and and I found that really cool when I joined the company as well, because I was in the you know, not not in the travel industry, but I was in different industries in tech and startups, and this was a huge pain point for me as well. So I think it lives across different industries, this problem.

Demos, Embedded Finance, And Cards

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Um, you know, getting into it a bit more, we offer kind of for finance teams real-time visibility of balances, conversions, and foreign exchange costs by currency, corridor, and business unit. So we give them the ability to also lock or schedule the conversions and set rules to convert when rates hit certain thresholds, right? So you actually get to have a level of control over that so you can actively manage your foreign exchange exposure rather than just react to it later on and and you know either get yelled at by the boss or or um you know be shaking your head because you've lost all that money on the exchange. Um and then we look at things like like for like settlement, right? We we do that to avoid unnecessary conversions when collecting and settling in the same currencies. And over time, this data becomes the foundation. Uh again, I'll I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, but for AI-driven treasury decisions. It all comes back to how we're building our AI systems, right? Uh I'll give an example really quickly. I mean, the the data that we're collecting and building uh it can recommend when to move or hold certain currencies

Canada Go‑To‑Market And Local Nuance

SPEAKER_02 23:06

based on your patterns, right? So it's not just about the industry trends anymore, it's not just about being reactive to what's happened in the past for all of travel, but it's uh, you know, it's looking at your patterns and and giving you suggestions that will help your business.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Really interesting. So there is then, because I have not experienced the app itself, and I'm I'm curious about this because I do a lot of international exchange with uh the businesses that I'm involved in. And uh I there's a number of challenges I still coming up against. So uh tell everyone, I guess, a little bit how they could get exposure to that. Obviously, you have to become an Airwall's client, I'm assuming, to see the app, or is there certain things you can see before you become a customer?

SPEAKER_02 23:44

I would say I mean it's pretty easy to get access and to see. Uh you can book a call with the sales team and they can actually run everybody through a demo. I, you know, I might be putting my foot in my mouth here and booking them into too much, but um, they kind of walk everybody through. And that's one of the really cool features that I think they all love to show is how transparent the pricing is. Um you know, for some partners, some companies, you might even get a demo account set up, right? When you're when you're looking at the embedded finance solutions with us to see how the flow is going to work. And then you get access to see how cool every aspect of this platform is from the conversion rates right down to let's say something like card creation, right? For sure.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

And let's actually give everyone some context to your role in particular. Because I in a moment I want to talk about the Canadian market, and you obviously are based here in Toronto as well. Um, but given your title being focused on uh go to market, tell everyone a bit about your role and what you do at Airwalls.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

So I am the uh senior go to market

Why Canada Punches Above Its Weight

SPEAKER_02 24:38

partnerships manager for for Canada. And for for me, that means touching every piece of business development and the commercial activity. Um, so we're looking at, you know, how do we market ourselves? How do we align with industries like travel to speak their language, to understand what the actual needs are and what the evolving needs are? Um, I work with the sales teams to kind of translate all that as well and understand as we're getting into these calls, as we're working with different OTAs or DMCs or whatever it might be, um, you know, what is top of mind for them today, right? What are we solving for them today? And then how do we continue to foster those individual relationships? Uh and so I think I sit at a little bit of like an infrastructure point of point of inflection, we'll say, for the commercial teams to help them not just activate customers, not just build Airwallocks' brand, but have a legitimate, meaningful, and lasting impact with our customers and our clients.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Yeah, I just thought it'd be helpful for our listeners to understand with the expertise that you have on Airwalloc, the platform, like what you're working with customers on, but then also the market that you are prioritizing now, which is Canada. And I I I want to explore that a little bit and then we'll go back to more of a global view. But given that you know, we've got a chance to meet, uh, you were at our events at our after our AI summit. Uh, it was obviously great to meet you in person, great to meet the rest of the Air Wallace team, and and uh, and you obviously got to meet the rest of the travel trends team. It's one of the reasons I was so keen to have this conversation with you because you know, even for myself, I've only come to understand it as much as I've read and

Adapting To Local Needs And Partnerships

SPEAKER_01 26:09

what I've seen and what I've heard from other people in the industry. And so tell us a little bit more about the Canadian market, because you I know you have a background in in fintech, so like this is, you know, uh, but tell us a little bit about why the Canadian market is so important for airwallics right now.

SPEAKER_02 26:24

I you know what I think Canadian businesses, including travel and largely travel, are global by default, right? Like we we do expand globally pretty early on, and then every time I've run a business in many different industries, I've had globalization on my mind since day one. But the problem is that many of the businesses here still rely on domestic first banking tools that struggle with the multi-currency and cross-border scale, right? And I think we've all experienced that to varying degrees. So we've seen really strong revenue growth and adoption in Canada, especially among export-oriented and travel companies that are looking for better foreign exchange uh and better payout infrastructure in general, right? So uh, you know, part of my mandate and why we're here and investing so much into Canada is really because Air Wallace is investing heavily into local licensing products and go to market, including uh MSB registration, local cards, and actually growing the Toronto team. I think I was employee number eight in the can Canadian team. Uh and we've more than doubled that now, and I think we're probably doubling again this year here. So there's there's it's not just commercial team either, right? There's a lot of support and operational team um that are joining us, and I think it shows like a very strong commitment to actually

Macros: Geopolitics, FX Volatility, Margins

SPEAKER_02 27:44

building a proper infrastructure here. Um and the last point I want to make is that we sit in a really unique position in Canada, right? We you know, we sit on a critical corridor that that leads us into the US, Europe, and Asia, which maps perfectly to where our travel and platform customers are expanding. So from every single aspect, I think Canada is the right move for airwalls, especially when it comes to to travel businesses.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Yeah, the other thing that's interesting too is that most of the savvy travel companies, when they're expanding to North America, and I'll use an example like Exotica, you know, based in Spain, you know, their largest business is North America, 70% of their business. And even speaking to Perry, the CEO, he highlighted just how important Canada is in that. And this is what was a realization for them. But for most operators, like, you know, whether you look at a G Adventures that's based in Toronto, you look at the city of Toronto in particular, Montreal as well, um, given the Airlines, Transat, Air Canada, but also uh in Ontario and Quebec, you have a high degree of travel businesses based here, Toronto, especially for North America. And one other thing that's to share with our listeners you might find interesting, especially for those of you who are looking to tap into the North America market, is that although Canada is one-tenth the population of the US, it actually represents it's the it's about 40% of the total business for travel in North America. So um, so that's a fast when you look at companies operating in North America, they'll get you know 30 to 40 percent of their business from Canada and the rest from the US. Like Canada dramatically punches above their weight, like four times as likely to travel internationally for a whole

Core Travel Tools In Use Today

SPEAKER_01 29:18

variety of reasons. Um, so that's also interesting, I guess. So when you opened up the Toronto office, I know you say you're employee number eight, so clearly um, and you've doubled that. But when Airwall came into Canada, was there a focus specifically on travel? And also the one thing I'm also keen to know, too, Eric, is that you know I always find this fascinating, having worked in global travel businesses, is the nuances of a particular market. Because if you come into any market, and I've always told this with Australia, every time we're entering Australia, the Australians always say to me, and I kid them because I've got so many wonderful friends there, but they're always saying it won't work in Australia. It doesn't work, it may work elsewhere, but it'll never work in Australia. And that's always my opening line when I'm just like, it'll never work in Australia because it's different in Australia. They'll say we're behind in technology, and I'm pulling people, we're ahead in these areas, but it's like you always get regional pushback and then you kind of learn your way. So you're some things will work and some things won't. What have you seen so far with Airwalls' experience in Canada?

SPEAKER_02 30:12

So I think the first thing is that that Airwallox

Deposits, BNPL, And Cash Flow

SPEAKER_02 30:16

hired like a completely local team, right? They're not inserting people from all over the other countries to come in and try to replicate exactly what's been done in other regions. I think that's that is a specialty of ours. Because we're a global company, you almost have to inherently know how to grow in different regions and how to pick up on the nuances quickly. Um, and so I appreciate the fact that they hired a local team and they have a high degree of trust in what we know as local Canadians here, right? Um you know, I'll say travel, I think travel definitely has been top of mind for a while. We've had a lot of success in other regions with travel as well. Um, but we never really take a head first approach into any market or any industry, right? Like we spent a lot of time learning about the industry, learning about the different groups and the different businesses that operate within the infrastructure, how specifically Canada operates versus you know, even the US. We're neighbors, we're similar in a lot of ways, but um, you know, we have our nuances, like you said. So it's really about kind of putting the time in, meeting the right people, meeting the right partners. You know, we we've been fortunate enough to work with groups like yours. Um, ATA travel, if you know them, is another one that we work with pretty closely. Um, we've learned a lot, and

Alternative Payments And Trust

SPEAKER_02 31:28

I think this is why we're here in 2026 diving into travel full force, because we're ready to do that and we're ready to solve the real problems that Canadian travel businesses are facing.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, it's really interesting to know that. I didn't realize that, but it's uh important to highlight because most of the successful US companies that have expanded into Canada have taken a similar approach, and then most of the ones that have struggled or failed have not. And you know, we all know the expansion of Target into Canada and some of the other industries that seem to work so well south of the border, but just do not uh translate to the Canadian market, even Krispy Kreme when they first launched. Like there's certain things that just and but then there's other great examples, especially in travel, like Expedia. Expedia.com and Xpedia.ca have totally different marketing teams because guess what? Canadians have different seasonality to their travel schedule. There's a different Thanksgiving here than there is in the US, for example. And like that, and given the sun holidays, the winter snowbird effect, you know, and even promoting Vegas, like they have like three campaigns a year. So to your point about having a local team that knows the Canadian market, uh, but that therefore I have to ask obviously one of the the bigger, tougher questions of our time, which is you know, there's a lot of geopolitical uncertainty right now, and you know, tariffs are uh always uh coming up in conversation. And in many people in the travel industry, this is my view, and I know it is for many of my colleagues as well, is kind of arms up to uh elbows up to tariffs, but arms open to travelers.

Growth Areas And Customer Sizes

SPEAKER_01 32:52

I am you know very focused on the global travel community and supporting the global travel community, um, politics aside, and some of those challenges that we're you know certainly all aware of. But when there is that geopolitical uncertainty and there's also concerns about rising costs, there becomes more of a focus on global not on payments, because all of a sudden there is more of a fixation on currencies and exchange rates. So I'm just genuinely curious what you're seeing uh from your perspective about what the some of those factors are that you're hearing that people are paying attention to and what they should do about it or what Air Wallace can help them do about it.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Yeah, and I think you you made a lot of good points in that. And I think you know, every team uh in a travel company, the end customers, everybody is kind of feeling it, right? Um the the geopolitical uncertainty in the tariffs definitely increased cost pressure on already thin margins in the travel space. Um, you know, from higher input costs to more volatile foreign exchange, which flows straight into ticket and package pricing at the end of the day. Finance teams face more complex regulatory requirements by corridor, uh, especially when sanctions, local rules, or new taxes apply, which I think we, you know, we're seeing a lot of these different changes happen. It seems like every other week at this point.

Exploring New Travel Verticals

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Um and so the volatility makes it harder to forecast cash flows and match inflows from travelers with outflows to suppliers in the right currency and timing. So a lot of this predictability and a lot of the functionality uh becomes difficult and almost goes out the door. And so companies without flexible infrastructure end up over-relying on manual workarounds and buffer pricing, which ultimately hurts competitiveness in the industry.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Well, and this is where in the travel industry, you know, we kind of go from crisis to crisis. It's been the reality for anyone that's worked in this industry for many years. It's not new that we ended. One of the things that's so important is that ties to the travel trends podcast and the reason we created this in the first place post-pandemic to understand how traveler behavior was changing post-pandemic, what was the same, what was different. And there wasn't a lot of reports uh and data to be able to point to, but we were trying to get signals, and a lot of it was people sharing information in real time and in these discussions that could be valuable for other people in their careers or with their companies. And I want to, I want to make sure we do cover that too in our conversation, Eric, because I know you guys are continuing to evolve your platform. You have new product capabilities that you're planning to roll out in 2026. Give us a little bit of an idea in the travel space right now. What are the primary tools

2026 Outlook: Programmable Payments And AI

SPEAKER_01 35:28

that people are leveraging within Air Wallace? Um, I know we've talked about a few, but I would appreciate if you give us a bit more um uh context to how Air Wallax is currently really used in travel and then where you go from here, because this whole end-to-end uh uh payment process, like and trying to just kind of have do everything in one place. I'm sure there's parts of your platform that you're still, you know, whether it's working with startups or enterprise players, like you know, that are looking for new features and functionality. But give us kind of a lay of the land as where Airwalllocks is today in the travel industry, and let's talk about some of your plans that are coming up in 2026.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

I think we've always kind of been end-to-end, uh, and now we're just kind of filling in a lot of the space in between that. Um in the travel industry specifically, we we touched on reconciliation, right, and in the global accounts. That's one of the most important pieces for travel right now because that's the age-old problem that I think we need to help solve. And it's it's a problem that's evolving as we are, you know, modernizing and digitizing a lot of these functions and platforms. Um, so the ability to move money efficiently, quickly, and reliably uh across borders and different currencies is definitely one of the biggest uh uh factors for us in travel. Um, you know, card issuing is another one that I want to touch on because we have truly multi-currency cards, right? Borderless multi-currency cards. You're not paying those um foreign transaction fees, you're not getting held up and having your cards frozen because you're in a different country spending in this currency or that currency. Um,

How To Upgrade Payment Infrastructure

SPEAKER_02 37:00

you know, and then we bring it back to payment acceptance and the embedded solutions, right? You're able to embed it into your platform, you're able to turn a cost center into a revenue generating engine now.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Got it. One thing I want to ask you on the topic of where the industry is today in 2026 and where it's headed, from a consumer point of view, with payments, there has been less people that are willing to pay the 100% up front. It was something like pre-pandemic, many people were willing to spend 100% of the trip up front. Many people are trying to hold on to their money as long as possible because of interest rates and also the people realizing the value of money. So that it that's a big change that's happened like um before the pandemic and after the pandemic. So it's more difficult now for companies, they they're focused more on just getting a deposit and getting an initial deposit and then charging them later for the full amount. And then there's also been this big trend as you know, in the fintech space with partial payments, you know, that all of a sudden you can distribute payments over time. Um, so I wanted to ask you about that and even the payment options that people are choosing, because this was another big topic for us, just try and make sure that you know, whether it's Apple Pay or if it is like any alternative currency that people are, you know, credit cards that you wouldn't otherwise take. And like so trying to give people every option. And then also sometimes giving them you can put it on three different uh speaking to Americans. This has been a really interesting learning for me, Eric.

Where To Learn More And Connect

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Um, and uh I've seen this uh even more recently with Global Journeys and their contact center, and the team has commented to me is like the Canadians will put it on one credit card, Americans will put it on three. And uh, you know, the can you put in you know a thousand on this and five thousand on that? And it's just the you know, they've so the complexity there. So, first question is the um people paying up front. Like, what are you what are you seeing in terms of um payment in that regard? And then also as it relates to the uh uh partial payments and whether or not people are doing the the afterpay type model where they're you know they're paying in installments.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

I think we've seen, well, first of all, let me say my wife still makes me pay everything up front. We booked two trips this year, and I, you know, my credit card's hurting. My one credit card is hurting, not three. Um I think we've seen the rise of that BNPL or buy now, pay later model, right? Um, after pay, who I think is also Australian. Um, yeah, Afterpay, a lot of the other companies that are doing the buy now, pay later. It's a growing industry. And and as I mentioned, like it's almost a necessity now, right? It's not something that's cool and it differentiates you. People want that

Closing And Listener Resources

SPEAKER_02 39:30

option, they need that option. I I think the majority of the people in my circle are are doing that, right? They are paying a deposit or they're waiting to pay as much of the trip as as possible later on. Um, and and it's exactly kind of what you touched on, right? Interest rates are are kind of unstable right now. Um, the economy is kind of unstable right now, I think. And so people are very sensitive to cash flow, right? Personal cash flow. Uh, and and so having these options, I think, is allowing the industry to not only adapt to the changes in consumer behavior, but it's allowing us to kind of get ahead of it and make it more comfortable for people today today to continue to travel, to continue to have these experiences. Because ultimately it's kind of what it's about, right? You don't get into travel for any other reason, reason than helping people get to their dream destination and have a really, really cool experience somewhere. Um, and so from a financial perspective, it we have to find ways to help them do that uh uh you know during tumultuous times and tumultuous economies.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

And are you seeing any significant uptake in alternate payments, you know, beyond the traditional Visa, MasterCard, American Express? You know, there's always been like you know, diners. I'm still amazed that I'm gonna hear people using another diner's car, but like, and there are um a whole a whole variety. I mean, Alley Pay and like is tell us I'm just generally keen to know from your perspective, are some of those kind of niche players becoming more significant, especially Apple, and not necessarily for travel, but clearly more and more people are using Apple Pay for a lot of their purchases. Um, yeah, what what what are you seeing? What's changing there for how people are paying? And I guess the reason I'm asking is how is important, how important is it for travel companies today to have those alternative forms of payment?

SPEAKER_02 41:20

I think it's just as important uh again as like something like a buy now pay later, right? It's even pre-pandemic, local payment methods, um, Ali Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, everything, they were already on the rise, right? In my first fintech company, we were striking deals with a lot of those uh those different payment providers because you know, more and more of the let's call them younger generations prefer to pay that way, right? Uh and so with that, you're able to cast a wider net, you're able to reach different demographics. Um, and I'm noticing that a lot of people trust these methods of payment a lot more than the legacy methods or the conventional methods, right? Or the mainstream um payment processing uh methodologies. Like I pay for Paramount Plus on Google Pay, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah. Yeah, I think I have two Paramount Plus accounts. I keep creating them, like do a new trial, and then next thing I know, I'm getting three or four different charges. I'm like, oh yeah, I need to cancel that one. But the other thing I wanted to ask you too, given the growth of this market in 2026, you know, you guys are in in the travel space anyway, with tour operators, DMCs, destination management companies, uh, travel agencies that we've talked about, corporate travel as well, like with Devon and others, travel marketplaces is another area that you specialize in. Where are you seeing the growth? And also, if you wouldn't mind sharing with us, the small, medium, and large enterprise. Like, you know, do you work with a lot of startups? Is a lot of the business enterprise? Clearly, you do all of them, but yeah, I'm genuinely keen to know where you're seeing the growth.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

You know, we're we're having a lot of different discussions around you know who controls which part of the flow of funds, right? And so that's kind of led us towards um a lot of the OTAs, a lot of the the like bookings companies who are kind of at the point of inflection for you know where the money hits and where it moves out, right? Where it goes in and comes out. Um I think we still have to be aware of how or where it goes and how it moves, right? Going to different DMCs, like you said, or or other groups that are in other countries. But we're really trying to understand the the perspective of the booking agents right now, I think, um, for at least from an SME perspective. Um, so a lot of those like you know, Voyage Classy and some of those companies like that, um, that are buying the packages or offering them and selling them off. Um, you know, I think we want to understand how the money is moving in and out of those organizations and then how it affects the broader network. We do have um a play on uh on the you know a lot of different sized companies. So you mentioned SMB, that's my team. Actually, I work on the SMB team all the way through mid-market and enterprise as well. So working with uh Nivon, working with Qantas. Um, we go anywhere, you know, as we're scaling up the size of the company, I think you see uh different types of groups that they that are that we're working with, um a lot of different airlines and a lot of different um platforms that are kind of multifaceted in what they do for the travel industry. Uh and that speaks a lot to the embedded finance solution that we have, because without that, you're not scaling with a company, right? They need that at the enterprise level to be able to have an efficient checkout process or an efficient flow of funds.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Is there any category in travel that you're not currently in that you guys are exploring, or is that maybe too uh too close to the corporate strategy? But yeah, knowing that those are kind of four focus areas, yeah, like cruise lines, for example, is there other areas that you're starting to consider exploring?

SPEAKER_02 44:55

You know, I think we're open to everything. Um I I I haven't heard no on anything in particular yet. Uh, and so we're kind of just going down the line and testing everything in the travel space. And so you should see us coming out in the near future in you know, quite a few different areas of travel, but this has been the main focus so far for 2025, at least, just to understand kind of the core of travel, especially from an SB perspective for me.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

Yeah, well, I think there's so much potential for airwalls to expand in travel still. I think that's something that stands out to me. I mean, hospitality, we've um, you know, that's that's also a focus area, but that's a huge industry unto itself. I mean, airlines, hospitality, car rentals, and then you've got cruises and tour operators, and it's like you've got day tour, like it's just and all the different types of travel agencies that exist today. So it's it's uh an ex it's an exciting time to be in travel. Obviously, I'm thrilled that you guys are active in this space. I love that you guys are in Toronto as well. And obviously, I know we're gonna do some more events together this year. But as far as where the payments industry is headed, tell us about what you see in 2026 and kind of going into next year. What do you think is gonna matter most? Like is it is it the speed? I obviously that's something I keep hearing from travel companies, like the speed of execution. It's uh a lot of the spotlight episodes when I'm speaking to you know, scaling the startups or scale-ups, companies like Fora or Traveler. Traveler had highlighted to me that speed was so important for them and execution, um, flexibility, automation. Where do you think Airwall's really shines? And where do you think this air, this industry is going in 2026?

SPEAKER_02 46:33

I think speed and reliability will always remain table stakes, right? And I don't think anybody was wrong when they said that. But uh I really think the differentiator will be how programmable your payments are. We talked about programmatic payments, um, and I think that's really important for AI agents, new channels, and and dynamic product models in particular. Like we have to understand how programmable these payments are and how scalable that system is. Um, and and so we turn to things like embedded finance. We look at wallets, cards, and flexible payouts built into the travel experience. Um, you know, things like this will unlock new revenue streams and better supplier and traveler loyalty, right? Ultimately having a better, smoother finance experience or money movement experience is going to help you at every stage of your business. Um, I'll say that the other thing that I want to look at for 2026, or Air Wallace is looking at, is automation and AI. And I know I, Dan, I'm sorry. I know I keep coming back to this. Um, we're really keen on automation and AI right now. I think it will quietly run more of the back office in 2026 from fraud and disputes to treasury, AP, and expense management. Um ultimately, you know, what we're doing is freeing teams to focus on partnerships and product, which are, you know, let's say the revenue generator activities, right? And then underpinning all of that is the can the connected infrastructure. Companies on unified global platforms will move much faster than those that are trying to bolt AI onto a fragmented system, right? Um, having it all consolidated is kind of key to round this all out.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

Yeah. Well, I couldn't agree more on AI because obviously it's a major topic for us on the podcast. We had our AI event. And I think this is where a lot of companies, there's there's downward pressure on companies to figure out their AI strategy from their investors, their board. Um, and so there's the downward pressure on companies to showcase how they're leveraging AI, especially if they're looking to go public. And then there also is the expectation of consumers about what tools you're now making available, but ensuring that there's human checks in place to make sure that the AY doesn't go haywire and do something that it shouldn't. Um, and so that for sure is gonna be an important topic. And I look forward to continuing the conversations with you there. And I obviously I I um I'm bullish on the sector and this category for um for a lot of the similar reasons. But I guess um when given you have a developed a great expertise in this, and people have obviously heard that over the uh conversation, if someone is looking to upgrade their payment infrastructure this year, so speaking to the global travel community in this regard, because you know we do have listeners in like 125 countries, the majority of our listeners are in the US, so to all my friends in the US or in the UK or Australia, if uh mainly English language markets, although I do um people we've thought about translating the show into other languages, and even my friends in those countries are like, no, no, it helps us learn English. Like we actually like listening to your show in English. So I'm like, okay, that's that's easier for me then. But I have I've um uh because I'm trying to work on my Spanish, and eventually I will do a show in Spanish. It's coming, uh, Rodrigo. I'll get there, I promise. But I um what I was gonna say, uh, I'd love for you to share with all of our listeners a piece of advice from your experience for any of them that are looking to upgrade their payments, whether it's obviously considering Airwalls as the next solution, but even if they're just looking at their existing setup, what are some of the things that you see, especially with clients that are coming to you? But what would be your advice to them about upgrading their payments infrastructure in 2026?

SPEAKER_02 50:07

Well, first of all, I'll I'll practice my Spanish, I'll come back and we can do a broken Spanish podcast episode. Um Spanglish. There you go. Spanglish. You know, I I think what it comes down to, or what I could break it down to if I had to do one suggestion, is don't just negotiate the next FX rate. Like step back and map your entire funds flow from customer checkout to final supplier payout. Quantify the total cost of like this fragmentation, right? The fees, the foreign exchange, the headcount, uh, you know, delays and lost bookings, the strain on your supplier relationships. Like quantify that. And then choose partners who can give you one connected multi-currency platform, ideally one that's you know already designed for AI-driven automation, um, just so you can future proof, not just point-in-time integrations, right? So, really like take a step back, quantify the broader issues that you're having, and and then see how you can not just solve your problems today, but but future-proof.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

That's great. I appreciate those insights. And obviously, we'll get to see each other in the near future as well, being in the city, because we're running a few travel industry events in Toronto, one during Toronto Tech Week that all of our listeners uh should definitely put on their calendars at the end of May. And uh, we have our AI summit again in October. And I know the Airwalax team is gonna be there for our gala event, and we've got a few other things in store over the course of the year. So definitely check out our events page and see where we're gonna be in airwalls as well. But I want to make sure everyone listening to this, Eric, knows where to follow up with you. I mentioned airwalllox.com at the beginning in my introduction so that people could follow along for our discussion. So obviously they have that in hand, but what would be some other ways for them to connect with you and the team to learn more about Airwalls and potentially partner with you?

SPEAKER_02 51:59

Yeah, airwalls.com will give you a great overview of our travel solutions, case studies, like how we support OTAs, tour operators, corporate travel, marketplaces, everything. Um, I would encourage people to actually download our state of payments in the travel industry report that we did with Skift. Um, that allows them to see how global peers are modernizing their payment and financial operations. Um, but really like just reach out directly to uh to our travel team via the site. Uh, I think we're we're more than happy to map your current flow and identify some quick wins that we could get with you.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

That's great. I'm sure many people will. And I look forward to keeping in touch and certainly seeing you in the near future. But Eric, it's been a real pleasure to have you on Travel Trends and to do the spotlight episode together. Thanks to you and the team, and certainly wish you every success in 2026. And I look forward to seeing you again soon.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

Definitely. Thanks for having me, Dan.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

And I just wanted to finish by saying thanks again to all of our listeners for joining us on this spotlight episode of Travel Trends, as we spoke to Eric Coe from Air Wallace. I hope you enjoyed today's discussion. If you like the spotlight episodes, you can find more on our website, travel trendspodcast.com slash spotlights, as well as any of the streaming platforms, Apple Spotify. We do post everything on YouTube as well, and clips and highlights on our social channels Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube at Travel Trends Podcast. Thanks again for being here. Until next episode, safe travels.