Today, online reservation processes have become a significant part of our daily lives. As the use of online reservation platforms for travel, accommodation, dining reservations, event tickets and more rapidly becomes widespread, the ease of these processes has become a top priority for users.
The primary step in facilitating and making online reservation processes convenient is the diversity of online payment methods. In this article, we will delve into the details of payment processes in the online reservation step for both users and businesses.
What Is Online Reservation
In broad terms, an online reservation system enables the online booking of accommodations, bus, plane, or train travel, cultural events, and sports activities. Its most significant convenience is allowing users to make these reservations online.
The system allows customers to enter information relevant to the service they wish to reserve on websites, such as hotels, travel, or events. This information is then transferred to the business’s system, allowing the reservation details to be recorded by the business. Most online reservation systems are confirmed by sending a confirmation email or, optionally, an SMS notification.
The Importance of the Payment Step at Online Reservation:
The payment step is one of the most crucial stages in the online reservation process. We can explore why the payment step holds significant importance for both consumers and businesses in the context of online reservation processes under the following headings:
Customer Experience and Convenience
Like in various fields such as e-commerce, retail, and dining, the payment step plays a critical role in customer experience in online reservation processes.
A fast and seamless payment process facilitates customers in completing their reservations and enhances their satisfaction. On the contrary, a complicated or slow payment step can lead to customers being unable to complete their transactions. This, in turn, reduces the conversion rate on online reservation sites and increases the cart abandonment rate.
Especially in reservations made through mobile devices, designing the payment step simply and functionally helps customers quickly complete their transactions.
For more detailed information, you can check our articles “Reducing Cart Abandonment & Increasing Conversion Rate | Part 1” and “Reducing Cart Abandonment & Increasing Conversion Rate | Part 2,” where we provide practical information to improve the payment step on your website.
Security
Ensuring that customer information is secure during the payment process is crucial for both businesses and users. Meeting relevant standards and legal obligations is important for this.
For example, with our card storage solution under the PCI-DSS-1 certification, Craftgate facilitates our member merchants to offer their customers the ability to shop with stored cards, ensuring there is no question mark regarding security.
Cancellation and Refund Policies
The payment stage constitutes a part of the cancellation and refund processes and the order formation in online reservation processes. Cance and refund processes are crucial for customers, especially for online reservation processes with a high basket amount, such as travel, hotel, and flight reservations. Therefore, businesses should provide clear information to customers on how to carry out cancellation and refund procedures. This not only increases customer satisfaction but also enhances the reliability and respectability of the business.
Payment Collection with Authorization
The authorization process blocks a certain amount, especially preferred by the hotel, car rental, or daily house rental companies, enabling it to be withdrawn from the customer’s card later. The authorization process is commonly favored by online reservation companies. As discussed in our article titled “What is Authorization? How Does the Authorization Process Work?” travel and tourism businesses often prefer to receive payments through authorization.
This method is a deposit function, especially in holiday rentals or hotel services (such as minibar expenses). Thus, it allows businesses to cover any potential damages during the accommodation.
Virtual POS and Payment Service Integrations
Online reservation platforms and businesses can offer flexibility to their customers in terms of payments by collaborating with different payment service providers. Collaborating with virtual POS systems and payment service providers that offer installment and campaign advantages can be a preference for customers.
In addition, they can expand their customer base by making agreements with payment service providers abroad or alternative payment methods.
However, technical integration with all these payment service providers implies a lengthy process and operational burden for businesses. With Craftgate’s Payment Gateway feature, they can work with various virtual POS systems, payment service providers, and alternative payment methods from a single point. This way, they eliminate the burden of separate integration processes for businesses.
The Contribution of Payment Method Diversity to Online Reservation Processes
Online businesses operating in the reservation sector find it crucial to collaborate with different service providers during the payment collection process to benefit from various commission rates.
This enables businesses to reduce the amount they pay for commissions by taking advantage of competitive rates. To achieve this, they need to collaborate with different virtual POS systems. However, working with various payment service providers alone may not be sufficient. Businesses require an orchestration platform with mechanisms to automatically route payment requests to different virtual POS systems. Otherwise, this routing process would mean additional workload and time for businesses.
Studies in the e-commerce field indicate that websites offering customers various payment methods in the payment area are more preferred by users. In fact, according to research conducted in the United Kingdom, online retailers experience an annual loss of 2.13 billion euros due to the inadequacy of the offered payment methods. The research highlights the importance of online stores providing multiple payment methods on their websites.
Why Should Online Reservation Sites Use a Payment Orchestration Platform?
Businesses operating in the online reservation sector, by expanding the payment options they offer to their customers, can provide their customers with the opportunity to benefit from different campaigns, installments, points, etc., while also reducing commission expenses.
So, how can businesses in the online reservation sector diversify their payment processes? Considering the dynamics and technology of today’s online payment world, undoubtedly, the answer to this question is payment orchestration platforms.
For example, with Craftgate Payment Orchestration and its value-added solutions, businesses can:
- Start working with any payment service provider they choose (without the need for additional integration processes) from a single point.
- Direct payment requests coming to their websites to the most advantageous virtual POS for themselves, thus reducing payment expenses.
- Increase their turnover by seamlessly collecting payments even in case of virtual POS interruptions and systemic payment errors.
- Become a preferred choice by offering their customers different payment options, including alternative payment methods.
- Elevate customer satisfaction to the highest level with a seamless and trouble-free payment step.
For businesses in the online reservation sector, two significant advantages of diversifying payment processes with an orchestration platform can be examined under the following two headings:
Reducing Payment Commissions
Businesses can use the automatic mechanisms of payment orchestration platforms to direct payment requests to the most advantageous virtual POS for them. Thus, they can reduce commission expenses by turning their commercial agreements with banks and payment institutions into a competitive advantage.
Offering Different Payment Options to Customers
The generally higher basket amount in online reservation processes compared to other e-commerce channels and the increasing diversity in the payment world have made it necessary to offer customers different payment options. Recognizing this opportunity, businesses in the online reservation sector tend to make agreements with various virtual POS, payment institutions, and alternative payment methods. Many online reservation websites that want to receive payments abroad prefer working with payment institutions in their target markets.
Businesses, recognizing the difficulty of integrating with different payment service providers domestically and internationally, facilitate this process with Craftgate’s Payment Gateway feature. By integrating with Craftgate, they can start using any payment service provider they choose.
As seen, the payment stage in online reservation processes holds significant importance for both businesses and customers. A smoothly functioning payment step and the diversity of options offered during the payment phase enhance the customer experience. Additionally, it provides a cost advantage for businesses. Businesses in the online reservation sector can experience all these advantages from a single point through payment orchestration platforms.
If you would like to learn more about the advantages obtained by member businesses in the online reservation sector with Craftgate, you can contact our team here.
To share our experience and knowledge in the online payment world with you, we regularly publish content on the Craftgate Blog.
