New normal post-pandemic raises the question “is cashless hospitality is the new future.”
Recent study shows card and payment gateway has overtaken cash for the first time in many countries.
Hence, hotels should not stay back and take a step to move forward towards cashless transactions.
Payment processes in hotels need restructuring to mitigate any risk of transmission of the virus.
And what’s better than going cashless.
Going cashless means transferring amounts from one’s account to another without using physical money.
Instead of using cards or, payment gateways to transfer money.
Payment through credit cards or payment apps will be more convenient.
Digital payment system saves them from holding large amounts of cash on the premises.
After claiming by many medical experts that paper currency is one of the factors of covid-19 virus transmission.
People are afraid to exchange currency notes in exchange for services they are getting in the hotel.
So, it is the responsibility of hoteliers to understand their needs and work accordingly.
They must adopt cashless transactions in facilitating social distancing and alternative business models.
As they are emerging in the times of Coronavirus pandemic.
It is not easy to change old ways and adopt new ways. It requires planning, directing, implementation and controlling.
You must identify all the spaces in your hotel where the exchange of money takes place like reception, the hotel’s kitchen, spa, etc.
The most important factor that you need to take care of is implementing the right payment system.
And maintaining the overall protection of the data of your guests.
Moreover, adopt at least two to three payment options, so that if your guests are not comfortable with one payment method.
Then they can use the alternative option.
To implement seamless payment invest in a solution like a booking engine, a property management system and channel manager, and integrate them.
And have several payment gateways integrated with it.
To ensure secure online payment hotel solution must comply with PCI DSS.
One can switch to fully automated online payments.
Therefore, allowing guests to check-in and check-out hassle-free without filling in card details and waiting for the payment process to be completed.
The system will save the card details, personal information and cash deposit online at the time of booking, only if the guest wishes to do so.
Few guests may prefer to directly go to their room after a tiresome journey and they can easily do so if they have already checked-in online.
The important thing is providing guests with multiple options so that guests can choose the experience they like.
Cashless payments reduce several business threats at a time, such as employee cash fraud, stolen currency, and cash theft.
There are many more benefits of it like reductions in staffing costs, easier banking. Let’s take a look at a few major benefits.
Currency increases the chances of spreading the virus.
Cashless payments are more hygienic than actual currency, which is attributed to being continually exchanged between guests, hoteliers and strangers.
Cashless transfers will become one of the world’s best ways of combating corruption and organized crime.
If everything is linked with an end-to-end payment system then the money flow will be completely transparent and it makes a cashless environment.
People will exactly the money went and how it was spent. It is easy to track and examine any sum of money that is detected outside the framework.
Since it is much easier to use credit and debit cards or electronic online payments than to deal with cash.
Visitors have a greater experience because they are served faster and payments become less stressful.
Hoteliers can focus on their guests and deliver a personalised experience.
As they don’t have to devote time to billing and other cash transactions which is more time-consuming.
Payment apps and wallets segment guests and create streamline and targeted discounts.
Many people are not welcoming cashless hospitality due to various disadvantages comes along with it.
Few of them are-:
When going cashless problems like hacking or a temporary glitch can surface.
Hence, keeping records of customer’s data in physical or printed copies is essential.
Also, using high security solutions is a must to stop breaching of customer’s data and defaming your hotel brand.
No need to keep up a separate space to store cash.
Hence, counting and managing them will save a lot of space and time.
These very tedious process and hold the space for manual errors.
One inevitably will have to rely on technologies and electronic records.
Both are problematic because everyone one is so good with it especially elderly people.
If your hotel is budget-friendly then chances are many guests visiting your hotel will not carry smartphones with them.
Some see cashless establishments as unfair against guests that can not afford the expenses involved.
With getting credit cards, bank accounts, or smartphones, and rely heavily on cash.
If your hotel is situated in a particularly poor connectivity area.
You will certainly want to put a bit of additional thinking into workaround solutions and contingency planning.
Because no connection means no transaction.
Brace yourself for cashless hospitality business and make sure that the options available to you are completely up to date.
As cashless hospitality is the new future. Thus, hoteliers must understand this need of the hour.
And implement it to remain ahead in the competition.
But, you can also keep cash payments as option if you don’t want to alienate visitors who want to use cash to continue payment.
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