As a hospitality accounting leader, staying on top of financial KPIs is probably high on your priority list. Keeping track of costs related to all parts of the business while ensuring revenue isn’t taken away needlessly can be challenging. However, if you neglect chargebacks and their potential implications for your bottom line, it could cost you more than just lost profit—it may result in fines and damage to your reputation.
Often, we need to distinguish chargebacks from refunds, so it is essential to understand how they are different. A refund is a transaction in which a merchant returns money to the customer who purchased goods or services. This can occur due to dissatisfaction with the service, accidental double charges, or cancelled reservations.
On the other hand, a chargeback is a forced transaction reversal initiated by the cardholder’s bank. Chargebacks are typically initiated when a customer disputes a charge on their bank statement, often claiming that they did not authorize the transaction or that the merchant did not deliver what was promised.
While chargebacks aren’t always avoidable, understanding their root causes and taking proactive steps to mitigate them is essential for protecting your hotel’s brand.
In an industry where customer satisfaction is critical, the ability to solve customer disputes is vital, but when it comes to chargebacks, things get much more complicated. Chargebacks can lead to a loss of revenue, a damaged reputation, and even fines from banks and merchant service providers, damaging business relationships.
One major issue with chargebacks in the hospitality industry is that they often occur long after the guest has consumed the product or service. For example, guests may dispute a hotel charge weeks after their stay, stating they were dissatisfied with the accommodations. This can be frustrating for hotels, as they may need a chance to rectify the situation, and they can receive a chargeback that can result in a significant loss of revenue.
Chargebacks are also time-consuming and costly to fight. To dispute a chargeback, hotels must provide significant evidence to the bank, including signed receipts, emails, and other documentation.
This process can be time-consuming and often requires assistance from legal counsel or specialized chargeback management companies. Banks typically charge a fee for each chargeback received, meaning that a hotel could pay fees for every dispute, regardless of whether they win or lose.
Chargebacks are a significant issue for the hospitality industry, and the cost of chargebacks can be high. While refunds are a necessary part of doing business in the hospitality industry, hotels and restaurants must take steps to prevent and manage chargebacks effectively.
This may include improving communication with guests, implementing fraud prevention measures, and seeking assistance from qualified chargeback management companies. By understanding the real impact of chargebacks, hospitality leaders and revenue managers can minimize revenue loss.
Another approach to controlling the loss due to chargebacks is to be proactive and use AI-powered solutions to address the problem at its root. Simply put, AI solutions can help hospitality leaders expedite the chargeback resolution process as soon as it is initiated and provide leadership with the visibility to know the frequently claimed reason codes, the reason for the delay in addressing the claims, subsequent fines, and the documentation required to address the claims.
Equipped with the correct information and tools, hospitality leaders and revenue managers can take corrective measures to address the chargeback management process tactically and curb revenue losses due to chargebacks.
