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one ever came back from a hotel or a restaurant raving
The ve ry point of sale about how great it was to use their credit card," she said.
The very point of sale
"They usually talk about a server or front-desk agent, and if
we've all done our jobs, we've made it better for them to do
their jobs by taking technology out of the equation."

Jeff Walls, vice president, solution sales at FreedomPay,
stated the magic behind the scenes enables FreedomPay
and other gateways to deliver complex solutions in
simplified ways.
Hospitality's magical "We make it look easy, where our partners are plugging in

commerce journey devices into their workstations, whether it's PMS (property
management system), POS, or connecting remotely," he
said. "We're configuring that technology and have the
ability to make it look easy because our middleware is
By Dale S. Laszig communicating with the point of sale, PMS systems and
[payment] processors."
ITEC, held June 26 to 29, 2023, at the Metro
Toronto Convention Centre, was a hive of tech, Nice-to-have, must-have
from guest-room towel tracking systems to in-
H room entertainment and self-attended check- Kelly Esten, senior vice president and general manager,
ins. Assorted solutions reflected technology's proliferating enterprise at Toast, pointed out that digital commerce, like
role in the hotel guest experience. our phones, is embedded in our lives.

Produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology "We've all been using [smartphones] for a long time and
Professionals, a global nonprofit hospitality association, they've become part of us, something that we don't ever
HITEC Toronto featured an exhibit hall filled with solutions leave the house without," she said, adding that during
introduced during the pandemic that continue to scale due COVID, numerous technologies that were nice to have, like
to convenience, flexibility and ease of use. I discussed these the ability to order online or on your phone, or to grab a
trends with IHG Hotels and Resorts, Worldpay, Toast, and menu and interact digitally with a restaurant, have become
FreedomPay executives at the Toast and FreedomPay booth. a hotel guest expectation.

Our discussion coincided with the publication of a white In concert with advancements in technology, guest
paper, "Implementation vs. Rewards of Tech Investments," expectations have changed the way restaurants and
prepared by Hanover Research for FreedomPay, Worldpay food and beverage outlets and hotels are approaching
and Cornell. Researchers identified five considerations for technology, which has evolved from "these things I can
tech investment: data privacy, security, reliability, ease of offer my guests" to "things that my guests really can't live
use, and customer satisfaction. without," Esten said.

"Customer satisfaction is the highest priority for the largest May agreed, stating that hotels are still evaluating which
share of companies when purchasing payment solutions," pandemic-related solutions will stick. She noted that
Hanover researchers wrote. "More than half (59%) believe contactless payments and remote ordering are still popular,
customer satisfaction is a high priority. And yet, when it but queried whether other solutions, such as QR code
comes to considering customer preferences, less than a menus, will go back to being nice-to-haves. Throughout
quarter (23%) said they would strongly consider customer this process, she added, our partnership with FreedomPay
preferences vs more than half (67%) who would moderately will give us a strong foundation to build on to create
consider their customer preferences." memorable guest experiences where no one even notices
how they paid.
Magic behind the scenes
Security as table stakes
In opening the discussion, I congratulated FreedomPay for
winning a technology innovation award from Hospitality As Hanover researchers noted, protecting against data
Upgrade magazine and mentioned how the guest experience breaches and cyberattacks is a clear priority: 86 percent of
has improved in recent years, largely driven by the behind- respondents viewed data privacy as a highly or moderately
the-scenes magic of unified commerce. important attribute of their POS and PMS systems.

Marilyn May, head of product management at IHG Hotels "Data breaches can wreak havoc on a company's reputation
and Resorts, noted that commerce fascinates payments and the satisfaction of its stakeholders," researchers wrote.
professionals but is hardly top of mind for consumers. "No "84% of respondents suggest that customer satisfaction
is important for them, and securing valuable personal
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