Little Known Tips For Keeping Your Hotel Business On Top
If your hotel business could use a healthy injection of business
, a merchant account could be the solution that keeps you well ahead of the competition. Merchant accounts, in simple terms, allow businesses to accept and process credit cards as payment for goods or services.If youre new to merchant accounts and the helpful services theyve got to offer, take a moment to learn about types of accounts, providers and ways they can help your hotel gain new customers while making payments a lot simple for the ones youve already got.
Merchant Account Providers
One of the first considerations youll have to make when finding the merchant account for you concerns the provider. Merchant accounts can be supplied by two sources. They each have their potential advantages and drawbacks.
Merchant Banks
A special kind of bank that deals with businesses, merchant banks earn income by investing capital and receiving part of the dividends. They usually have a more rigorous application process for merchant accounts than third party competitors and offer fewer convenient services, but their status as certified financial institutions translate into fewer risks and hidden charges for extras.
Independent Sales Organizations
The independent in independent sales organizations, or ISOs, sums up their place in the world of merchant accounts. An ISO is a third party that acts as a go-between among businesses and merchant banks. A reputable ISO must be certified and sponsored by a reputable bank, preferably with FDIC protection. Before signing any agreements with an ISO, make sure you receive written proof of this relationship.
Although opting for a middle man may seem counterproductive, ISOs exist specifically to provide merchant accounts and offer a range of extra services that you wont receive from a bank. These range from customer service to equipment sales and even office duties like printer paper supply.
Types of Merchant Accounts
Merchant accounts are available to businesses in three basic varieties: internet, retail and mail order-telephone order. The latter involves remote payment processing that is rarely an issue when it comes to the hotel business. These brief descriptions can help you learn about the ins and outs of the two types that can help your business.
Internet Merchant Accounts
A well maintained and easy to use website can be a boon to nearly any business, but is an especially practical tool for hotels. Besides increasing your exposure to new potential customers and providing a way to showcase what youve got to offer, your website can be coupled with an internet merchant account to let you accept payments, reservations and deposits online.
Although larger businesses often have the capital and expertise to create their own personalized virtual payment terminals and shopping cart systems, most small businesses take advantage of their internet merchant accounts service to the same end.
An internet merchant account can allow customers to choose products or services online and instantly directs them to a secure third party payment gateway. Once your future guests have entered billing information, the transactions are completed and funds are directed to your account in 2 to 3 business days.
Charging credit cards via the Internet is considered a very secure process, since card holders must enter a range of information including billing address and the cards security code, which can then be verified instantly. This security has helped Internet merchant accounts to demand relatively low per-transaction rates that are only slightly higher than fees for retail merchant account payments.
Retail Merchant Accounts
Many hotels opt for a blend of web based and in-person sales. If you plan on taking most of your payments in person, like at the front desk, a retail merchant account might be a better option for your business. Retail merchant accounts are the oldest and most familiar method of processing credit cards. They work by swiping credit or debit cards through a credit card terminal to accept or decline payment instantly.
Since this type of credit card processing is considered to be the most secure, the per-transaction fee is the lowest available, generally hovering around 1.8% of each sale. However, this rate is contingent on certain rules set by the account provider. If a retail merchant account is your primary method of accepting payments, no less than 80% of credit card transactions must be processed with the card holder present.
Regardless of what kind of business you run, merchant accounts attract more customers while retaining the ones you already have because they make it easier to pay. In this modern era of maximum efficiency and instant gratification, consumers are used to simply pulling out the plastic at the register. With a bit of careful research and planning, you can find the ideal service provider and merchant account type that will super power your hotel business.
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