New research from Adyen highlights a crucial factor impacting hotel bookings in the UAE: payment flexibility. The study, featured in Adyen\u2019s UAE Hospitality Report, shows that 63% of UAE residents abandoned their hotel booking process due to the unavailability of their preferred payment method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report uncovers a significant gap between consumer expectations and the current state of payment options in the hospitality sector. Despite a clear consumer preference for diverse payment methods, only 11% of UAE hotels deem this important. Additionally, 32% of UAE hotels are not set up to accept modern payment options like Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and Apple Pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emerging payment trends for 2024 indicate that digital wallets are the most popular choice for hotel bookings in the UAE, used by 36% of respondents. Social media bookings have also gained traction, with 26% of users booking stays through social platforms for the first time in the past year. BNPL services were used by 11% of respondents during the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key findings from the report include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n – Payment Flexibility:<\/strong> More than half (62%) of UAE consumers consider a range of payment options essential. Among these, 37% would be inclined to make larger purchases if given more payment choices, and 37% prefer not to pay the full hotel cost upfront, reflecting the growing trend towards BNPL services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Cancellation Policies:<\/strong> Flexibility in cancellation terms is a major factor for 62% of respondents, who favor free cancellation 24-48 hours before arrival. This highlights the importance of adaptable travel plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Financial Issues Impact Loyalty:<\/strong> Finance-related problems, such as payment declines (26%), the need to share card details over the phone (26%), delays with charges or refunds (22%), and overpayment errors (19%), have led to guests choosing not to rebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sander Maertens, Head of Middle East at Adyen, noted, \u201cThe research reveals that UAE guests have higher expectations for payment options compared to their global counterparts. While 37% of guests in other markets may abandon bookings due to a lack of preferred payment methods, this figure jumps to 63% in the UAE.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the growing importance of seamless payment experiences and flexible policies, 66% of UAE hotel leaders plan to improve their payment processes in the next year. Additionally, 65% believe that investing in advanced financial technology can offer a competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For hotels looking to attract and retain guests, addressing payment flexibility and financial issues is critical in today\u2019s competitive hospitality market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New research from Adyen highlights a crucial factor impacting hotel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":86640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9624],"tags":[],"contributor":[9732],"class_list":["post-86639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smart-sectors","contributor-news-desk"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/06-05-e1726744359502.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Lubna","author_link":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/author\/lubna\/"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86639"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=86639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}