Nicholas Thomson on LinkedIn: The Anatomy of a Payment 5: Card Present vs. Card Not Present (2024)

GDU Ninja Update 17 - Automatic Payments. Would it be useful if you knew that every guest turning up at your property had already paid and that you did not have to take time and effort to charge the guests? This is possible, in theory at least, but as usual will come with a few caveats and questions, some of which we cannot answer at present.For our customers already using the Stripe gateway we could in theory at a certain point (ie 3am) run a routine to automatically charge the guests credit card for the customers arriving today. But we are certain there will be some exceptions to this routine.•Some OTA's encourage properties to accept reservations WITHOUT a credit card (Normally you can opt out of this).•Some OTA's encourage pr0perties to accept reservations WITHOUT a CVV code (Normally you can opt out of this also).•A reservation may have been entered manually without a credit card number by a busy member of staff.•A customers credit card may no longer be valid.We are sure there may be many other cases when a charge cannot be automatically applied, although the property that has close control over their OTA payment conditions and does not take a reservation without a credit card number will probably have very few. Either way we are sure that even for the properties using Automatic Payments we will have to provide a very clear system to indicate when a card has NOT been charged, We are planning to do this on the GuestDiary screen AND with a regular daily e mail that summarises all the arrivals and charged/not charged reservations.We are working on an Automatic Payments Solution and hope to have it ready by the end of 2023.One potentially clear advantage would come from this system; Incredibly much of the Hospitality sector operates at least part of their business on pure 'trust'. ie They may take a credit card number from a guest or from a vault system and enter it into their own credit card machine. This puts the property in the responsibility loop for the security of the credit card number. Its unlikely that this will be allowed to continue in the future and so called 'closed loop systems' are being developed whereby a property can obtain a reservation and charge a credit card without ever seeing the credit card number, (which reduces the chance of the hotel being blamed for credit card fraud). This is what the Automatic Payments Module moves towards. If you have any questions thoughts or fears, please send them to us at info@accubook.net or better still post them in Facebook.com/accubook so other Hotels can share in the debate.

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What operational changes can reduce chargebacks for hotels?Some key things to know about hotel chargeback rates:It is expressed as a percentage of total credit card charges processed by the hotel.Lower chargeback rates are better for hotels, as it means fewer customer disputes and refunds.The industry average chargeback rate is about 0.30% but can vary based on property and type of guests.High chargeback rates can lead to fines or higher processing fees for hotels.Hotels aim to minimize chargebacks through clear policies, transparency with charges, efficient resolution of disputes.Analyzing chargeback data helps identify patterns and opportunities to improve processes.Here are some operational changes hotels can implement to reduce chargeback rates:Improve transparency of charges and policies - Make sure all hotel fees, deposits, and billing practices are clearly communicated to guests beforehand during booking, check-in, and checkout.Refine pre-authorization policies - Only pre-authorize customer credit cards for room/tax plus a reasonable estimated incidental amount to avoid excessive holds. Release holds promptly after checkout.Enhance checkout invoice clarity - Print detailed and accurate invoices clearly listing all charges applied. Highlight new/unusual fees.Standardize billing systems - Eliminate inconsistencies and errors by consolidating billing processes across reservation systems, point-of-sale, etc.Offer mini-bills during stay - Provide interim folios to allow guests to identify and dispute discrepancies in real-time versus post-stay.Upgrade terminals - Invest in chip-enabled point-of-sale systems to reduce chargeback fraud vulnerabilities.Improve dispute resolution - Respond to chargeback notices from banks swiftly and thoroughly. Resolve valid issues fast. Provide documentation.Analyze trends - Identify common chargeback root causes and strengthen policies, guest education, staff training to address those vulnerability areas.The chargeback rate is an important hospitality metric to track as it represents customer satisfaction with billing and indicates potential issues that need addressing. Keeping chargebacks low reduces costs and disputes for a hotel. The key is making billing seamless, transparent and accurate at every touchpoint of the guest journey. Reducing genuine disputes and friction in payments through systems, communication and education improvements will result in lower chargebacks.

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📣Hotels --Fraud in the hospitality industry is an ever-growing issue and it's placing hotels at risk of losing revenue, reputation and customer trust. What can you do to protect your margins?Prommt Payment Requests can significantly help you to reduce chargebacks and fraud, including fraud originating from online booking platforms or travel agencies. One of our clients, a busy London hotel, was able to reduce their chargebacks by over 60% within just two months of using our card-based solution. As they now begin to implement Pay by Bank (open banking payments) capability, these chargebacks will reduce even further.If your hotel uses an ORACLE OPERA Cloud or OPERA 5 property management system, you can easily integrate Prommt's payment request solution. This allows your PMS to automatically send payment requests to cards associated with OTA bookings, based on agent and rate codes, enabling you to stop fraud in its tracks. Reservation staff can also manually send payment requests for any direct bookings, all from within the PMS. The system will then update the payment status once it has been processed by the hotel's payment gateway.💸Introduce Pay by Bank as a payment method for your guests.Open banking is a game-changer for the hospitality industry, as it is estimated to reduce transactional fraud by up to 61% by 2024 (Juniper Research, 2023). Moreover, studies highlight that approximately 70% of guests would feel comfortable paying for their hotel room through open banking. It has gained traction due to robust regulatory backing from governing authorities, and can help hotels protect margins and radically enhance the security of their remote payments ecosystem by eliminating high card transaction fees and costly chargebacks.Prommt is a payment request solution that enables hotels to collect payments via card, bank, or both. It offers many platform features, including autocharge, recurring payments, and group send, which support the needs of larger hotel properties with multiple geographic locations or departments. Prommt also consolidates reporting from a single interface.Interested in a demo?Get in touch with us today: https://www.prommt.com/#sendaprommt #hospitality #openbanking

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🔑 How Hotels Can Use Key Cards to Fight Chargebacks and the Steps to Take🔓Chargebacks are growing in the hospitality industry, constantly leading to lost revenue and administrative headaches.As Jordan Hollander co-founder of HotelTechReport.com in his hotel chargebacks article (https://lnkd.in/dXb9VNuN) puts it, “Given the contentious nature of these types of disputes, they're unpleasant for bothtravelers, who may harbor negative sentiment around “shady” payment practices, and hotels, who must invest time and attention to fight fraudulent chargebacks.” 💸He adds, “with friendly fraud increasing at 41% every two years, hotels need a proactive strategy to keep a lid on chargeback costs.”💲 We agree that finding reliable solutions to address the rise of fraud and bill disputes is more critical than ever.Hotel key cards have been traditionally only utilized for room and locker access. By leveraging hotel key cards with WristCoin, you can exploit the potential of hotel key cards to build trust and reduce losses stemming from bill disputes.⚡ Real-Time Verification: By integrating secure, real-time transaction verification with hotel key cards, you can significantly reduce the risk of fraudulent disputes. This ensures that every transaction is authenticated with the guest's key card, cutting down on chargeback incidents and protecting your hotel's revenue.⚡ Trust and Security: Guests feel more secure knowing their transactions are protected by advanced encryption and authentication methods. Additionally, the key card can be scanned by the guest’s phone to view their hotel transactions without needing to download an app. This transparency builds trust and discourages guests from disputing bill charges.⚡ Guest Experience: Imagine a guest using a single card for room access, payments, and services throughout the hotel. This provides convenience and ensures all transactions are transparent and traceable. Guests appreciate the ease of use, while hotels benefit from guest validation and a reduction in payment disputes.⚡ Operational Efficiency: Integrating our system with your PMS, POS, and Room Access System creates a cohesive ecosystem that reduces chargebacks. We can implement our solution more easily, quickly, and with less disruption, resulting in improved day-to-day operations. Steps to Implement the Solution with WristCoin:1.- Assessment and Planning2.- Pilot Testing3.- Integration Setup4.- Employee Training5.- Full Deployment6.- Ongoing OptimizationContact us when you are ready to reduce your chargebacks. 🏨 #hospitality #hotels #resorts #guestexperience #customerexperience #hospitalityindustry #pos #pms #saas #cashlesspayments #cashless #paymentsolutions #hospitalitytech #hoteltech #hitec

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With outdated transaction methods and high-risk credit card authorization forms having led the charge for years, #hotels and guests are craving options that make secure, simple and flexible payments readily available.Read the article from Selfbook on #PhocusWire: https://bit.ly/3s0Clq0#travelindustry #travelpayments

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In an era where data breaches and financial fraud are increasingly common, the hospitality industry faces a critical challenge: ensuring secure payments processing while providing a seamless guest experience. Read More: https://lnkd.in/dgFMJNMz#Hospitality #Hotels #Technology #SecurePayments

Have you used Booking.com recently? Don't be fooled by clever scam emails asking you to 're-enter your card details to avoid having your booking cancelled'. Common sense dictates that this is an unlikely scenario, but the objective is to put you under stress here and thus to make an emotional decision. Regardless of where the security breach has occurred, the standard advice remains - take a step back, allow your rational brain to kick in, and then contact your accommodation provider directly to check.https://lnkd.in/gw6s3egU

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By harnessing modern #payment technology, #hotels can avoid repeatedly asking guests for payment information, enabling seamless transactions that do not impede on the in-person experience or guest security. Couple this with crowd-sourced digital identity intelligence, and the #hospitality can better fight #fraud, unmask potential bad actors, and enable the next-level #customerexperience #guests are craving. We can help! 🏨 🛎️ 💸

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Big news for the hospitality industry! Read the full press release below.

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Big news for the hospitality industry! Read the full press release below.

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