What good is a present card if it’s a chore to buy or use? Holding this prime of thoughts must be key to hoteliers when contemplating program choices, and it’s notably vital as vacationers start to cash-in present playing cards bestowed on them through the latest vacation season. Reward playing cards and different types of various fee have gotten more and more well-liked with shoppers, with a latest Capital One research discovering that the U.S. present card market is expected to generate $324.5 billion in revenue in 2024 and develop 17.7 p.c yearly. Clearly, vacationers nonetheless have extra to provide, and hoteliers should make the method as simple as potential to faucet into this profitable income stream.

Reward playing cards are a well-liked approach for individuals to share journey as a consequence of their comfort. Relatively than straight reserving a visit, present playing cards permit recipients to pick the journey of their selection and apply a credit score towards it when it’s most handy for them. Accommodations are usually blissful to simply accept present playing cards as a result of their use spurs different purchases on the property, however efficiently implementing them continuously creates extra working challenges, primarily relying on whether or not a lodge’s Property Management System resolution is designed to totally accommodate them inside the total operational ecosystem.

Essentially the most important barrier stopping resorts from effectively implementing profitable bodily and on-line present card operations is because of restrictions inside their know-how stack. Accommodations should embrace know-how able to versatile fee processing and eschew siloing different departments from each other. Siloed operations trigger a host of issues in today’s operating environment, from a lack of data transparency to potential security concerns. Most significantly, disconnected methods trigger inefficiencies at a time when operators must be constructing belief with shoppers.

Embracing Personalization

The very first thing hoteliers ought to think about when deciding to enhance present card operations is the acquisition expertise from the visitor’s perspective. Is your present card buying accessible on-line with e-gift card achievement? Is your fee processing setting constant together with your model? Does your lodge supply a boilerplate Visa card or a novel branded card? Branded playing cards are extra impactful as a result of they affiliate future purchases together with your property. This is a useful asset for unbiased resorts, which ought to search know-how companions able to providing personalised playing cards to broaden their model presence.

Reward playing cards additionally include distinctive caveats in observe. Playing cards are sometimes misplaced, bought for the incorrect visitor, or now not acknowledged for a wide range of causes. As such, resorts ought to have the ability to rapidly monitor, promote, swap, and void playing cards as wanted. Lodge staff ought to have the ability to rapidly analyze a card’s stability and simply activate new playing cards for company. New controls additionally exist to assist find the stability on misplaced playing cards, monitor purchasers and recipients, and supply a full transactional historical past.

These components are important for sustaining a high-quality, constant card ecosystem that company can get pleasure from with out burdening operators. Reward card performance additionally ties properly into promotions and in-person occasions on property and must be promoted upfront to extend visitor curiosity.

Gifting Consistency

Entry to present playing cards considerably uplifts your lodge’s identification and recognition and has real-world implications that may positively impression enterprise. Maestro PMS has beforehand spoken about how gift cards can be a useful way to distribute tips fairly and consistently among employees. The identical system can be utilized to handle each visitor and lodge affiliate playing cards. Delivering ideas by way of present playing cards can also present a extra clear and equitable tip setting that advantages staff whereas presenting a transparent paper path for lodge homeowners.

The important thing to present playing cards, notably for unbiased resorts, is to make them as easy to supply and ship as potential. Whether or not on-line with bodily or egift card achievement or on property present card buying, present playing cards ought to embody the that means of “present” and, subsequently, should be a welcome and handy technique to distribute funds. The extra handy, the simpler for all customers. This implies getting access to dependable tech assist ought to errors or sudden challenges come up with accessing, transferring, or voiding playing cards.

Experiences are again on shoppers’ want lists in a giant approach, with CNBC lately calling a journey expertise the “hottest present” of 2024. In accordance with their figures, three out of four Gen Z and Millennial consumers mentioned they might somewhat obtain a “enjoyable expertise or journey” than a conventional present this yr. When contemplating how tough it’s to guess the correct journey for each traveler, present playing cards would be the protected and dependable reply. Let’s be certain that they are surely.