There are few items more essential to managing your vacation rental properties than a credit card processor. It’s a component of business that should not be taken for granted, and yet many property managers do. Credit card payments are essential to making it easy for guests to book — and essential in making more money. In the vacation property management industry payment processing is seen as a a high risk industry, so it’s important to know who you are selecting and what they offer.
A payment processing service is more than just a function of your software. It is also about support. It is more than just a bank deposit or transaction number — it’s about what happens when there are questions. While the payment integration should be thorough, robust, and seamless, the support behind the software should be reliable, efficient, and responsive. But how do you choose the right partner?
We’ve all dealt with navigating impossible call centers or a maze of confusing help options when trying to solve an issue. And when it comes to your money, failure in navigating the challenges is unacceptable. You need experts who specialize in payments who can provide confidence that your payments are safe and controlled. Look for these things when selecting a payment processing company.
Checklist for Choosing a Payment Processing Partner
1. Experts
A good payment processing company should not only be experts in credit card processing, but they should also be experts in the vacation rental management space. That way, they can offer focused solutions that address the specific needs of the industry and the experience to help navigate the challenges. For example, the challenge of chargebacks. While restaurants might receive one or two chargebacks a year, the vacation rental management space is challenged with them consistently. It is important that your payment processor understands the importance of this specific challenge, and can address it swiftly and efficiently. See more on chargebacks in #6 below.
2. Local Support Team
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to solve a problem by talking to a global call center or help desk. You want a payment processing company that is more of a partner than a vendor. Consider a familiar person who understands your business and can address your questions or problems with responsiveness and confidence. You want a support team that actually wants to help people.
3. Credible Resources with Experience
A dependable credit card processing partner should have the backing of underwriting resources, tools, and platforms. The risk of managing credit can be daunting but an experienced partner can give you peace of mind by promising the resources when you need them. It is important to research your options so you can be confident they are experienced in the travel industry, especially during the pandemic when disputes of transactions and cancellations in the vacation rental space have never been higher.
4. Seamless UX with Easy-to-Use Tools
The frustration that comes with navigating global call centers might be second to the frustration that comes from navigating a poorly designed payment interface. An expert payment processing partner should offer a seamless user experience and easy-to-use tools that make your job easier, not harder.
5. Clean and Accurate Reporting
Much like an easy-to-use interface, you want accurate reporting that matches your bank information—reports that are simple without extraneous or confusing content. Less is more when it comes to analyzing your numbers and reconciling your deposits.. Reporting can also show unusual refund and chargeback velocity which can trigger investigation into the refund circumstances.
6. Chargeback Mitigation
Your partner should offer advice and tips on how to maneuver the challenges of refunds, cancellations, and chargebacks. They should not further delay the processing of refunds and provide appropriate tools to manage chargebacks with confidence and control and an easy interface without faxing or scanning. If you ever have dealt with an insurance or government agency, you know how frustrating fax and scanning information can be. The same is true of the payment processing arena. The more external steps involved, the more likely inaccuracies and mistakes can occur. It is also time consuming which means a direct negative impact on other guest priorities and your own bottom line.
At LiveRez we are proud partners with the Lynnbrook Group. They are vacation industry payment experts and meet every detail of the above criteria with a seamless integrated solution. Most importantly, they combine a great software interface, tools, and platforms with personal support from people who care about your success.
Lynnbrook is also able to handle without fail, one of the most difficult aspects of property management—cancellations and chargebacks. You might even say they have chargeback mitigation down to a science. Their end-to-end management includes:
- Consulting on your specific circumstances
- Sharing general best practices
- Showing you how to submit your case
- Documentation, submission, and the status of your case are easily accessed at any time in a customer portal.
Lynnbrook understands that when a refund is delayed, it reflects poorly on the property manager which is why they’re committed to issue refunds within 24 to 48 hours with all merchants that qualify. There are no excessive holds and delays leading to angry phone calls and bad reviews. If the money was paid through Lynnbrook, it will be refunded in a timely and efficient manner.
With Lynnbrook as a payment processing partner, you will be able to call one number and speak to a friendly and familiar person who gets you and your business. Their experience and knowledge ensure that no problem is too complex. You will gain cost savings, time savings, more extensive knowledge of your business, and an honest, hardworking partner you can depend on.
When you get excellent customer service from your payment processor, that means that you can give excellent customer service to your customers. Lynnbrook is an excellent partner to us and we know they will be an excellent partner to you.
