simplifying hotel customer payments across Asia
SiteMinder, the global hotel industry’s leading guest acquisition platform, has partnered with AsiaPay, a digital payment solution and payment service provider, to simplify the online payments process for consumers booking a hotel room in Asia. Through the partnership,AsiaPay’s payment gateways – PayDollar, PesoPay and SiamPay – have been integrated into SiteMinder’s online booking engine to provide an automated and secure way for hotel customers to make an upfront payment when booking on their desktop or mobile.
Joseph Chan, CEO of AsiaPay stated “Asia has long been popular as a leisure and business travel destination. Together with SiteMinder and its strong brand among hotels in the region, we are well prepared to support hotels to be ready for the resurgence in travel that is to be driven by both international travellers and those seeking local staycations. More Asian travellers make and pay for their hotel bookings online, via desktop or mobile, than through any other channel. For hotels in the region to stay competitive, it is important for those millions of travellers to find the online booking and payment process simple and convenient.”
SiteMinder’s online booking engine is used by thousands of hotels across Asia to enable consumers to book directly. From this month, hotel users in 12 countries can now accept their customers’ preferred methods of payment securely, including international credit card, internet banking, and regional digital wallets -such as AliPay, WeChat Pay and GrabPay, to eliminate the need for costly terminals and manual payment processing during customer check-in. Upfront payments will also reduce cancellations or no-shows for hotels in those 12 country locations, which are Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Macau, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Bradley Haines, Regional Vice President of Asia Pacific at SiteMinder, said “hotels today are challenged to keep up with the latest consumer demands, behaviours and expectations. Additionally, this year has given rise to booking cancellations and the need for online security like never before. Through our partnership with AsiaPay, our hotel customers can offer greater choice to their guests, so they can increase booking conversions online and save time by not having to manage payments manually onsite. By receiving payments upfront, hotels also have a greater ability to create contactless check-in experiences.”
SiteMinder is used in more than 35,000 hotels, across 160 countries, to generate in excess of 100 million reservations worth over US$35 billion in revenue for hotels each year. The partnership with AsiaPay comes at a critical time for hotel businesses in Asia, which are experiencing credit card declines, daily payment reconciliations and increased data security standards.Eligible hotels can now reduce the time, cost and risk involved with handling payments manually, by giving their customers the ability to book ahead through a process that complies with the latest Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
AsiaPay is headquartered in Hong Kong and offers its professional digital payment service and solutions with quality local account and technical service across 15 offices in Asia. It is an accredited payment processor and payment gateway solution vendor for banks, and certified international 3-D Secure vendor for Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Discover Global Network and UnionPay.