40% of guests report having problems paying at hotels
17 August, 2022Tourists find making payments at the hotel significantly more stressful than “pre-payments” made at home. In fact, they are twice as likely to experience feelings of “anxiety” and “uncertainty” when making payments at the hotel. This is according to the study ‘Opening the door to guest-centric payments: The opportunity for hospitality’, conducted by Amadeus.
The analysis also found that consumers are much less likely to associate hotel payments with positive feelings such as “ease” or “convenience”, highlighting the opportunity for hotels to improve this aspect of the guest experience.
Currently, guests tended to be asked to pay for their stay at check-out using physical terminals, rather than at the time of booking using modern digital systems. This means hotels process payments at the front desk based on their own local payment system, which leads to a number of issues for guests.
A third of respondents confirmed they've not been able to pay using their preferred payment method during a recent stay, and 39% felt anxious that their payment to the hotel wouldn't go through. With 54% of customers finding it difficult to pay and 77% believing it's the hotel's responsibility to facilitate payment, the industry's efforts to deliver an excellent customer experience are in question.
Jamie Halliday, strategic insights director at Innovationbubble, said: “Our analysis uncovered a significant ‘negativity bias’ related to payments in hotels. The anxiety caused by a negative payment experience persists in the consumer’s mind, and guests tell us that it influences their overall perception of the stay”.