How can a payment gateway help attract customers for your hotel

A good digital marketing strategy involves all the elements that the customer will have contact with from the moment they discover our brand until they complete the purchase process (even after that). However, some of these elements are usually underestimated, and that is the case with the payment gateway. And the truth is that a good payment gateway with tools that favor conversion can be key to avoid abandoning the purchase before completing the payment process. And this affects any business that works online, and of course hotels as well.

Currently, still suffering the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, the tourism sector needs more than ever to implement a strategy to improve results. For this reason, we are going to review the key parts of the payment process and how a good payment gateway can help your hotel to attract customers.

Different payment options and DCC for international clients

Once the customer decides to book a room and it is time to pay online, the first thing they have to decide is with which payment method they will do it. Each user has preferences and, in some cases, not having their favorite payment method can lead to the loss of a customer. To avoid this, the more options you offer on your payment gateway, the better.

Likewise, if your hotel receives international customers, it is very possible that in some cases they come from countries with currencies other than the Euro. We all know the mistrust generated by having to pay in a currency that is not yours and with which is not clear exactly how much you are spending. To avoid this, there is the DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) technology that allows you to change your currency automatically during the payment process.

Payment form integrated in the website itself and with your brand

Building trust in the user is key to get him to become a customer, and during the payment process there is a critical moment, which is the manual entry of the card's payment details (the most chosen payment method). Many gateways "take" the client from the hotel's website to another website where they can complete the payment process, and this can be confusing and worrisome for users with less experience or who are more suspicious. And the truth is that it is a risk of customer loss that can be avoided simply by choosing a gateway that integrates the payment form within the hotel's website and, ideally, that also allows it to be personalized with the brand's logo.

Reminder emails to complete the payment process

Implementing a purchase process that includes the collection of basic customer data is very interesting for different reasons, one of them is to ensure contact information to be used in case the customer does not finish the payment process. In this case, if we have his e-mail address and his authorization to receive emails from our company, we may send him an email encouraging to finish the payment process and, if our payment gateway has a MoTo tool (Mail order Telephone order), in this email we can include a direct payment link so that the user can resume the payment process where they left off.

A memorable experience begins with the first contact

Once we have successfully got the customer and the hotel stay is over, the next step is to achieve their loyalty. We want that user to think about our hotel when they return to the city or when deciding where to go on vacation in the future. And achieving such loyalty implies having offered an optimal experience from the first contact to the check-out (or subsequent marketing emails), including the purchase process, of course.

A long, slow or low-trust purchase process may not be enough to discourage a user who, at a particular moment, needs a room quickly or has no other option to choose from. But without a doubt, it will be much more difficult for that customer to be loyal and repeat in the future. For this reason, it is extremely important to carefully review all the points that we have previously seen and make sure that we offer the client an optimal experience in the relationship with our hotel, including the payment gateway.

At PaynoPain we are experts in payment methods and we are helping many hotels to optimize their payment processes and improve their results with all the tools described in this article and many more. Find out without obligation about how we can also help your business through this form: