To get started with receiving an EMV terminal that can work for swipe, dip, and tap, please visit: https://lp.tsys.com/partner/bookingcenter/ and enroll now. Due to the COVID-19 fears around hospitality, hotels are suspect for new merchant accounts by under-writers, especially those that process ‘advanced payments’. Many new merchants that are trying get ‘boarded’ are being rejected if they take ‘advanced payments’ because the merchant processor would be liable for returning those payments if the hotel went bankrupt. We expect these new under-writing conditions to pass soon, but that depends on the macroeconomic effects of COVID-19 to our industry.  We have found that the TSYS/Global under-writing process will board new merchants if they have stellar credit and/or are wiling to make concessions to offset the liability of the advanced payments collected.

If you want EMV, and also want to keep accepting ‘advanced payments’, but can’t make the concessions that the TSYS/Global under-writing process demands, then we have found that there are numerous ISO (independent sales reps who sell merchant accounts) that have lees stringent under-writing rules that will board a new hotel without concern for the ‘advanced payments’ policy.  In this case, we use a separate merchant provider for ‘advanced payments’ (which are e-commerce transactions) and the EMV device from TSYS/Global for ‘card present’ payments on-site at the hotel.  

BookingCenter was designed to work this way with payments, and it isn’t noticeable to you staff.  Staff process payments in one of these ways:

• Guest is present and the EMV device is used for tap/dip/swipe onto the Folio.
• Guest is phoning/faxing/emailing and they manually process the payment using the ‘Apply Payment’ button on a Folio,
• Guest books online, or via a Kiosk, and that transaction uses the Traditional MyCard. transaction

All 3 scenarios batch in a single batch report, with the EMV transactions noted as ‘EMV’; the funds merge into a single checking account; and your staff is only adding ‘Payments’ to Folios - whether credits or debits.

There are two ‘down sides’ to this scenario:

1. You are forced to deal with 2 merchant account vendors and thus 2 reps for your payment service.
2. You need to signup 2 merchant accounts with BookingCenter, each one costing a $300 one-time fee. For ongoing fees, we charge $25/mo for the first gateway, the second one only $15/mo to cover PCI costs, for a total of $40/mo for the combined service.

While working this way is not ideal, during the COVID-19 time, we have found this to be necessary for boarding new merchants who require advanced deposits and EMV, and can’t pass through the TSYS/Global under-writing process with those policies intact.  

Contact Us is we can assist with this decision or designing the right payment solution to work with your PMS, online bookings, and Self Check-in process.