2020 has been a challenging year for the Hospitality industry. With many hoteliers closing their doors, suffering major cutbacks and numerous layoffs there have been many questions about how to move forward. As the curve flattens and governments ease restrictions, hotels are facing their next big challenge; how to safely reopen their doors to guests.
It should be no surprise that people are hesitant to adapt to this “new normal”, full of stricter hygiene rules and cleaning practices. To provide a safe and trustworthy place to stay, hotels will need to adapt to these new standards over the coming days of reopening. Throughout the pandemic, there was one clear trend that businesses needed to follow to stay open and stay safe; contactless payments.
The front-desk interaction used to bring staff closer to their guests and help build rapport. Now this face-to-face interaction will be a cause of concern for guests. It is important to provide options to protect both staff and guests moving forward and make everyone more comfortable. Taking payment over the phone is an option but it leaves hoteliers open to other challenges such as manually keying a credit card, which costs more in transaction fees, fraud, and chargebacks.
To best prevent this problem, hotels need TransForm by b4, a contactless process that allows the property to take payments securely online as an E-Commerce transaction. Hoteliers can simply send a payment request link to their guests and leave the rest up to them. The guest then proceeds to pay from the comfort of their home, hotel room, or anywhere in the world. Best of all, the system integrates into the property’s payment gateway, so it requires no manual keying of credit card data, leaving the hotel safer from fraud, chargebacks, and terminal fees.
Alan Torres, Guest Manager at Holiday Inn Express Metrotown Vancouver, recently installed TransForm and said this about the contactless payment process, “We have had many people trying to check-in at the desk and requesting remote payment. Using TransForm, we have everything we need for billing within five minutes and we’re able to check them in”.
“Contactless payments are an easy way to exercise safer hygiene standards following the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Saar Fabrikant, CEO of b4. “It’s an easy fix that will ease the minds of guests and staff moving forward, and ultimately adds a higher level of security during the payment process in a time when chargebacks can’t be afforded”.
About b4
b4 develops cloud-based guest service tools for the accommodation industry, to help create great online experiences for booking reservations and taking online payments.
With TransForm, you can take secure online deposits, payments and authorizations from guests and bookers, and eliminate the need for manual credit card authorization forms. Payment is seamlessly authorized and posted where you want, in real time to mitigate fraud and chargebacks.
To schedule a demo, get in touch at ask@b4checkin.com or learn more by visiting our website.
