New research published by Adyen, a global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, has uncovered the importance of a frictionless payment experience for hotel customers, with over a third (32%) of consumers admitting to have left the booking process because they haven’t been able to pay the way they would like.
The findings published in Adyen’s first Global Hospitality Report, suggest the payment experience could be impacting hotel revenues. Nearly a third of hotels (27%) confessed that they can’t currently accept payment options like BNPL and Apple Pay.
New payment trends are emerging across the hospitality sector in 2024, as research found that one of the most popular ways to pay for a hotel experience online was via a digital wallet (20%). Almost one in ten (9%) guests said they had booked a stay via social media for the first time over the past 12 months, and 5% said they had done so using BNPL over the same time period.
The majority of consumers (58%) said that a seamless experience from booking to check-out was important to them when choosing a hotel. The report pointed towards three new trends:
1. Payment flexibility is a deal-breaker: Offering a wide range of payment options is important 40% of consumers surveyed, with 37% admitting greater options would support them making bigger purchases. 35% of hotel guests said they don’t like paying the full cost of a hotel upfront.
2. Cancellation policies are well researched: Flexibility in cancellation policies also emerged as a critical factor in hotel selection, with 53% of travellers considering free cancellation 24-48 hours before arrival a deal-maker.
3. Financial experiences affect returning travellers: Many hotel goers have not rebooked a stay due to finance-related issues or grievances. Specifically, problems with payments, such as card declines or incorrect charges (11%), being requested to share card details over the phone (9%), experiencing delayed charges or refunds (9%) and overpayment due to error (8%).
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