How Authentic Vacations saved $10k a month on FX
Discover how Authentic Vacations simplified and streamlined their funds management across multiple currencies, and made significant cost savings along the way!
$10k
Saved on FX fees monthly
Saved 3%
Per card transaction
1-2 hours
To make a USD to NZD bank transfer vs 2 - 5 days via SWIFT
Authentic Vacations is a consumer facing customised travel provider that puts together vacations to the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, for US based customers. Founded 22 years ago as an Ireland specialist, the company has grown steadily and now serves a range of destinations that are operated by its’ parent company Tour Partner Group, a leading Northern European Destination Management Company (DMC) based in London, Dublin and Copenhagen.
Industry
Travel
Company size
10 - 50 employees
Location
Global
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.”
See how our customers are finding Airwallex
"Airwallex have been a fantastic partner for Olsam Group as we grow our eCommerce brands to new channels and new markets. Their easy to use interface and integrations have been a joy for our finance team to use as we scale."
Sam Horbye
Co-Founder, Olsam
"For ME + EM, expanding into international markets such as the US has been our focus - and with Airwallex, we were able to use their local USD Global Account to collect from our Paypal US account, thereby allowing us to save 3% on each transaction. The process of working with Airwallex has been seamless - our suppliers get paid quickly, we have a dedicated Relationship Manager who has been really patient, helpful and quick to respond. I am keen to use their cards to pay for our ad spend in the near future to save further on our USD invoices."
Meera
Finance Manager, ME + EM
"We've had such a fantastic experience switching to Airwallex. Previously we were using a traditional bank to make all of our international transactions and they'd constantly lock us out of the account everytime we made a transfer, resulting in hours and hours of lost time on hold. Airwallex is secure, makes it super quick and simple to make and receive international payments."
Rupert
Managing Director, Perspective Pictures
“We used to pay Stripe between $5,000 and $10,000 a month in conversion fees because most of our customers pay in dollars. Now we funnel that money into our Airwallex US dollar account, we don’t have to pay commission. We’ve saved more than $100,000 so far this year”
Thomas Adams
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"We love Airwallex! It has considerably eased our invoicing and payments to contractors around the world. Sending and receiving money is much faster and cheaper than before."
Edle Tenden
Co-Founder, Mobile Transaction
“We are so glad that we have found Airwallex! There are no hidden charges, they are quick to respond to any queries and we had the smoothest transaction with amazing support from the team continually.”
Andreia Beja
Supply Chain Executive, Miss Patisserie
"Our water solutions company, Dropterra (go.dropterra.com) has partnered with Airwallex since inception and it has been the best banking and payment partner a company can think of. International transactions are easy, secure, and fast, the technology is incredible and their client service fantastic! We look forward to growing and deepening our relationship with Airwallex!"
Francois Schramek
Co-Founder, Dropterra
