Streamlining identity verification & payment processing in hospitality 

Valid8 provides key add-on services to software vendors in the hospitality and short-term home rental markets, particularly as their customers are moving rapidly towards touchless processes and greater digital interaction.

Valid8’s customers are generally established providers of customer interaction software, particularly associated with the verification of customers, pre-auth and post-stay payments, as well as the issuance of digital or physical keys.

 

The need for a better solution

Customers utilising short-term accommodation were previously required to prove their identity and provide a pre-auth payment which would often be held for days after checkout. This provided a poor customer experience, particularly when customers had travelled a long distance and just wanted to get to their room. 

On the other hand, administration time and costs for facility owners were generally high, particularly in instances where poor security led to a data breach.  

This has been highlighted with major corporations such as Hilton, MGM Resorts & Hyatt collectively losing over 500 million highly sensitive customer records, resulting in actual or potential fines of tens of millions. 

 

Considerations when deciding to use Latpay + Nuggets

The solution had to seamlessly integrate the identity verification process with payments, plus the ability to ensure total data security for guests without a major change in the operations. 

Further to this, these functions needed to be fully integrated into the existing customer interaction software that direct customers provide to venues, enabling touchless key issue, menu ordering, service bookings and payment without the need to download multiple apps. 

 

The Latpay + Nuggets solution

Latpay & Nuggets incorporated into Valid8’s hospitality service, enhancing the underlying software and fully integrating with the venue’s existing platform, ultimately creating a seamless customer experience. The existing tight integration between Latpay and Nuggets was key to this ability.

Features utilised by the client: 

• Secure Identity Document, personal details and credit/debit card storage with consent-based access
• Customer ID verification
• Face recognition
• Tokenised Credit Card(s) linked to guest account
• Card Pre-auth
• Mobile and EFTPOS/MPOS payments (Front Desk/Restaurant/Bar/Poolside etc.)
• Fast-Checkout payment finalisation from App

 

Major benefits from using Nuggets + Latpay 

• Reduced staff needed at Front Desk
• Reduces payment processing costs (particularly for International credit cards)
• Faster processing of key allocation or enables physical or digital key self-service
• Remove transfer of documents/cards between parties – no-touch processing
• Faster and better customer experience where customers want self-service
• The customer only needs to undertake ID/account setup process once (not every check-in)
• Easier accommodation of multi-lingual needs for ID, payment and check-in processes.
• Reduces card and payment fraud risk
• Removes ID and guest data breach risks
• Increased comfort and surely for guests on ID and payment theft risks
• Removes use of insecure/forgettable/cumbersome username/passwords
• Compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
• Simplifies car park entrance access pre-check-in (no need to issue passes)
• Enables contactless venue/room delivery via third parties
• Secures bags and vehicles (only verified access to guest assets)
• Trust-based history enables removal of pre-auth requirements
• Facilitates increased revenue opportunities by enabling third-party service provider payments with simplified revenue splits

Interested in seeing what Latpay & Nuggets can do for your business? Find out more about our ID and payment platform using biometrics and blockchain technology.