RESOURCES

WHAT'S THE BUZZ IN HOSPITALITY?

Mobile Pay: It's Fast and Secure

Mar 03, 2020

According to the Lodging Technology Study, a research report that surveys the U.S. hospitality market and is published annually by Hospitality Technology magazine, almost 40% of survey respondents said that “enhancing payment and data security” was their most important strategic objective in 2020.

It has taken a couple of years for adoption to take hold, but smartphones are being used for purchases at an increasing rate. With digital wallets that store payment information —like Apple Pay or Google Pay, guests can use their phones to make payments wherever businesses have the capability to accept them. Mobile payments are not only considered faster, but they are also more secure than traditional, physical card transactions.

Faster than Physical Cards

At checkout, guests currently either swipe their card or use the embedded chip to insert or tap. The latter two options will eventually become the only choices when using a physical card. Card networks prefer chip cards for their stronger security. Businesses without a chip reader are now liable in the event of fraud. The problem is, it takes roughly 13 seconds to pay with a chip card while swiping or using a mobile wallet can take half the time; and about six seconds faster than swiping, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

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More Secure than Physical Cards

Once a user registers their cards with the mobile wallet applications, the information is stored in a token vault managed by the service provider. Apps like Samsung Pay and Google Pay do not use the credit card information for transactions. Instead, they generate tokens—random 15- to 16-digit numbers that look and work like credit card numbers but are useless if stolen. In addition, unlike physical cards that can be lost or stolen, cards stored within a mobile wallet can only be used by the person who has access to the mobile device. Mobile pay can be just as mobile as guests.