Case Studies

Airline Industry Case Study

Purchased a beverage, movie, or even an event ticket while onboard a flight lately? Chances are your credit card payment was processed using Guestlogix Inc. (TSX: GXI) technology, in partnership with Caledon Card Services. GuestLogix provides an industry leading onboard retailing technology platform, including electronic payment processing, to 40% of the world’s airline traffic.

In 2006, Guestlogix worked with American Airlines to create the world’s first credit card ‘buy on board’ pilot. Seeking an innovative payment processing partner to work with on the project, Guestlogix was introduced to Caledon Card Services. With over 25 years of experience and an executive team comprised of industry veterans, Caledon Card Services was known for their ‘out of the box’ thinking and creativity with niche payment solutions.

Caledon’s team worked in collaboration with the team at Guestlogix to engineer an appropriate solution and, after thorough beta testing, the American Airlines ‘buy on board’ program went live.

“Caledon Card Services incubated the launch for our very first airline client in 2006 with American Airlines. This was the start of our onboard retail technology platform that is now used by 40% of the world’s airline traffic and this partnership was an integral part of getting us there."

- Tom Douramakos, President and CEO of Guestlogix Inc.

For more information on Guestlogix, visit www.guestlogix.com.

Have a unique payment problem in need of a niche solution? Challenge Caledon today by contacting us.

Utility Industry Case Study

Back in 2001, British Columbia’s largest natural gas utility came to us with a problem. They had been getting a number of requests from their customers for online credit card payment functionality but they didn't know the first thing about how to address these concerns given their highly regulated situtaion.

The utility indentified two distinct reasons their customers were requesting this - on one hand, people who were on the verge of being shut off from essential services due to payment defaults were requesting one more option (credit card) to pay. On the other hand, many of the residential properties serviced by this utility were owned as vacation properties by people who wanted a way to pay their bills remotely rather than having to wait for the mail to be forwarded to them so they could then write and send a cheque. However, back then the utility had run into a roadblock: as a highly regulated industry, they were not allowed to bear the costs associated with the traditional acceptance of credit cards.

Caledon, working closely with Visa and Mastercard, presented this utility with Canada’s first convenience fee based web payment solution. The idea behind this solution was that the gas customer would be asked at the time of checkout to agree to a very minimal ‘convenience fee’ on top of their bill total. This fee was then used to cover the costs of accepting their credit card. The customer would get the added convenience of using their credit card rather than a cheque to pay their bill and the utility would end up collecting their payment with a net zero cost.

Since this first utility came on board, our solution has been often imitated…yet never duplicated. Please contact us today to find out what makes Caledon’s solution stand out from the crowd.

Property Management Industry Case Study

So you have a brilliant strategy to revolutionize the Property Management marketplace but you need a visionary payment technology partner to make it successful…who do you contact?

Leonard Drimmer of Payment Pad Inc. needed an answer to that question among many others during the fall of 2010. As the former CEO of TransGlobe Property Management Services Inc., Leonard has had a vision for years to update the payment methods available to both property managers and tenants to go beyond the out-dated reliance on cheques and EFT. Unlike credit and debit cards, rent payments made via paper cheques or EFT can bounce causing significant frustration and costs to rectify for a property manager.

“Property management companies have been wrestling with the inefficiencies of outdated payment options for years and have been looking for someone to provide improved electronic options,” Leonard states. With that in mind, he has created a self-serve solution under the brand ‘Payment Pad,’ a solution that integrates with several leading CRM’s in the current market place. This solution incorporates various integrated payment options that will increase efficiencies and reduce costs for property managers while offering tenants even more flexibility of how they pay their rent and other related services.

Recognizing how crucial a seamless payment backend would be to the success of Payment Pad, Leonard set out to find a suitable technology partner. After a few meetings with the Canadian payment industry’s usual suspects, he had a conversation with a colleague who suggested he speak to Caledon because of our reputation for ‘out of the box’ thinking and niche type solutions. The rest is just history…

“From my initial meeting with Caledon to our many weekly calls, it has been obvious that their innovative technology and entrepreneurial attitude is exactly what I was looking for in a payment partner. In just a short period of time working together, I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge about the payments industry, its specific regulations, as well as a glimpse into the future of payments in Canada. The Caledon team has been instrumental in getting the Payment Pad presentation into the main boardrooms of all the major Canadian payment brands that obviously have a great amount of respect for the company.”

-Leonard Drimmer, CEO of Payment Pad Inc.

Together, Caledon Card Services and Payment Pad are going to make a game changing difference to how the real estate industry operates and facilitates payments. Stay tuned for news on our official beta launch coming summer 2011.

For more info on Payment Pad and the new PropertyVista solution, visit propertyvista.com/.

Have a unique payment opportunity? Challenge Caledon today by contacting us.