Hospitality thrives on exceptional experiences, yet for many hotels, inefficient payment processes are the biggest roadblock to achieving that goal. From chasing payments to combatting complications like chargebacks, payment inefficiency is more than just an inconvenience: it’s a drain on time, resources, and customer satisfaction.
In Flywire’s new report, The blueprint for stronger hotel performance, 94% of hotel leaders agree they need a better way to streamline payments, with 81% saying it’s challenging dealing with their existing payment inefficiencies – and it’s directly hurting their bottom line. Every leader surveyed reported revenue loss – some as much as 10% – due to payment inefficiencies slowing down staff and customers.
Here are three ways hospitality leaders would like to see their payments improve, leveraging modernized, automated processes to reduce the risks and increase revenue.
1. Less payment chasing
71% of hotel leaders feel they’re spending too much time chasing payments, with 75% of properties experiencing delays because they chase payments manually. This distracts staff from more strategic activity: 60% spend at least 6 hours per week – some as many as 20 hours – chasing payments instead of focusing on other aspects of their job.
26% say more automation and user friendliness is a leading value-add for digital payment methods, followed by real-time payments (24%), acceptance of various payment methods (12%), lower and more transparent fees (9%), and contactless payments (7%).
2. Tightly integrated processes
69% of hotel leaders believe there are too many steps involved in their current process. In particular, 67% want a faster way to capture deposits after a contract is signed, revealing an opportunity to integrate their contract signing and payment workflows.
65% also lose time manually entering customers’ card information into multiple systems, putting them at greater risk of payment errors and potentially creating security problems that staff will lose even more time on. The lack of a paper trail means 74% are losing time on reconciliation, and 61% have issues communicating payment information across teams.
3. Proactive chargeback prevention
83% find chargebacks to be a big problem for their property, and 58% have given up the fight due to how complex chargeback defense can be. Because of this costly threat, 30% say secure payments with encryption and fraud checks is a valuable feature.
80% even say turnover would be lower if they could find a better way to handle chargebacks, helping properties take better care of customers and deliver the exceptional experiences expected. As a result of turnover, 57% cite a decreased level of service quality, 49% cite increased delays for customers, and 41% cite decreased customer loyalty.
The effects of optimized payment processes
Manual payment processes can easily lead to customer dissatisfaction and significant revenue loss. 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. Moreover, 79% are concerned that their inefficient payment process is driving customers away.
The solution is clear: 97% of respondents believe digitizing payments would greatly enhance the customer experience. By transitioning to efficient, automated workflows, hotels can better retain staff and allow them to concentrate on valuable customer interactions that directly increase revenue.