ABTT

• Channel Management System


  Planning and managing the online distribution of hotel room availability and room rates on distribution channels like online travel agents
• Online Travel Agency (OTA)


  An online platform that sells services related to travel and allows its users to directly book hotels, flights, cars, tours, etc.
• Global Distribution System (GDS)


  A worldwide reservation system that acts as a conduit between travel bookers and suppliers, such as hotels, other accommodation providers and other travel related services
• Main 'big three' legacy GDS systems

  • Amadeus
  • Travelport (that owns systems Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo)
  • Sabre
• Metasearch Engine


  Tools that send search queries to many different sources, aggregate results, and organize them in a ranked list
• Vacation rental or short-term properties


  Accommodations that travelers can rent on a short-term basis, ranging from high-end luxury properties to spare bedrooms in other people's apartments, including homes, condos, villas, apartments and even tents, yurts and boats
• Social media is a growing trend for hotels to engage directly with guests and drive direct bookings
• Central Reservation System (CRS)


  A computerized system that maintains a hotel's room availability, rates, guest information, payment processing, and hotel information all in one place
• Popular CRS systems

  • Opera
  • eZee FrontDesk
  • MSI CloudPM
• Front Office


  The nerve center of a hotel, responsible for reservation, guest service, check-in, check-out, telephone, finance & cashiering, foreign exchange, room assignment, inquiry etc.
• Reservation Process


  1. Determining availability

  2. Obtaining reservation information

  3. Acknowledging the reservation

  4. Canceling reservation
• Who makes the reservation

  • First person contact (initiated by the guest)
  • Second person contacts (made by a friend, associates, relatives or Travel Agent)
  • Third person contacts (reservations made without a specific guest in mind usually using room blocks)
• Denying a reservation


  Inform the client/guest immediately, suggest alternate dates, types of rooms and rates, or try to find a room at an affiliate or neighboring hotel
• Accepting a reservation


  Obtain information on reservation card including essential information (arrival/departure dates, number of nights/persons/rooms, type of rooms, price, guest identification) and non-essential information (estimated time of arrival, special requests, discounts/affiliations, smoking preferences)
• Quality of reservation


  • Non-guaranteed / regular
  • Guaranteed reservation
  • Permanent reservation
  • Confirmed reservation
• Telephone Exchange


  A separate section in large hotels responsible for handling all telephone communications, as phone operators can build or destroy the hotel's image and reputation depending on their voice, volume, language and disposition
• Types of telephone systems

  • PBX (Private Branch Exchange)
  • PABX (Private Automated Branch Exchange)
  • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
• Online is the new offline for hotel payments
• Contactless payments aren't just a fad
• Convenience is the new luxury for hotel payments
• Cash is no longer king, debit cards are the new king
• Fraud and chargebacks are on the rise for hotel payments
• Key players in hotel payment processing

  • Issuing banks
  • Receiving banks
  • Payment networks
  • Payment processors
  • Payment gateways
• Main payment methods


  • Debit card
  • Credit card
  • Cash
  • Mobile wallet
  • Virtual payment
• Issuing bank


  The bank that issues the credit card and initiates the transaction, and transfers the payment
• Receiving bank


  The hotel's bank, which receives the funds from the issuing bank and deposits them into the hotel's bank account
• Payment networks


  Intermediaries between the issuing bank and the receiving bank, e.g. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Alipay, WeChat
• Payment processor


  Provider of the hardware and software needed to process payment transactions and facilitate the transfer of funds
• Payment gateways


  For online payments, the entity that collects credit card information and transfers it securely to the payment processor
• Main payment methods


  • Debit card
  • Credit card
  • Cash
  • Mobile wallet
  • Virtual payment
• How hotel credit card processing works

  1. Guest presents credit card

  2. Employee asks guest to tap/swipe card

  3. Payment processor sends authorization request to customer's bank

  4. Bank sends authorization code

  5. Guest's bank transfers payment to hotel's merchant account
• Card-present (CP) transactions


  Transactions where the customer and their credit card are physically present at the business and pay by inserting their chip (and entering PIN if required)
• Card-not-present (CNP) transactions


  Transactions where customers are not physically present at the business, including online and MOTO (mail-order/telephone order) payments
• Contactless payments


  Transactions where customers are present but do not physically interact with the payment terminal, holding their card or smartphone over the reader
• Mobile wallet or e-wallet

  An application that stores payment method information on a mobile device, allowing contactless payments
• Virtual credit card (VCC)

  A temporary credit card number issued by a bank, allowing online payments without revealing actual card details
• Point of sale (POS)


  The place where a payment transaction is processed, such as a cash register or computer terminal
• Point of interaction (POI)


  A payment device that "interacts" with the cardholder's card through a magnetic stripe, chip, or mobile app
• Cash payments have abdicated the throne, falling to what percent?

  20.5 % in 2020
• POS system


  A system that can be used to conduct retail transactions, processing payments and providing additional features