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Integrated payments within your hotel have several advantages that go beyond ease of use and simpler functionality for guests and staff. In this series, we unpack what integrated payments through your hospitality software ecosystem means for three key areas for every hotel: guests, revenue and security.
Today, we’re focusing on revenue.
Global hotel revenue has been forecasted to steadily climb to $508.9bn by 2028 at 3.32% CAGR between (2024-2028). That’s a big pie to be a part of.
However, the way in which hotels acquire their revenue has evolved beyond only the room rate. Research shows that nearly 70% of a guest’s spend is on non-hotel room services and goods, such as transportation, food and beverage and wellness.
With such big growth on the horizon and a shift to how guests are choosing to spend their money, integrated payments is a slick, easy – and critical – way for hoteliers to not lose out.
Hotels don’t often see their entire revenue spend
Hotels often have several platforms to work with – from room management and F&B, to the spa and golf course – and hoteliers can often miss out on capturing the full picture of potential and actual revenue spend.
Without being linked back to a guest’s reservation, such add-on experiences or products aren’t related to a guest’s booking reference causing payment fragmentation and little sight of the Total Revenue Per Available Room (TrevPAR).
While the guest end-to-end experience is impacted because of payment friction, for hoteliers this has big repercussions in being able to maximise guest revenue spend.
Without platforms speaking to each other, hotels are losing out on:
- Guest loyalty via personalisation
- Unlocking potential future revenue
- Setting KPIs and developing a strong strategy to meet them
Integrated payments for maximum revenue
For best-in-class guest experience
Integrated payments means guests can experience everything a hotel has to offer easily and without friction. As their payment card is stored within the PMS, any additional payments during their stay can be made seamlessly. So guests have the opportunity and full access to do as they want, when they want.
Crucially, 18% of hoteliers believe that over half of their revenue will come from these extra sources – whether that’s buying drinks, spa treatments, meals and more – making it imperative that the tech stack allows for this ease. With integrated payments, guests don’t have to keep producing their card to pay at each touchpoint. This makes it easier for them to spend – and more likely to spend more.
Integrated payments also reduce the manual workload and operational headaches for your front desk team. With time spent on reconciliations reduced, staff have more time to focus on delivering a better guest experience.
Additionally, an integrated payments set up creates a halo effect for guests whereby without payment friction, the rest of the hotel brand is viewed favourably leading to greater loyalty.
For increased revenue and reduced risk
Integrated payments enable hoteliers to see the revenue spend across all touchpoints within the hotel in one central location. This enables far easier oversight of existing TrevPAR and understanding of where the revenue spend gaps are.
And, without payment friction for each add-on service or product and instead items added to their room bill, guests can be more likely to spend more during their stay.
When it comes to risk, integrated payments reduces the amount of manual input errors during any payment point as all platforms speak to each other. This creates not only a more secure process, it also enables a seamless experience for hotel staff allowing them to focus on customer service.
What is Tokenization?
Tokenization, generally speaking, allows businesses to securely convert any sensitive data into non-sensitive data. The latter is called a ‘token’.
This token is completely unrelated to the original data. Unlike with encryption where a key exists to translate the data making it more vulnerable to hackers or brute force, tokens simply exist on their own.
How Planet’s integrated payments give ease and flexibility
Planet’s platform is completely channel agnostic. This means that whether the service or product originates at the front desk, spa, restaurant or bar, the final bill details can be added to a guest’s stay linking back to the PMS. This means that a swift and secure one-time payment is all that’s needed at check out.
Additionally, as Planet’s integrated payments utilises pre-authorisation, additional charges can be secured ahead of final payment. Pre-authorisation blocks sufficient funds against a guest’s card to cover any add-ons throughout their stay, and top ups can also be made if they are building up a healthy tab. This removes the need for a card payment for every new service or product and protects your revenue as their spend (and your risk) increases.
With all aspects of your hotel connected, hoteliers don’t miss out on revenue simply because a guest doesn’t have their wallet with them. Planet’s integrated payments means that guests only need to provide their room number to secure a spa treatment or enjoy a drink at the bar thanks to their card details already being stored on the PMS against their reservation.
Learn more about Planet's solution
How Planet’s integrated payments offer more revenue protection
Automated top ups for bigger spenders
Automated top ups on a pre-authorised amount are possible when all systems throughout the hotel are brought together enabling the hotel to track a guest’s spend. This ensures that hoteliers see their whole spend at the end of their stay.
Plus, integrated payments allow hotels to be able to set up pre-set amounts, with the option to automate top ups depending on the PMS. This means the guest can spend freely without friction, and removes headaches for hotel staff who don’t need to manually top up during audits.
Charges at checkout and after the stay
Settling up at the end of the stay is slicker with Planet’s integrated payments. All data across the hotel comes back to a single source meaning nothing is missed when the final bill is due and with adequate funds blocked, hoteliers avoid items or services not being paid for at the end of the stay. And as more guests don’t want to wait in queues to finish their trip and expect this to be done virtually, Planet’s integrated payments enable guests to check out without having to queue to pay. They can simply leave the hotel and their card details are on file to be charged.
This automation could save an average of 1000 days per year for front desk teams allowing better allocation of resource and revenue.
After checkout, having the guest’s card details on file also mean that any damages or late charges can be easily charged.
Currency services create a home-from-home experience
Integrated payments from Planet support multiple payment methods and include currency services. These solutions offer a better, more familiar payment experience for your guests – and another revenue stream for your hotel.
Offering Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) gives guests the choice to pay in their own currency, creating a home-from-home experience that builds trust. Plus, Planets payment solutions allow guests to pay using their preferred payment method, whether that’s by credit card, digital wallets or alternative payment methods (APMs).
Guests expect to be able to pay using their preferred method. So giving them the choice, plus the choice of currency, creates a better experience at check-in and check-out. And DCC opens up another stream of revenue, as the hotel receives a commission payment from the conversion of the currency every time they take a transaction – a win-win for guest and hotelier.
The wrap up
For hoteliers, giving guests the option to pay as and when they want makes their decision process easier when it comes to the entire guest journey. Put simply: the easier it is to execute, the more likely guests are to go ahead with their choice and the more revenue hoteliers are likely to see.
Integrated payments are also crucial to minimising revenue risk when it comes to add-ons, cancellations and damages. By blocking sufficient funds on a token, hotels have a higher level of protection to ensure they don’t miss out on the payments they’re due.
Planet helps hotels to recognise their full revenue potential, without the need to have a one-size-fits-all approach on software.
Additionally, Planet’s integrated payments and tokenization platform allow for this simplicity to carry through from in-person to online transactions and back again. With your various systems connected on Planet’s agnostic platform, the same token can be used so there’s no confusion or unauthorised transactions.
Two down. Last in the series: What integrated payments means for security.
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