Conferma Eliminates Fax Across APAC, Accelerating Global Shift to Digital Virtual Card Delivery

WHY THIS MATTERS

The announcement by Conferma on June 1, 2026, enforcing a complete, unconditional shutdown of fax-based virtual card delivery across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, marks the end of one of the corporate travel industry’s most notoriously insecure and error-prone operational bottlenecks. Virtual credit cards (VCCs)—single-use, dynamically generated digital card numbers capped with exact spending limits and dates—have become the preferred payment mechanism for global enterprise travel programs because they completely eliminate corporate card abuse and streamline multi-employee expense reporting.

However, the hospitality industry has suffered from a deep technological paradox. While a business traveler’s booking is initialized using elite, cloud-native global distribution systems, the underlying virtual card data has frequently been transmitted to the final hotel property via a standard analog fax machine.

Conferma, the leading provider of virtual card technology for business travel, has expanded its global programme to eliminate fax, rolling out a full shutdown across Asia Pacific. From 1st June, hotels across APAC will no longer receive virtual card information via fax – regardless of where the booking originates.

The rollout significantly broadens the reach of Conferma’s fax phase-out, moving the industry beyond isolated regional change into a coordinated global transition. 

The move removes one of the travel industry’s most outdated and error-prone processes. Industry data from 2025 indicates that close to half of fax transmissions don’t complete successfully, highlighting the limitations of legacy delivery and reinforcing secure, scalable digital delivery as the gold standard for virtual card payments.

Setting a new standard for virtual card delivery

As virtual card adoption accelerates, legacy delivery methods like fax can’t support the speed and scale of modern travel programmes. By removing them, Conferma is moving the industry to secure, high-volume digital delivery that is faster, more reliable, and easier to manage.

“This shutdown marks a definitive shift for corporate travel payments. What started as a regional transition is now scaling globally,” commented Stuart Davenport, Chief Product Officer at Conferma. “Fax has been a point of friction in the industry for too long. By eliminating it, we’re improving reliability and accelerating the move to fully digital, scalable delivery methods like Conferma Connect Direct.”

With fax formally retired, hotels will automatically transition to secure digital delivery methods. Email delivery will be applied as a default, with additional options available depending on a hotel’s operational needs, including:

• Encrypted email and third-party digital vaults, both of which provide a secure baseline alternative to fax.
• API-based delivery through Conferma Connect Direct which allows virtual card information to flow directly into hotel property management systems (PMSs).

These approaches reduce manual handling, minimise errors, and enable a more consistent and resilient payment process across the region.

Why this matters now

The shift to digital delivery addresses long-standing challenges associated with fax-based processes, including failed transmissions, manual rekeying, and time-consuming follow-ups between hotels and travel management companies (TMCs).

By eliminating these inefficiencies, digital delivery offers clear benefits across the ecosystem:

• For travellers: Smoother check-in with fewer payment issues at the front desk
• For hotels: Reduced manual handling and less time spent chasing failed payment delivery
• For TMCs: Fewer exceptions and less time spent on manual follow-ups

What hotels need to do

To ensure they continue receiving virtual card details without interruption, hotels must make sure they have a secure digital delivery method in place.

Hotels can register their property and review their communication preferences at www.confermaconnect.com.

FF NEWS TAKE

Conferma is executing a masterclass in market-decommissioning by leveraging its dominant position as the premier infrastructure engine for corporate virtual payments. Under Chief Product Officer Stuart Davenport, the UK-headquartered fintech is aggressively converting its viral “Ditch the Fax” marketing initiative into raw, mandatory operational infrastructure. The company’s global roadmap dictates a country-by-country shutdown of legacy analog channels through 2026—commencing with an April pilot in Australia and New Zealand before scaling to full APAC termination on June 1.

The true competitive edge of Conferma’s strategy lies in its multi-tiered digital replacement model, which balances basic compatibility for independent properties with elite automation for massive multinational hospitality chains. For unintegrated or boutique locations, Conferma automatically transitions incoming data streams to secure, encrypted emails or third-party digital vaults as a low-friction default.