3 Brilliant Ways Hotels Can Prevent Credit Card Fraud

Accepting card payments is essential when operating a hotel business. Providing guests the convenience to pay at their desired point of sale is a crucial part of the hospitality technology experience. Not only does it increase revenue through multiple POS across a hotel, but also streamline your brand name.  

A worrying fact, however, is that credit card fraudsters are getting smarter, and hotel businesses are at major risk. CreditCards.com reported in 2017 that while card fraud has risen to alarming numbers, the types of frauds being committed are also evolving.

” the constant stream of phishing attacks we receive where someone is trying to lure us into providing passwords so they can steal funds or commit identity theft,” … “This includes the seemingly endless number of robocalls that we get over cell phones, fraudulently urging us to call to lower our credit card rate or answer in response to a problem with the IRS that doesn’t actually exist,”

Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at BankRate – Business Insider

The modern tech-savvy traveler demands a complete technology experience when staying at hotels and resorts. This means user security, protection of personal information, smart devices, internet security, and other forms of cybersecurity is present at hotels for all guests across a property.

Preventing credit card fraud is a common strategy for every business accepting card payments and an even more critical issue for hotels. Due to the massive amounts of data they process, hotels are a gold mine for fraudsters steal personal & card data.

3 Ways Hotels Can Prevent Credit Card Fraud

Hotel owners need to implement stringent measures to ensure user security, guest device security, network security and personal information security across their properties. Here are the 3 most common ways hotels prevent credit card fraud.

PCI Compliance & Employee Training

Payment card industry (PCI) compliance is a rigorous anti-fraud system, primarily created by members of the card industry for secure payments at hotels. Built on the foundations of 12 comprehensive rules, this compliance system is overseen by the PCI Council.

PCI compliance is one of the most rigorous set of rules devised to combat the menace of card fraud. We have already covered PCUI compliance rules and its importance for hotel tech in an earlier blog, you can read it here.  

PCI rules emphasize four major aspects to protect against card fraud:

• Securing the network infrastructure of hotels
• Compliant hardware to protect against zero-day threats
• Authorization of personnel to store & access data in hotels
• IT Security Policy development & management for the asset

PCI compliance training is also a cornerstone of creating a secure environment for card payments. The staff must know about the hotel’s IT security policy, best practices to understand card data protection, and authorization benchmarks.

Request for Credit Card & Identification Proof

A clever way that most hotels confirm credit card authenticity in case of online payments is by simply requesting the customer show their credit card and identification documents. This simple step makes payments secure in hotels and gives the guest a feeling of absolute data security.

A credit card is usually registered to a permanent address, which can be verified by any hotel accepting card payments. While this may not entirely eradicate card fraud, it is one of the best techniques to eradicate identity fraud.

Trained hotel staff can then inspect a fraudulent card for its many security features built in by vendors like VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay, etc. These can include a series of security identification marks that include:

• Request for the physical card
• Merchant logo e.g. VISA or Mastercard Logo on front of the card
• Presence of the microchip
• Bank hologram logo either on front or back
• Confirming the 16 digit card number and cross-checking it with the date and 3 digit CVV or CV2 number at the back  

Another crucial factor is to reduce human errors in the payment process. Here are some excellent tips to reduce the chances of human errors in the payment process:

1. Use AVS for address authentication, provided by the payment machine vendor. Do remember it only verifies card addresses in the USA.  
2. Verify the card’s 3 digit code at the back, termed the CVV, CVC or CID number.    
3. Request a phone number and call the guest back to confirm the transaction.
4. Ask for the name of the bank on the front of the card.
5. Request a certified signature from the customer.

Hiring Hotel Data Security Providers

Hotel technology management companies readily provide hotels the hardware, software, and training for secure payment processing. These specialist technology management partners are professionally skilled and certified by payment vendors for designing & integrating user data security systems.

At AHT, in addition to hotel data security, we are also P.I.I security providers. Our specialist CIO’s and Data Management experts dwell into the world of data security to get the latest insights, vulnerability reports, and tools to ensure your guests are secure.  

After 2 decades in operation, Advanced Hospitality has built seamless processes, a team of hospitality technology specialists, rigorous security benchmarks, and global vendor partnerships to deliver the most ironclad technology security infrastructure for hotels.  

When you hire us as your dedicated hotel data security providers we take control of your technology security. Advanced Hospitality reviews & revises your tech security policies and upgrades them to counter the many vulnerabilities prevailing, hence making your infrastructure futureproof.

Our expert CIOs then evaluate your hardware for compliance, your software for bugs, and rigorously test your technology for vulnerabilities. Supported by a skilled team of remote & on-site support experts, Advanced Hospitality keeps your hotel & guests data safe 24/7.  

Conclusion

Credit card fraud is evolving with the evolution of mobile and cardless payments. The best way for complete card fraud security the important factor is to have complete information about prevailing trends and carrying a sound security infrastructure.

Consider hiring a hotel data security provider who can evaluate your hotel technology, recommend updates, and install compliant tech at your property. It is better to keep your technology security strong than play catch up like the competition.