Boosting your payments security

The restaurant sector faces security challenges like any other, but new developments in payment technologies could help. Customers want restaurants to make payments feel secure and those restaurants getting the technology right could win customers too.

There’s no real surprise where many of these developments will take place. Mobile technology is often hailed as an essential component of people’s lives, and the hospitality sector is capitalising on this trend to help address security concerns.

Consumers are demanding this technology too. Our research shows that by 2020, a third of them expect developments such as apps to make them feel more secure when paying in restaurants. And that number is only likely to increase. So if you’re not offering these types of payments technologies, you risk losing customers.

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Paul Manktelow, Strategic New Business Manager, Barclaycard, says that one of the biggest security issues in the hospitality sector is around walkouts, with people leaving without paying their restaurant or bar tabs.

“I know one operator who loses thousands of pounds a year on unpaid tabs. That is a big problem and it needs to be fixed,” he says.

“People cancel their cards, or say they don’t recognise the transaction on their statements. But new digital transactions through apps on mobile devices will help enable payment partners to pre-authorise card payments.”

Putting these types of solutions in place seems like a no brainer in terms of cutting restaurant fraud, but there’s a second benefit – customers like it too.

“Nobody likes handing over their card at a bar, and for security reasons people shouldn’t be doing it,” says Paul. “From a consumer point of view, it feels much safer if you’re using a mobile app on your phone which you’ve logged your card number into already. People are reacting to this type of technology really positively.”