Minimize the impact of payment gateway outages

Did you know that in certain hotel establishments, problems with the payment gateway are responsible for up to 40% of bookings being abandoned in the last step of the process? Fortunately, not all hotels suffer to the same extent the impact of blockages that arise at the very moment of the transaction, but you should always keep in mind that each market has its preferred payment methodology and your website must be prepared to meet that of each traveler profile you receive.

In a sector as competitive as the hotel industry, every aspect of the future guest's experience plays a decisive role in their decision making. From the first impression made by any of your channels, when they are still immersed in preliminary searches and queries, to the last step of the purchasing process, when they are already determined to stay at your hotel, without forgetting the post-stay relationship.

Considering how expensive it is in every way to get a user this far, don't you think it would be a shame to throw it all away because of inconveniences related to international payments, online payment blockages, not supporting a certain payment method or the existence of a pre-set limit on the credit or debit card set by the bank?

Even if the "fault" is not yours, there is a high probability that the reservation will be lost forever. This is why it is essential that you have the means to keep the customer a little longer, to give him a second chance to finish what he started, and to prevent him from changing his mind and choosing another channel to the detriment of the direct one.

Payment methods can also help you generate positive differentials with other channels and, in general, taking care of and optimizing every aspect related to this area will not only take trust, security perception and guest experience to another level, favoring their loyalty, but will also contribute to boosting direct sales and have a direct impact on your bottom line.

What makes a user leave your site?

This is a question you probably ask yourself often. The truth is that there are many reasons, and knowing them is crucial to gradually reducing them:

• A common cause is that the user has only logged in for a quick query (find the phone number, find out if the pool is open, gossip photos, etc.).


• Lack of availability (no desired occupancy, no rates, stay restrictions, etc.) is another common reason. Redirects of all kinds are very effective in avoiding this and approaching the concept of non-availability equal to zero.


• Another common reason is the need to compare prices with other channels (OTAs, metasearch engines, etc.). Having a price comparator as part of the process, such as Rate Check, minimizes abandonment.


• Similarly, a site that is not well structured in terms of content and information architecture, that does not have a well-designed browsing experience, or that does not convey security, will also cause the user to bounce.


• Finally, the cause that concerns us the most, and perhaps the most serious because of the moment in which it occurs: problems at the time of payment.

Well aware of this scenario, at Paraty Tech we strive to offer innovative solutions to reduce leakage points and minimize their impact, with two fundamental objectives: to improve the conversion rate and build customer loyalty.

Latest: Payment error popup

However, this may not be enough, and with one of our recent launches, we added a new variable to the formula: the payment error popup. What does it consist of? Basically, it consists of offering the user different alternatives to try to prevent a payment error from becoming a dead end.

How does it work?

Sometimes simplicity is the key to the effectiveness of certain solutions. This is undoubtedly the case of the new functionality that concerns us, and it is that with two simple popups, 100% configurable from our Paraty Boosters tool, the number of reservations lost in the last step of the process is drastically reduced. How does it work? We will explain it to you below:

• The user reaches the final step, enters the payment information, and clicks the button to pay and complete the reservation.


• For one of the reasons listed above, the payment fails. Instead of the typical standard gateway message informing him that an error has occurred and encouraging him to contact his bank if the problem persists, the first popup appears, offering him two options:
  
  • Try again using the same payment method
  
  
  • Try a different payment method
  
  
• If the error is repeated, the same pop-up will appear again. This will continue until you have tried more than three times. At that point, the second warning pop-up will appear, informing the user that it is no longer possible to continue trying. Otherwise, the user is informed that he/she will receive a pre-booking email with a direct link to continue the process later.


• The offer sent by email will be valid for 24 hours and will include all the reservation details, an assigned pre-locator and a link for the user to complete the reservation at any time. In this way, we eliminate the possibility of the client resorting to other ways to make a reservation. In addition, it should be noted that all the reservations sent are accessible through the manager, in case you want to follow up on them or the ones you are most interested in.

Conclusions: Collection security is critical

Ensuring collections is critical. Ensuring that the payment process does not become a pain point is critical. Payment methods are not a trivial matter. Each market and segment has its own preferences, and your official website's booking engine must be up to the task.

As a hotelier, you should of course know these preferences, but also be more proactive in hiring and implementing more payment methods, and not be satisfied with the gateway provided by your bank, without exploring other more modern options with a more international vocation, such as Stripe, Paynopain, Ayden, etc.

In Paraty Tech we have in-house developments that facilitate this work, and partners that allow us to go where we cannot go by ourselves... Currently, we are integrated with more than 50 payment platforms, with which we are already working to cover this area as much as possible:

• Pay directly at the hotel


• Credit/Debit Card


• Bank Transfer


• POS & Payment Gateway


• Over 50 payment platforms


• Bizum


• Installment Payments


• Paraty e-payments

As always, if you are interested in activating this new functionality, simply contact your account. In the meantime, we will do our best to continue to innovate and improve our systems to provide the best possible experience for our customers and help our hotel partners succeed in an increasingly competitive market. In fact, although we do not yet have an official launch date, we would like to take this opportunity to inform you that our Business Intelligence will soon reflect bounces in the payment gateway, including the reasons why they occurred.