Hotel guest acquisition platform SiteMinder has joined forces with AsiaPay, a digital payment service provider, to simplify the online payment process for consumers booking a hotel room in Asia.
Through the partnership, which comes amid rising consumer demand for choice and contactless experiences, 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.
From this month, hotel users across 12 destinations can accept their customers’ digital methods of payment securely 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 locations, namely, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Macau, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Joseph Chan, CEO of AsiaPay, said: “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.”
Bradley Haines, regional vice president of Asia Pacific at SiteMinder, added that the partnership allows its hotel customers to “offer greater choice to their guests, so they can increase booking conversions online and save time by not having to manage payments manually onsite”.
SiteMinder’s partnership with AsiaPay comes at a critical time for hotel businesses in Asia, which are plagued by credit card declines, daily payment reconciliations and increased data security standards. The companies’ partnership means 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.
