Share
Béla Nagy, Senior Vice President of Distribution, Accor, HSMAI Global Distribution Advisory Board Member
Payments are necessary for transactions and can play an important role in conversions, yet they are often overlooked in strategy conversations and not much research exists on payment best practices within the hospitality industry. The HSMAI Global Distribution Advisory Board recently discussed the trends in payments across the globe.
Companies that once did not prioritize payments are starting to rethink payments to look for ways to centralize, reduce costs, and even optimize profit from transactions. Government regulations banning the storing credit card information, along with advancement in payment technology, and customer preferences have encouraged the shift. As with other technology, the hotel industry is playing catchup to retail and other industries adoption of alternate payment methods such as Apple pay, PayPal, WeChat, among numerous others.
Is Centralized Payment the Future?
What we know:
- Conversions might drop if payments not going through.
- There are so many payment options, and each individual hotel must contract with multiple partners.
Benefits of centralization:
- One central or global contract with each partner of payment method, that is then immediately available for all hotels participating in a central payment program.
- Your company is more dynamic and has the flexibility to work with multiple partners.
As customers are wanting to use various payment methods and governments are regulating payment storage, being strategic and centralizing payments has the potential to lower costs, improve conversions, and bring the hotel industry up to speed.