How Authentic Vacations saved $10k a month on FX

Authentic Vacations faced a challenge. Although the travel agency provides a smooth, seamless and premium customer experience - behind the scenes, the supplier payment processes were complex and eating into their profit margins.

The Challenge

With suppliers like hotels, car hire, tour and experience providers all based in Europe, they had to pay suppliers by card in currencies other than their home currency, which resulted in high cross border fees. To further add to the complexity, many suppliers require advance payment by card in Euros or GBP. 

Authentic Vacation’s payment processes were manual and fragmented. To prevent disruptions for their customers and suppliers, they needed a solution that cut cross-border payment costs, reduced FX fees and made the entire business transaction process seamless and as smooth as their front end customer experience.

Simon Russell

CEO, Authentic Vacations

“Never underestimate the complexity and cost of paying suppliers by card in currencies other than your home country’s currency. You need a solution like Airwallex; the product is fantastic, the commercials are compelling, and the team is a joy to work with.”

The Solution

And that’s when Authentic Vacations found Airwallex. Speaking with Authentic Vacations CEO Simon Russell, he said that the Airwallex solution has “significantly simplified the process of using our USD client receipts to pay our suppliers outside of the US at a much lower rate than our previous providers."

By using Airwallex’s local payment rails to replace their global bank, they were able to remove the staggering 2 - 5 day transfer time and now can send USD to NZD in just a few hours. 

The administrative headaches have gone and have been replaced with significant cost savings, more streamlined management of funds between different currencies and a direct link to Netsuite for accounting. 

The Authentic Vacations payment processes are now well-oiled and frictionless for everyone — customers, suppliers, and internal finance teams.

The Result

Authentic Vacations has saved $USD10k monthly on FX, saves 3% per card transaction, and bank transfers now only takes a few hours instead of 2-5 days with SWIFT.

The time and cost savings can now be redistributed elsewhere in the business, and they can enjoy a more streamlined management of funds between different currencies.

Simon Russell

CEO, Authentic Vacations

“Because of Airwallex, we’re enjoying significant cost savings and a more streamlined management of funds between different currencies, which is essential for our travel agency.”