The hospitality industry is all about quality of service, by how well you deliver services, and how appreciative the services are to your clients needs. This means that putting your client's priorities ahead of the business may become essential, although it does not bode well with your bottom line. Key in your deliverables is your merchant services; you need to make sure that your clients get the best possible service that meets their convenience needs and which are cost effective, provide up to date security standards and are technologically reliable.
For the hospitality industry where merchant services is a support arm rather than a key generating activity, you cannot opt for the cheapest services or the lowest fees. Before you make the decision on which merchant services provider you choose to contract with, consider all your clients payment needs, you will discover that finding a one size-fits all solution is not what your business requires, it requires a fully functional customized solution. The following are a few pointers that will help you select the best merchant services program for your clients and your bottom line:
1. ENSURE THAT YOU MEET GLOBAL STANDARDIZATION
Buying equipment and signing up with any merchant services partner will allow you to process credit cards, but it is a far cry for international hospitality merchant services you can get from an industry leader. This is because most of your international clients will require a global standard of merchant services before they submit their credit, debit or travel cards. The local payment system for your POS is not a lost cause, since you can integrate those services with a merchant service provider which connects you to the following global standards:
· EMV Certification - This is a global standard for integrated circuit cards which are used on point of sale and other electronic payment systems. The standard is modeled after the acceptance of major international payment systems worldwide.
· PCI - This is a standard that protects the card-holder information from possible compromise. Compliance to this standard means that appropriate security measures have been taken to protect your client's financial information.
2. ACCOUNTS CONTROL
In order to manage merchant services in the hospitality industry, monthly reporting is required for ease of reconciliation of transmittance of funds into your financial institution. Since you cannot predict what financial institution your clients will use to submit their payments, you will need an integrated system that not only accepts most payment methods and institutions, but one that accounts for each transaction and is able to provide the feedback required when reconciling and auditing your accounts.
Online reporting will allow you to monitor your transaction history, effectively deal with any chargebacks that may arise, and export that data into any accounting software for efficient and easy management of your merchant services account and transactions.
3. EFFICIENCY OF SERVICE
Your Point of Sale systems, online systems or your wireless terminals must be reliable and available all the time. Remember your clients are after the quality of service and one that you can only find with a reliable merchant services partner. Being able to provide multiple solutions that suit the face paced life of most of your clients is essential. Whether it is making reservations, booking, etc available online through an eCommerce solution, or providing pay at table in all of your restaurants, spas or cafes. Giving your guests the security they require with fast, simple payment solutions is what will keep a smile on your guests faces, and retain their business in the future.
Ensuring that your business has all three of the above can be challenging, but not if you get the right merchant services partner to provide you the payment processing system that will give you these features for your hospitality business.
When selecting the right merchant services partner for your hospitality establishment, consider a solution that works to solve your needs, dynamic or static, a solution that is able to integrate with the services you offer as well as existing infrastructure for payment processing.
