Smart GMs are seeing the connection between highly manual processes, poor customer experiences, and lower revenue – and they’re looking for solutions. While attracting new customers is important, retaining the ones you already have, and empowering your staff to take great care of them, is just as critical.
Flywire’s new report, The blueprint for stronger hotel performance, highlights the link between automation, improved satisfaction, and a hotel’s bottom line. Every leader surveyed reported revenue loss – some as much as 10% – due to payment inefficiencies that are burdening staff and customers. 89% also agreed that if they could reduce staff turnover, they could better service customers and increase revenue by at least 5%.
Here are four insights to help your hotel increase revenue by simplifying payments and better capitalizing on money already on the table.
1. Make it easier for customers to pay
94% of hotel leaders agree they need a better way to streamline payments, with 75% experiencing delays because they chase payments manually. 79% also worry they’re losing customers because of how inefficient their payment process is.
Overly manual steps inevitably dissatisfy customers and increase the risk of missed payments. In fact, 77% of sales teams are losing revenue due to uncollected deposits, and 61% have deposits very often go unpaid because of payment inefficiencies.
The good news: 97% believe digitizing the payment process would elevate the customer experience. Improved user friendliness, real-time payments, acceptance of various payment methods, and secure payments with encryption and/or fraud checks are cited as top benefits.
With a more seamless payment experience, staff can ensure payments are completed and paid in a timely manner, while building customer loyalty with every transaction.
2. Tie payments to contracts
95% of hotel leaders don’t just desire a better, more secure way to sign contracts; they want a signing workflow that tightly integrates deposit collection.
69% believe there are too many steps involved in their current process, and 67% want a faster way to capture deposits after a contract is signed. Plus, with a lack of integration into PMS and sales and catering systems, 65% have to manually put customers’ card information into multiple systems. 61% also experience issues communicating payment information across teams.
By integrating contract and payment processes into one simple step, staff can significantly speed up turnaround times from customers, reduce errors, and reclaim valuable time each week.
3. Invest in better chargeback prevention
83% of hotel leaders worry about the security of their customers’ information when they make payments. Every property is also losing some amount of time and revenue to chargebacks.
Many properties have accepted chargebacks as a routine part of business, with 58% saying they’ve given up the fight – and chargebacks are taking such a toll on staff that most hotel leaders believe they’re exacerbating the turnover issue. 80% say turnover would lower if they could find a better way to handle chargebacks.
Manually handling payment information also puts properties at greater risk for threats like data breaches. With digital payments, hotels benefit from built-in security measures that help them protect their customers, reputation, and hard-earned revenue.
4. Free staff up for more strategic activity
73% of hotel leaders find turnover of back-office staff to be a problem – and while there are many reasons employees may leave, frustration from overly manual tasks, having to manage dissatisfied customers, and a lack of strategic focus are common culprits.
Without optimized teams in play, the stress of turnover inevitably trickles down to customers. 57% of hotel leaders cite a decreased level of service quality, 49% cite increased delays for customers, and 41% cite decreased customer loyalty.
By replacing manual tasks with efficient, automated processes, hotels can retain staff and free teams up to focus on high-value customer interactions that drive revenue.
Better processes, boosted revenue
You’ve already put in the work to attract your employees and customers – don’t miss out on capturing all the revenue you’ve earned from those efforts. By automating processes, helping staff and customers work better together, and protecting payments from threats like chargebacks, it’s easy to unlock more revenue without booking a single new customer.
See how Flywire helps Marriott Austin South Collection close sales faster