InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Cuts Down Chargebacks

“I’ve worked for IHG for about a decade now, in nearly every continent, and at 8 different properties. This is the first time I’ve used Sertifi, and I would highly recommend this solution to any of the hotels I’ve worked at in the past.”

JENNIFER LOMBARD KNIGHT, DIRECTOR OF FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS

Opportunity

Before Sertifi, the IHG hotel property collected authorization forms for third-party reservations, amenity requests, and sales via printing and faxing. This required collecting copies of the cardholder’s ID, which the manager on duty had to carefully review, plus physical storage of forms.

“It was quite an unfriendly, administrative journey," said Jennifer Lombard Knight, director of front office operations.

Sertifi Solution

Using Sertifi's digital authorizations solution, the hotel now sends all authorization forms to guests via email to complete securely online in a PCI-compliant manner. Each form includes an e-signature from the cardholder to further help reduce the amount of disputes, strengthen protection from scams, and prevent revenue loss.

Since implementing Sertifi, the hotel has radically reduced the number of monthly chargebacks and non-refundable chargeback fees from the hotel’s acquiring bank. Aside from better control over fraudulent activity, the team's also spending less manual time filing and following up on fraud-related cases.

Results

Guaranteed Completed Forms

Sertifi helps the hotel combat incomplete forms, like forms missing address information, erroneous forms containing mistakes, and illegible forms. These issues used to occur 40% of the time, created prolonged delays, and had employees spending countless hours on follow-ups.

“Sertifi lets us take an actual authorization on the guest’s card. It validates through the cardholder’s address and allows our team to be more productive on the job,” said Lombard Knight.

A Faster Guest Experience

Since implementing Sertifi, the total working time required of a guest is 18x quicker. They're no longer hassled with locating a functioning printer and fax machine and can sign anywhere, anytime.

This led to an overall turnaround time taking minutes instead of days, letting the hotel's employees focus on what matters most – creating extraordinary guest experiences.