With the arrival of covid, many things changed in the tourism sector, starting with the mentality of the tourist, who now values his time much more and wants to spend it on enjoying himself and not on long waits at a reception desk to check-in or pay for a reservation. Certainly the dynamics of the sector have changed, especially the hotel sector, which has had to adjust to the new technological standards of the market, to contactless technology and to the new payment methods that have been developed.
In this sense, it is interesting to understand a little more about these new technologies and how to apply them to obtain positive results. To this end, we would like to mention some of the most relevant ones that have been described in the Adyen Report on Payment Methods 2022.
Deferred payment to attract new customers
We are beginning to see how deferred payment bookings in holiday hotels are becoming more of an option for consumers. In fact, half of the hotels in our country already allow deferred payment of the stay (50%) in order to reach a greater number of customers. The number of people who opt for this alternative in Spain is 33%. When analyzing this payment method by sector, we can identify that it is most commonly used in household appliances (24%), electronics (19%) and travel (15%).
Tokenization, greater flexibility at the time of payment
Despite the fact that hotels know that they cannot ask for card data over the phone or physically take them, these behaviors are still being carried out. Although the pandemic has led many industries to digitize their checkout experiences and adopt new habits, such as having a QR code instead of a printed menu, or allowing payment via e-wallets to reduce physical contact, there is still a long way to go.
Central to this is tokenization, which helps reduce exposure of sensitive card data. How does it work? A hotel guest’s card details are captured during their online booking, or at check-in, and the data is encrypted and replaced with a secure token. This token can be used for all subsequent purchases. In fact, it can free guests from their cards for the entire experience.
Personalization and loyalty, the best allies of profitability
Within the industry, hotels and restaurants can reward the most loyal consumers through payment methods. Some of the main advantages are that they dispense with more traditional loyalty formats, such as voucher stamps, which can be archaic, and do not force the user to download unnecessary applications that slow down or hinder the entire purchasing process.
In turn, this way it is possible to capture extremely valuable information for the hotel or restaurant, offering the possibility of having full knowledge about their clientele. This user identification allows companies to know which buyers are most loyal, for example. Adyen does not provide the consumer’s card details, but an identifier assigned to a specific alias. In this way, companies do not need to create loyalty programs, but can know the number of purchases of a specific person across their network in order to offer rewards or discounts.
Security tools to perfect the final experience
The level of fraud depends on many factors, such as the country in which it is sold, the amount and type of product sold, or the level of data shared with the payment provider. The payment methods used and the way they are managed are essential to ensure the security of a business and that the consumer can buy with total security, regardless of where they come from.
In short, the offer of different purchasing methods is a reality for the user and for the market in general. We are moving towards a more digital, more agile and, in short, more customizable system for the multiple payment options demanded by each user. For this reason, the Spanish hospitality industry has adopted innovation and technology in its transformation to be able to offer, as one out of every three companies currently assures, all the payment options that their customers want to use in a world as globalized, uncertain and changing as the one that is presented in 2022.
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