4 Ways Fintech Can Help Your Boutique Hotel

The hospitality industry was amongst the hardest hit by the pandemic over the past year and a half. That makes the upcoming year extremely important for the future success of your business. It may not seem like it, but right now is the time to take your hotel to the next level with an investment in Fintech.

2021 is going to lay the foundation for many businesses’ futures for years to come. With the peak season almost here, now is the perfect time to invest in your hotel. One area that almost any business can always be striving to improve is their finances. There are plenty of ways to improve the financial situation of your business, but today, we are going to take a deeper dive into the world of Fintech and how you can leverage it across your hotel.

Here are four ways that you can incorporate Fintech into your business.

1. Accounting Made Simple

Accounting is a task that most business owners would rather not have to do. Manually inputting every business transaction can be tedious and time consuming. On top of this, if you are not an expert in business accounting, you can quickly make reporting errors that can throw off all of your data.

In the past, the best way to ensure accounting accuracy was by hiring an accountant. Now, there are many different tools and pieces of technology that can help businesses large and small keep their finances in order.

For hotel owners, investing in a cloud ERP system can save time manually entering data, and improve accounting efficiency across the entire business. Platforms such as Sage Intacct provide business owners with a snapshot of the financial health of their business. These platforms allow businesses to input any transaction, purchase order, track assets, as well as assist with HR functions, and more.

Moving over to the cloud can take time, but the time and money you save in the long-run will outweigh the front-end work you have to do. Having almost all of your business information in one place will allow you to see the bigger picture and make more informed decisions when it comes to your business. If you need assistance with moving to the cloud, check out our consulting services.

2. More Qualified Business Lending

As a business owner, you should always be evaluating the industry that you are in to see if there are any upcoming opportunities for your business to capitalize on.

This year, the hospitality industry will be attempting to rebound in the post-pandemic world. Because of how slow 2020 was, many business owners will be doing anything they can to attract visitors and guests this peak season. Some of the top trends to consider incorporating into your hotel are:

• Contactless Check-In – Even before the pandemic, there has been a growing rate of consumers who prefer to handle tasks themselves. A kiosk in your lobby to compliment your concierge staff will give guests another option when it comes to checking in.
• Modern Food Service Offerings – During the height of the pandemic, many hotels realized that their restaurants and dining offerings were outdated and had high overhead costs. Hotels shouldn’t ditch traditional sit-down dining options all together, just scale back the operation. Offering a less robust traditional dining option, with a cheaper quick service could be more appealing to guests.
• Green Initiatives – With the number of people coming to and from your hotel each month, it can be difficult to lead sustainable efforts. Today, guests are much more mindful of waste and may choose to stay at a hotel chain that has sustainability initiatives that your hotel lacks.

Making a change, big or small, to your business can be costly. Most businesses need to turn to outside funding options to help offset larger purchases.

If you do turn to an outside source for a small business loan, consider looking into the world of Fintech to find a lender. Fintech has upended the business lending space, and now small challenger brands have become appealing to business owners. These challenger brands often offer quicker and more accurate funding, plus you can apply and receive the funds all from the comfort of your own office.

Insights from your new accounting software will help you figure out exactly how much you need to take out to capitalize on these new industry opportunities!

3. Smarter Business Banking

Business banking has evolved greatly over the last five years. In the past, businesses were forced to bank through either national banks, or through a local credit union. While these offerings have worked for a long time, there has been movement made within the financial technology industry to create better banking solutions.

Modern banks, such as Arrival, harness the power of technology to create new robust banking features. These new tech-focused banks usually do not have a physical presence, but rather a concentrated online presence.

Similarly to your ERP or accounting software, these banks put all of your banking information all in one neat dashboard. This allows users to easily send, receive, transfer and look over any financial data surrounding their company.

As a hotel owner, there are multiple vendors, purchases, and other transactions taking place every day. Being able to track these transactions easily through your accounting software as well as your bank will only improve the financial health of your hotel.

4. Expanded Payment Options

Consumers today yearn for seamless experiences where they are not bothered by mundane tasks or time wasting activities. One area of business that has changed due to this consumer trend is peer-to-peer payments.

For a long time, if you needed to buy something you had a few ways to pay; cash, a credit or debit card, or a check. Now, consumers have these options and more with e-wallets, virtual cards, and cryptocurrencies that they want to use at more establishments. With the demand for digital payments on the rise, your hotel could be turning guests away if you do not offer it as an option.

Offering more ways to pay is a consumer friendly practice that could win over new customers, as well as convert existing customers into loyal ones. Most POS systems on the market including Sage allow merchants to accept any major credit or debit card as well as cash, NFT payments, and online payments.

If you are a cryptocurrency believer, there are a few new POS systems on the market that accept the major types of cryptocurrencies. If this is something you are considering, check out the capabilities of Cyclebit POS, one of the newest systems offering business crypto payments.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that the change is something consumers will benefit from. With the hyperfast, convenient world we live in, you could be losing customers if your payment process is dated.

Well there you have it. Four ways you can leverage Fintech into your hotel this upcoming year. With peak season almost here, making sure that you know all of your financials will be extremely important.

If you have any questions about our accounting services or document management services, contact us now!