The hospitality industry is facing a pressing issue: rising payment costs and margin pressures. A recent announcement by RMS, a global platform for hotels, motels, serviced apartments, short-term rentals, and campgrounds, has brought attention to this challenge. By integrating with GoCardless, a global bank payment provider, RMS aims to help hospitality operators tackle these costs head-on.
According to the companies' press release, card processing fees can range between 1.5% and 3%, often higher for online or manually entered transactions. For mid-sized hotels processing $500,000 in annual card payments, this translates to a significant cost: $7,500–$15,000 in fees each year.
This financial burden is becoming increasingly difficult for hospitality businesses to absorb as regulatory scrutiny around surcharges increases across markets. The partnership between RMS and GoCardless seeks to alleviate these pressures by enabling operators to take direct bank payments alongside cards within a single platform.
By integrating with GoCardless, RMS provides hospitality businesses with greater flexibility in how they collect payments, reducing costs and improving reliability across deposits, installments, and longer stays. This is a strategic move for the industry, as payment methods are becoming an increasingly important aspect of guest expectations.
The current payment landscape has been criticized for being inflexible, with many hospitality businesses relying on outdated methods that were not designed for their unique needs. The partnership between RMS and GoCardless addresses this issue by offering a more cost-effective and dependable way to manage payments.
For Adam Seskis, CEO at RMS, the integration represents a significant shift in how payments are treated within the hospitality industry. 'For a long time, payments have been treated as a back-office function,' he said. 'But that's changing quickly.'
The partnership is seen as a response to the evolving needs of hospitality businesses and their guests. As costs rise and guest expectations evolve, the way businesses collect payments is becoming a critical decision.
According to Ian Boyd, general manager at GoCardless, the integration with RMS provides a more predictable and lower-cost way for operators to get paid. 'Cards work well for one-off transactions,' he said. 'But they're not always the best fit for deposits, instalments, or longer stays.'
The partnership between RMS and GoCardless offers hospitality businesses a cost-effective solution to manage payments in an increasingly margin-conscious market.
By integrating with GoCardless, RMS provides hospitality operators with more control over their revenue collection, helping them lower costs and create a more reliable approach. This is a significant development for the industry, as it addresses a pressing issue that has been affecting businesses for years.
