How to Deliver a Seamless Agreement & Payment Experience

Hotel Office Masters Series Session 2 Recap

Download the recording to watch the complete webinar. Learn more about the series here.

Did you know that only 4% of a hotel’s revenue goes toward technology? By using traditional, paper-based processes, it can take weeks for hoteliers to complete customer agreements and payments.

In the second installment of Sertifi’s Hotel Office Masters Series, How to Deliver a Seamless Agreement & Payment Experience, industry professionals discussed the opportunities and benefits that are available to hoteliers through digital workflows. Let’s meet the speakers:

• Michelle Young, Senior Vice President of Sales at Sertifi
• Brandy Dodd, Director of Sales Systems and Analytics at Sage Hospitality
• John Burkard, VP of IT, Security, and Compliance at Playa Hotels & Resorts
  
  

The Opportunity

One reason that hoteliers may shy away from the opportunities that come with technology is the fear of losing the personal touch that makes a guest feel at home. But technology can enhance your guest experience by acting as an extension of your staff, not a replacement. While technology takes on manual tasks that can become mundane, your staff has more time to focus on customer connections. Plus, non-digital processes often create a lot of unnecessary manual, time-consuming steps that you can simplify with technology.

Hear from Brandy about her team's experience prior to digitalization. Does any of this sound familiar?

The Benefits of Going Digital

By digitizing the agreements and payments processes, hotel staff can save time and money that can be put toward providing guests with the best experience possible. To paint a full picture of the opportunity that is digitalization, Michelle broke down the benefits into three areas.

Benefit #1 – Work Faster

A faster experience is one that:

✅  Is contactless and mobile friendly

✅  Is integrated to reduce system hopping

✅  Enables clearer communication between staff and guests

✅  Enables easier task management

Hear from Brandy on the benefits digitalization offered her team.

"Any time you can save your sales or catering staff time, it allows you to drive more revenue. You know the old saying – 'time is money' – and I would say Sertifi’s saving us a quarter of the time, maybe better, than it used to take with the manual processes at a minimum." – Brandy Dodd

Benefit #2 – Work Smarter

A smarter experience is one that:

✅  Streamlines staff with clear, repeatable processes

✅  Increases security and compliance

✅  Simplifies sales with frictionless workflows

✅  Gives guests access to great tools and makes you easy to work with

Hear from John on the security benefits digitalization offered his team.

"It's hugely beneficial working in a PCI-compliant system. We don't have to worry about rogue faxes – and worse, credit card information in emails." – John Burkard 

Benefit #3 – Work Consistently

A consistent experience is one that:

✅  Automated yet personalized

✅  Custom branded and identifiable

✅  Global friendly

A Great Guest Experience

Digitalization always comes down to providing guests the best experience possible. As explained by John and Brandy, digitization has tremendously changed how their staff operates while handling daily tasks and how they work with customers to deliver an experience with that personal touch.

"It's an expectation now. It's industry standard. And if you're not doing it, there's a higher potential for lost opportunity." – Brandy Dodd