Do you think that the payment gateway your hotel currently works with offers all the security guarantees? Does it include the latest technological improvements? Does it perfectly comply with the new PSD2 regulation?
We interviewed Alberto Lopez, Head of Business Development ES & PT at Adyen, an international benchmark payment platform and Cerium partner in our ecommerce projects. Daniel Just, Hospitality Business Director of Cerium, also participates.
Both will explain to you why to bet on a unified payment gateway for hotels and how to create the best experience in offline and online sales of your hotel. Take note.
What are the main problems faced by hotel chains for not having a robust and up-to-date payment gateway?
Albert Lopez:
The versatility and current capacity of hotels to sell their services through different channels before, during and after their guests' stay (non-refundable prepaid reservations, payments in hotel restaurants, upgrades...), It also poses challenges and even significant problems if the payment platform they use to process those transactions is not the right one.
For example, we are talking about not being able to trace the status of payments made online and in person. Also of not being able to use cards stored safely in any channel or, in recent times, not complying with the new PSD2 regulation.
A payment platform that does not have innovation, security and technology as its basic pillars is like a safe with the password written on a Post-it: insecure.
What aspects are key when choosing the best payment gateway for hotels?
Albert Lopez:
The hotel must be associated with a payment platform that offers the maximum traceability of the status of each transaction, which is secure in any channel, from dataphones with a protection plan and E2E (End to End) encryption to cards stored securely, but accessible in an encrypted manner from any of the hotel's platforms (PMS , Booking engine, etc.).
In addition, it is important that the provider innovates, so that new experiences can be offered, such as payment with wearables, and that it allows transactions to be processed in all payment methods demanded by guests, both online and in a physical environment.
What advantages does the Adyen payment gateway provide for the hotel professional and what are its advantages compared to conventional solutions?
Albert Lopez:
Adyen's solution, based on the concept of unified commerce, it is designed to help the hotel industry consolidate payments from all its channels and systems on a single platform. It offers a number of features that help these companies improve their payment structure and provide better guest experiences.
To cite some examples, I would highlight functionalities such as saving cards in channel managers, which can then be used from the PMS to make post-stay charges; or save cards through physical dataphones at the hotel reception.
To make all this possible, at Adyen we have paid special attention to the ecosystem of technology partners that surrounds this sector and we have integrations with the main systems and platforms. From channel managers or reservation systems to PMS or unattended kiosks.
Daniel Justin:
I would also add that the Adyen platform also behaves like a payment HUB from where, when you integrate, it offers you international coverage accepting more than 200 local payment methods, adapting to each country in which it operates in a simple and seamless way. effort.
In addition to ensuring PSD2 compliance, what other advantages does the Adyen payment gateway offer in terms of cybersecurity?
Albert Lopez:
How to Live Aligned with global payment platform, Adyen is a PCI DSS Level 1 service provider, with PCI compliance DSS Evaluated annually by an independent Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). All the technology is developed in-house, which allows full control of the evolution of the platform.
In addition, Adyen applies the security standards required by the industry in terms of data storage and processing. Also regarding human and digital resources that make Adyen one of the leading companies worldwide in this field.
Keep learning: Keys to choosing the best hotel cyber risk policy
What are the main reasons why a hotel chain should implement an integrated payment platform in its hotel?
Albert Lopez:
The main advantage of having a payment platform in a unified environment is that it provides complete management of the transactions that the hotels process in any of the channels. This allows them to offer seamless experiences to their guests.
These experiences start from the moment a guest reserves a room on the hotel website, saving the card, until that card is used at the reception to charge the last dinner or breakfast in the restaurant, without having to ask for it again. .
Another example of optimization of the experience is when the dataphone in the hotel cafeteria is used to store a new card and associate it with the guest's account for future charges during their stay.
Daniel Justin:
I agree with Alberto that we believe that trying to add value to the experience, a single payment platform completes the puzzle of personalized experiences that hotels are looking for, from the moment the reservation is initiated until the hotel is checked out; and so on until the next stay.
Daniel, in addition to implementing Adyen's payment platforms in Cerium's new ecommerce projects, what other strategies or actions are key to improving the guest experience when completing a reservation on a hotel website?
Daniel Justin:
In the Ecommerce projects that we are currently developing in the hotel sector, we have a clear strategy of developing Headless projects, which, to summarize it in three concepts, will allow us to have faster, safer and more attractive websites for the user experience... If we want to advance in direct sales, we believe that we must follow this line.
How do you value the partnership between Cerium and Adyen?
Albert Lopez:
The current context in the tourism ecosystem has accelerated the process of digital transformation of hotels. At Adyen, we see our agreement with Cerium as key to our plan to deploy our solutions in the national and international hotel sector.
Both companies are focused on innovation for the digital transformation of the sector, so the synergies between Cerium and Adyen were clear from the outset. In addition, at Adyen we are strongly committed to this partnership to take everyone involved in the hotel world to the next level.
Daniel Justin:
For us it was key to ally ourselves with a market leader and in this case ADYEN is undoubtedly the best option. It is the only platform that supports the entire payment process for both the physical world and the online world. With a single contract, a single management panel and a single reconciliation file for all forms of payment, countries and channels.
It may interest you: We partner with Adyen, the leading provider of payment platforms
In short, throughout this interview we have discovered why to bet on the best payment gateway for hotels is critical to creating an optimal guest transaction experience, from the first point of contact to the last. In addition, the importance of having a unified payment platform capable of offering maximum traceability and security has remained latent.
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Would you like improve the payment and reservation platforms of your hotel?
Are you worried about having adequate control over the traceability of all transactions in your hotel? Don't know which payment gateway to use? In Cerium, our team specialized in Hotel eCommerce works under the objective of improving the conversion, usability and experience of our clients' platforms. We also help you design new online direct sales channels under the highest optimization and security standards.
