Making changes and embracing new things.

On a recent trip, I tried to remain cashless. No need to exchange money.  Just use credit cards everywhere.  I even used my phone “wallet” instead of taking out a physical credit card.

Worked great.

One problem. Tips were not always part of the process.  Once I learned to ask prior to the payment, there was a way to incorporate tips, but often it was kind of clumsy.  Just add 5 Euros.  If I said, 15%, someone had to calculate. It wasn’t built into the process.

And, of course, tipping people who were not billing you (like luggage carriers or people assisting at the airport) was not possible at all.

I love being cashless.  So much easier to travel.

But there were still some places where “inserting a card” was required, so still needed the physical card. 

One kind of major problem that I had hoped AI would have resolved by now.  We traveled inside of France, using one of my credit cards.  No problem. Some snacks, a few meals, some coffees, and even some groceries.  Clearly leaving a trail of where we were.

So I was surprised when paying for the hotel was denied as possible fraud. Did they think I could spend 4 days in France and not have to pay for lodging?

Oh, I get it.  The relatively low-cost items did not raise a flag and the high-cost item did.  But haven’t we improved on our capability to determine fraud?  Please take note, AI integrators at credit card companies.

I love experiencing a new process, learning my lessons, and then adapting for the future. Hoping that sharing this here will give others the courage to try it.

John Melbye, Managing Director
ASCM Twin Cities