Solving One of Hospitality’s Greatest Challenges: Credit Card Transactions

Completing financial transactions and securing payments is a key pillar to the success of any business. After all, without receivables, a business is not able to operate. Yet, collecting payments is one of the most manual and cumbersome aspects that the hospitality industry deals with.

Historically, properties have had to complete payment transactions using more antiquated processes, as modern solutions haven’t been widely available. But each successful transaction ensures a level of quality and brand trust to meet customer expectations. A smooth, modern payment process secures future business for properties, making it worthwhile to implement streamlined, secure payment methods. And while it is easy to overlook this process because “that’s how it’s always been done,” it is important to both the property and those operating it to understand where payment issues arise and their impact on the bottom line.

Based on our experience partnering with hundreds of properties, we’ve identified three primary issues holding up payment processes within the hospitality industry—all of which can be solved with ROH’s revenue optimization software.

Issue #1: Manual Payment Collection

Capturing payment information is one of the first steps properties and their guests take to secure room blocks, dates for social gatherings, activity bookings, and more. Oftentimes, that starts with customers providing their credit card information over the phone or manually completing a PDF with their payment details. The property invoicing or its finance team then needs to retrieve that information, which is frequently delayed or sent through a different channel or contact, requiring several emails and follow-ups with the customer. Once the information is finally secured, the team must carefully and accurately input all the appropriate details in order to complete the payment.

ROH streamlines these time-consuming tasks by allowing sales and finance teams to seamlessly enter the amount to be charged and quickly send a digital invoice to the customer to self-submit payment, whether it be via credit card, ACH, or e-check. And, this can all be done on a mobile device, making it easy and fast for a customer to complete the transaction as soon as the invoice is received. Not only is this process safer from a data security standpoint, it’s also more timely for the businesses that rely on prompt payments to scale their operations.

Issue #2: Retrieve. Enter. Repeat.

Manual entry processes like those explained above means there is no easy way for hospitality teams to securely store guest payment information. That’s further complicated by the fact that many properties are using multiple, disconnected systems to create contracts, send invoices, and capture payments. The result then becomes an endless cycle of manual work: retrieving the payment information, entering it into one system, and then retrieving it again to enter it into a second or even third system. This not only wastes valuable time, but also increases the chance of human error and security risks.

ROH’s revenue optimization software includes card on file functionality, giving customers and teams the ability to store and charge a designated credit card, eliminating the need to juggle multiple systems for a single event. ROH is also PCI DSS Level 1 Compliant, ensuring that sensitive information captured is secure in order to reduce the risk of fraud and payment disputes.

Issue #3: Tracking Payments

Once an invoice is sent, payments have been historically difficult to track due to the lack of system notifications, or because those notifications were sent to a different team (sometimes in its own software system). This leaves sales teams, finance teams, or both wondering who has paid, who hasn't, and who needs a reminder. This not only causes confusion, but leads to unnecessary time spent searching emails, trying to get a hold of other team members, and exhaustive calls to customers.

ROH provides sales and finance teams with an easy-to-use dashboard that showcases the real-time status of an invoice, making it effortless for the team to know which invoices are outstanding or at risk. Additionally, users can also set up actionable notifications with reminder templates so that invoice reminders can be sent with little more than a single click.

With a simple solution that addresses three of the most frustrating tasks, ROH saves hospitality sales and finance teams valuable time while enhancing the customer experience. The result? Increased conversions, revenue, and collaboration for properties, all while empowering teams to use their time more efficiently and get back to what they love about hospitality.

To learn more about how ROH can drive invaluable growth for your property group or hospitality brand—plus streamline credit card transactions for hospitality and hotels—schedule a free demo of our platform.