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The Runa Insider is a monthly webinar series where we share updates and demo new products & features to ensure you make the most of Runa.
Our September 2023 webinar covered Runa's tools to help your business expand globally. Watch the show for:
- Overview of the Runa Network (01:25)
- A list of currencies and countries Runa supports (01:54)
- Value of the Runa Payout Link for end users (02:24)
- Runa FX (03:35)
- Special guest Peter Friend covers global travel insights and the value the Global Hotel Card and Global Experiences card brings to end users (05:55)
Related Links
► Read the full transcript of this webinar below.
► Runa Network Changelog: Stay up-to-date on new gift card brands and payout types to the Runa Network.
Transcript
0:00
brilliant, thank you everyone for
0:02
joining I'm going to get started now so
0:04
welcome to this edition of the Runa
0:08
Insider we're really excited today we're
0:09
going to be speaking about Global
0:12
expansion and how Runa helped you to
0:15
operate on a global scale and also some
0:18
upcoming opportunities that we have with
0:20
international travel and experience
0:22
gift cards so that's why we're very
0:24
happy to have today
0:26
join us Peter friend who's the
0:28
founder of President of global Hotel
0:29
card and the global experiences card so
0:31
we'll be hearing from Peter a lot later
0:35
um if you have any questions you can pop
0:36
them in the Q&A box
0:38
or at the end alternatively just drop us
0:40
an email afterwards this call is being
0:43
recorded and we'll share it
0:44
afterwards so
0:46
you won't miss anything
0:48
so just cover the agenda
0:50
we'll be starting off talking about
0:52
some of the features that we offer you
0:54
here at Runa to help you reach your
0:56
users internationally what this means
0:58
for you as a business and then we'll
1:00
hear from Peter
1:02
um a little bit more about the global
1:05
travel and experiences industry and the
1:08
opportunities for for businesses to tap
1:11
into that
1:12
so firstly jumping into the product
1:15
so we're as we're expanding our Global
1:17
Network here at Arena we're working
1:19
really hard to make sure that you have
1:21
the kind of best-in-class features to
1:24
enable you to make the most of that we
1:27
are expanding our the Aruna Network
1:29
um we're adding new payout types every
1:31
single week in New
1:34
countries as well we currently
1:36
have about 2 300 options in
1:39
you know across a range of
1:41
countries and currencies and this
1:43
includes gift cards prepaid cards
1:44
subscriptions
1:48
cryptocurrencies donations and also
1:50
sustainable payouts
1:53
so in terms of where we're at right now
1:56
we can support on the platform 13
1:58
different currencies but we are adding
2:00
more before the end of this month and
2:02
more throughout the year as well so
2:05
you know we're we're constantly
2:07
expanding the number of currencies that
2:09
you that we support your payment in
2:11
and at the moment this gives you
2:12
access to 27 different countries again
2:15
this list is going to expand so
2:18
stay tuned
2:21
you know what's really important to
2:23
us as well is the end user experience so
2:26
making sure that they get a payout that
2:29
they really care about so just a
2:31
reminder that through our platform you
2:33
do have the option to send a payout link
2:35
rather than a fixed gift card or prepaid
2:38
card or something like that
2:40
with a payout link you send an open
2:42
balance so say you send 100
2:45
of digital value worth of digital value
2:48
then the recipient has the opportunity
2:50
to redeem that anywhere on the Runa
2:52
network and they don't have to spend it
2:54
all at the same time and they don't have
2:55
to spend it all at the same place so
2:57
really it gives them the flexibility to
2:59
to spend it like cash and choose what
3:01
they want to spend it on we've seen that
3:04
um almost 100 of Runa payouts are
3:06
redeemed within 30 days of being spent
3:08
over being sent rather which um you know
3:11
just goes to show how kind of cash like
3:13
it is
3:15
and you know a real benefit of people
3:17
being able to choose how they use it
3:19
as I've mentioned already we are
3:21
adding new options payout options to
3:23
um our Network every single week and if
3:26
you check out the changelog that's the
3:27
best place to
3:29
stay up to date with
3:32
with what's new by country and by a
3:34
month
3:37
in order to support that Global
3:39
Network we now offer Runa FX which
3:41
makes it super easy for our customers to
3:43
pay in different currencies
3:46
we're really excited about it as it's
3:47
directly embedded into the platform
3:50
which means all in one place you can
3:53
immediately exchange currencies and then
3:55
spend it anywhere on the Runa Network
3:57
so it saves the hassle of managing
3:59
lots of different either bank accounts
4:01
or FX platforms and then transferring
4:03
money over to Runa you can do it all in
4:05
one place
4:07
we offer real-time exchange so
4:10
currencies can be exchanged and then
4:11
spent immediately
4:13
I know lots of other kind of FX
4:15
platforms will
4:17
incur up to three working day
4:19
wait in order to start using those currencies
4:23
so we know that our
4:24
customers really appreciate being able
4:25
to use it right away
4:27
we have fixed rates to FX, no
4:30
hidden costs, and we don't charge
4:32
anything to move funds in and out of
4:34
your account
4:37
so very briefly if you're not
4:39
familiar with it already how it works is
4:42
it's it's directly in the balances
4:44
section of your account
4:46
so you just top up there if you don't
4:48
have anything in there already you hit
4:50
exchange select the currency you want to
4:52
exchange from and two you'll be given
4:55
the amounts and the rates as well
4:57
for you to review and as soon as you
4:59
click exchange that's done instantly
5:01
it's processed immediately
5:03
and you have the opportunity to
5:04
review all past transactions and
5:06
exchanges as well
5:07
so what does this mean for you
5:09
it means you can access quick and
5:11
easy FX and top-ups 24 7 you can avoid
5:14
the long processing times or delays that
5:16
you often get from Banks or other FX providers
5:21
we do offer lower fees than a lot of
5:22
our competitors and as I mentioned
5:24
before no hidden costs or
5:27
fees baked into that
5:30
really what we want this to do is
5:32
streamline it all for you so you can
5:35
exchange currencies and use them all
5:37
in one place without having to manage
5:39
lots of different accounts and
5:40
ultimately be able to use your reach
5:43
your users wherever they are
5:45
or indeed access new users and tap
5:48
into new Revenue opportunities
5:50
so enough about the Runa platform for now
5:54
we'd love to talk to Peter
5:57
now who's a total expert on Global Travel and experiences
6:04
you know we have seen that travel
6:06
gift cards really are on demand and help
6:08
our recipients with their
6:10
travel plans
6:11
you know especially
6:13
with the economic situation as
6:16
it is with people trying to trying to save money
6:21
you know I think there are
6:23
huge proportion of people who are still
6:24
prioritizing travel and travel
6:27
gift cards as a reward or an incentive
6:29
or a gift
6:31
is a great way to kind of create a
6:33
memorable experience
6:34
and a meaningful kind of reward or
6:36
payout to that individual
6:41
but I'd love to hand over to you
6:43
Peter it would be great if you could
6:44
give an introduction to yourself
6:47
and the global Hotel card and Global experiences card as well
6:52
yeah thank you very much and thanks
6:54
everybody for joining so I'm Peter Friend
6:56
I founded the global Hotel card in 2005
7:01
and was fortunate enough to be one of
7:03
the early partners of Runa about seven - eight years ago
7:08
and our purpose in forming the company
7:11
was to become the first
7:13
gift card powered by an online travel
7:16
agency for hotels and at that time 2005
7:21
2006 the gift card industry was really
7:24
very early on and the incentive industry
7:28
was early on and so we had the Good
7:29
Fortune of joining both of those in in
7:32
terms of their scaling and
7:36
one of the things that we do I see that
7:39
you're involved with many countries in
7:42
many currencies in 2008 as we became The
7:45
Merchant of record we now have 30
7:47
currencies and we're involved in about
7:51
200 countries for our hotel product
7:54
Global Hotel card which is powered by
7:56
Expedia and our experiences product has
7:59
350 000 things to do in 150 countries so
8:04
what we like to do is live in the
8:06
employee recognition programs people
8:09
come to companies like Runa choose us
8:12
for from their catalog exchange their
8:15
points for our localized currency so
8:18
because we're in different currencies
8:20
when people come to redeem at our
8:22
website they will see the cost of the
8:26
hotel or the cost of their experience in
8:28
local currency and they can also change
8:31
and see the product descriptions and
8:34
supplier descriptions of things to do in
8:37
local currency so we consider ourselves
8:39
to be one of really one of the few
8:42
digital gift cards that allows people to
8:46
book across the world
8:49
and provides them with the choice of the
8:52
largest inventory of hotels we're
8:54
directly connected to the Expedia
8:56
website
8:57
and I think and hope you all know
8:59
about Expedia being one of the largest
9:01
if not the largest inventory of hotels
9:04
in the incentive industry which is great
9:06
and they've provided with us with a
9:08
tremendous amount of support which we
9:10
appreciate and then Viator which is
9:13
owned by Trip Advisor equally has the
9:16
largest inventory of things to do across
9:19
the world and Viator is more than triple
9:22
the largest amount of things to do
9:25
versus any of their competitors
9:26
historically most of the experienced
9:29
providers have been in a
9:31
country-by-country basis which is fine
9:33
but if you're living in one country
9:36
Germany and you want to go to New York
9:39
and do something we enable you to do
9:41
that so it doesn't matter where you live
9:43
or the currency that you get your hotel
9:46
card in or your experienced card in you
9:49
can redeem it across the world
9:52
and we really have enjoyed a
9:55
transition from Group Travel which was
9:58
when we founded probably 70 or 80
10:01
percent of the type of incentive
10:03
industry in 2005 20 2006 to now
10:07
individual incent travel and um if if
10:11
some of you are curious about why we
10:13
think travel is such an important
10:15
category to have in your reward program
10:18
it's always rated as one of the highest
10:21
if not the highest aspirational reward
10:24
so it may not be the highest proportion
10:27
of redemption inside of your catalog but
10:29
we believe it's a category that should
10:31
be represented and if you allow us to
10:36
be one of the reward choices for example
10:38
in hotels
10:39
Expedia provides us with Hotel inventory
10:43
from 350 of the largest hotel chains in
10:46
the world
10:47
and likewise biator has the largest
10:50
aggregation so with our card people can
10:53
have the kind of choice and
10:55
representation of whether they want to
10:57
go to a budget hotel a five-star hotel a
11:00
chain hotel a bed and breakfast and
11:03
all the other good choices that
11:05
individuals should be able to make
11:06
family friendly hotels and things of
11:08
that nature and travel is a category is
11:12
huge and post covet of course people
11:16
are really enjoying the opportunity to
11:19
travel again and travel as a category is
11:23
probably over a trillion dollars a year
11:26
airlines are the largest but very very
11:30
few cards are involved and we do not do
11:32
Airline cards we're just hotels and
11:34
experiences but airlines are about 60
11:36
percent of that true one trillion
11:39
and then hotels is the second with about
11:42
a 30 market share
11:44
and then experiences has about 10 of the
11:49
market share so even though it's only 10
11:51
percent of the travel spend experiences
11:54
account for a hundred billion dollars a
11:56
year of spend by individuals so as a
12:00
category it's proven I don't think that
12:02
we need to sell travel or experiences or
12:06
hotels what our company does is by
12:08
partnering with Expedia and partnering
12:11
with Viator provide you with the Best in
12:14
Class inventory and real-time
12:17
connections and the most choice in a
12:21
very rapidly growing category and
12:24
experiences is growing the fastest of
12:27
all of the travel categories last year
12:30
the Viator realized about a 70 percent
12:33
increase year over year in people
12:36
booking experiences online and they've
12:39
done a terrific job of aggregating the
12:42
350 000 suppliers
12:45
mostly through mobile phones so that the
12:49
Redemption at the point of the supply is
12:51
much more seamless than it was several
12:53
years ago
12:56
so you know with the size of the
12:58
industry and as you described with kind
13:00
of travel Rewards or incentives being
13:02
one of the most
13:03
um you know aspirational rewards that
13:06
that individuals can go for Peter it
13:09
sounds like there's a huge opportunity
13:10
for businesses or for platforms to tap
13:14
into that and use you know your travel
13:17
gift cards as a as a reward
13:21
absolutely and we're not the first
13:25
Hyatt Marriott we're involved years ago
13:27
but many many hotel chains do not have
13:29
individual gift cards or they're not
13:32
selling into the incentive industry so
13:34
travel is really a proven category in
13:38
the 15 years actually 13 years that
13:41
we've been involved as a business we've
13:43
actually had 75 million of hotel
13:47
bookings and over 500 000 gift cards
13:51
so that may not
13:54
um sound like a big deal versus Amazon
13:57
or some of your other largest gift cards
14:00
but it's been a great category for us
14:03
and I think it still has a lot of room
14:05
to grow especially now when people are
14:08
redeeming their points for travel and
14:11
experiences versus Commodities which was
14:14
happening or Home Improvement which is
14:16
happening before so we believe travel is
14:19
an important category for people to to
14:21
have in their catalogs and our purpose
14:25
on partnering with Runa because we don't
14:28
sell direct we only sell through good
14:31
partner agencies like Runa is to
14:34
expose people to what our cards have as
14:37
inventory have as direct Connections in
14:41
real time have as customer service we
14:44
provide exactly the same terms and
14:46
conditions that you would normally see
14:48
if you went to an online travel agency
14:51
to book as I'm sure you many of you have
14:53
with your credit card we allow the same
14:55
user experience to happen with your
14:58
reward points that you can redeem for a
15:01
currency denominated card and then apply
15:04
to a booking and if your card does not
15:06
have enough value for the booking that
15:10
you make we then allow through split
15:14
tender for you to pay the balance with a
15:16
credit card from whichever country your
15:18
bank has issued the credit card so
15:21
that's an another good thing and and
15:23
also people ask us sometimes what if our
15:25
travel plans change and things like that
15:27
and likewise we pass through the highest
15:32
terms and conditions and refund policies
15:36
that the hotel has so if your plans do
15:39
change and hopefully you book a flexible
15:41
category of of booking you can then
15:45
cancel online and in real time your gift
15:47
card will be refunded and and your
15:51
credit card will be refunded and unlike
15:54
some of our other gift card competitors
15:56
mostly in Europe we never expire any of
16:00
our gift cards
16:02
by law in the United States you may not
16:05
expire your gift cards but that's maybe
16:07
not true around the rest of the world
16:08
but wherever we issue a gift card in any
16:11
currency we pass through that highest
16:13
term and condition which is no
16:15
expiration and if somebody has a 500
16:19
euro card and they use half of it on one
16:21
reservation the remaining balances
16:23
available for the next and you can use
16:26
four cards per reservation so we've
16:28
tried to make it a really positive user
16:31
experience
16:32
that's great Peter thank you and you
16:34
actually stole the question right from
16:36
my mouth which was going to be you know
16:37
why do you think recipients love it so
16:40
much but to me it really sounds like
16:42
from what you're describing it's a super
16:44
flexible way to spend it as well so
16:47
um you know they can have
16:49
um
16:50
you know split the balance or they can
16:53
top it up and put half in a travel card
16:55
or half on a credit card so I think
16:57
that's a really really super user
16:59
experience and you know makes it so that
17:02
people can really use these rewards to
17:06
um
17:06
to have the travel experience that they
17:08
really want even if you know that might
17:10
be financially a bit difficult
17:13
um otherwise
17:14
yeah and to be to be fair we don't try
17:18
to curate our our booking so if somebody
17:20
wants to have something that is a
17:23
wedding with a champagne and a a
17:26
you know types of curated
17:28
um experiences to be honest we don't do
17:30
that but for for hotel bookings and
17:33
experience bookings that have been so
17:36
popular in that one trillion dollar
17:37
category of spend the the secret that
17:41
we the secret sauce for our card are two
17:44
things one is that co-branding that you
17:48
see powered by Expedia group we're the
17:50
only partner of Expedia that is allowed
17:53
to have that in the incentive industry
17:55
and that's extremely valuable for us and
17:57
they take care of us on a customer
17:59
service
18:01
manner in a really strong way and
18:04
likewise with with buy a tour to have
18:06
that relationship and co-branding is
18:08
very important to us
18:10
brilliant well Peter I'm conscious of
18:13
time
18:14
um but this is a you know great
18:16
conversation so I'd love to open it up
18:18
to see if anyone has any questions from
18:19
the audience we did have a question
18:21
submitted ahead of time
18:24
um which was around Trends in different
18:27
countries Peter so have you noticed
18:29
different use in different countries
18:31
obviously you're a global business
18:33
um is there a country where this is
18:35
demanded more or or less or kind of
18:38
experiences over hotels or any Transit
18:41
you're noticing
18:43
speaking to the hotel card first
18:47
our usage mirrors the usage of an
18:52
individual outside of the incentive
18:54
industry outside of employee recognition
18:56
programs almost exactly so
18:59
um it's really the opportunity to spend
19:02
on things that they want to spend at a
19:04
hotel using their points is full of
19:07
partial payment
19:08
um but the destinations are almost
19:11
identical to what expedia realizes on
19:14
their consumer site and Expedia does not
19:17
by the way have a gift card so we're
19:19
really the gift card solution for them
19:21
and their their inventory is huge all
19:24
around the world with Viator the the
19:29
experienced providers are much more
19:31
prevalent in Europe so for example of
19:34
the 350 000
19:36
partners that they have 40 000 are in
19:39
Italy believe it or not and in aipac and
19:42
Southeast Asia the inventory of things
19:44
to do is also really large in the United
19:47
States it's large but it's not as
19:50
dominant as it seems to be in hotels so
19:53
for your International clients we think
19:56
we're a really good solution and for
19:59
Global clients that you have we also
20:01
think we're a great solution because if
20:03
one of your if you're representing a
20:05
company that has employees in 10 15 20
20:08
30 countries you can feel comfortable
20:11
that our card will be successful or a
20:15
good user experiencing a hundred percent
20:17
of your catalogs without having to
20:19
Source individual hotels or experiences
20:22
in every country
20:25
that's great thank you Peter
20:27
um that was the the question that I had
20:30
submitted beforehand I can't see any
20:32
others coming through
20:34
um and I am aware that we're over time
20:36
so we better wrap up but Peter thank you
20:38
so much for your time today this has
20:39
been so helpful
20:41
um to everyone else we'll be sharing
20:43
this deck and um a pack from from Peter
20:47
as well so you can learn all about the
20:49
global Hotel card and the global
20:50
experiences card but
20:52
um and if you have any questions feel
20:54
free to just let us know and we can
20:56
direct them towards Peter so thank you
20:59
Peter and thanks everyone for joining
21:02
thanks everybody thank you
