The Power of Integrated Payments in Hospitality Businesses

When guests check into a hotel or enjoy a meal at a restaurant, they expect more than just essential services—they seek an exceptional experience. From reservation to payment, an integrated payment system is crucial for meeting these expectations. Here’s why.

Integrating payments into your system

Integrated payments connect your payment system seamlessly with sales, inventory, and accounting through your Property Management System (PMS) or Point-of-Sale (POS). In contrast, non-integrated systems operate in silos, often requiring manual data reconciliation.

Integrated payment systems also allow you to securely accept multiple payment methods, update transaction data automatically, and provide advanced security features. The results? A better guest experience and a lighter workload for your staff.

How do integrated payment systems work?

While integrated payment systems may vary, they generally follow these five key steps:

The guest initiates payment.
A secure payment gateway validates the payment and checks fund availability.
The gateway shares data with integrated systems.
Once authorised, funds are transferred to the merchant account.
The system updates inventory and accounting software in real time.

Integrated payments for hotels

Integrated payment systems cater to various hotel needs. Whether you’re a chain, franchise, resort, or vacation rental, they link to your existing technology ecosystem. This includes your property management system (PMS), point of sale (POS), and more.

When a guest checks into a hotel, the front desk staff enters the guest’s payment information into the PMS and processes the payment. When the guest makes purchases at the hotel’s restaurant or spa, the POS system can automatically retrieve their payment information from the PMS.

This connectivity enables real-time data exchange and automation of payment processes, removing the need for unreliable, time-consuming manual data entry. Integrated payment systems also allow you to securely accept multiple payment methods, update transaction data automatically, and provide advanced security features.

Centralised payment data from all channels provides insights into payouts, chargebacks, and guest preferences. Guests enjoy a seamless payment experience with their preferred methods, while you benefit from card tokenisation for identifying repeat guests across all locations.

Integrated payments for food and beverage (F&B)

For F&B businesses, flexibility is paramount. Integrated payments enable transactions anywhere—online, at the counter, or table. Equip your staff with reliable terminals, simplify payments with features like guest recognition, language detection, pre-calculated tips, and split payments. Accept local and QR payments, loyalty rewards, gift cards, and one-click payments.

Centralised reporting and terminal management streamline operations across all locations.

Integrated payment flows and channels

Integrated payments involve various payment flows and channels depending on the specific payment method and the payment processor being used. Here are some examples:

Pre-authorisation

Integrated payment systems can automate the pre-authorisation process, allowing you to secure a guest’s reservation and cover any incidental expenses during their stay without the need for manual intervention.

Automated deposit collection

Integrated payment systems can be used to automate the collection of deposits or down payments, reducing the need for manual processing and improving cash flow.

Integrated pay-by-link

Pay-by-link systems can be integrated with a business’s existing property management system, making it easier to send secure payment links to customers and process payments automatically. Everything is updated in the PMS.

DCC at check-in

Integrated payment systems can provide real-time currency conversion rates and offer Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) at the point of sale or check-in. This means guests can pay in their currency of choice, and hoteliers can earn revenue on every transaction.

Tokenisation

Protecting guests’ sensitive card data and ensuring PCI DSS compliance are important, so integrated payment systems securely store customer payment information using tokenisation.

This allows you to substitute payment card data with a unique identifier or ‘token’. Guest details are immediately encrypted and transmitted for processing, tokenisation, and storage in a PCI Level 1 hosted environment.

Tokenisation makes it easy for you to store guest card details. This means you can securely use their card details to charge for additional or late fees.

Automated no-show/cancellation fees

Integrated payment systems can automate the collection of no-show and cancellation fees, reducing the need for manual processing and improving cash flow.

Express check-out

Integrated payment systems can be used to enable express check-out using mobile apps or kiosks. This can help improve customer convenience and satisfaction, reduce wait times, and improve the overall check-out process.

Main benefits of integrated payments for hospitality businesses.

Integrated payments offer numerous benefits for hospitality businesses:

Seamless connection with your tech stack: Integrated payment systems are connected to other systems, such as the hotel’s property management system (PMS) and point of sale (POS) system. This helps hotels achieve a seamless connection between payment processing and other hotel operations.
Unified payment data aggregation: Integrated payment systems help hotels aggregate payment data from all property outlets, including restaurants, spas, bars, and other ancillary revenue streams.
Comprehensive analytics and reporting: Detailed sales data helps generate insightful reports, understand guest behaviour, and make informed decisions for new locations and offers.
Better payment security: Simplify compliance with PCI DSS through tokenisation, authentication, and encryption methods.
Increased loyalty: A seamless experience from booking to check-out fosters lifelong guest loyalty.
Operational efficiency: Real-time inventory updates across all sales channels ensure 24/7 visibility.
Higher transaction success rates: Streamlined, secure payments increase transaction success without relying on multiple third parties.

Main benefits of integrated payments for guests.

Integrated payments enhance the guest experience by offering:

Greater choice: A recent survey found that 59% of global guests prefer contactless check-ins and a variety of payment methods, including Dynamic Currency Conversion.
Speed: Quick tap payments reduce queues and simplify table payments.
Online experience: Streamlined online bookings and payments, with features like Pay By Link and tokenisation for future use.
Personalization: Analyse payment data to target guests with personalised offers, enhancing their experience and encouraging repeat visits.
Enhanced data protection: End-to-end encryption ensures data security throughout the transaction journey, unlike multi-party systems.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, think of integrated payments as the secret ingredient that transforms your guests’ experiences from good to unforgettable. It’s not just about making transactions easier—it’s about giving your guests the smooth, personalised service they crave while keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes. So why not make life easier for you and your guests? Dive into the world of integrated payments and watch your business flourish with happier guests and smoother operations.

Shiji and Planet have a long-standing partnership, offering numerous benefits to our hospitality clients. Shiji’s products, including Infrasys POS for F&B, Shiji PMS, and Concept Golf and Spa, are all integrated with Planet’s payment solutions. Read more about Planet’s payment solutions for Hospitality here>>

About Shiji Group

Shiji is a multi-national technology company that provides software solutions and services for enterprise companies in the hospitality, food service, retail and entertainment industries, ranging from hospitality technology platform, hotel property management solutions, food and beverage and retail systems, payment gateways, data management, online distribution and more. Founded in 1998 as a network solutions provider for hotels, Shiji Group today comprises over 5,000 employees in 80+ subsidiaries and brands in over 31 countries, serving more than 91,000 hotels, 200,000 restaurants and 600,000 retail outlets. For more information, visit www.shijigroup.com.

View source