The Ampersand Hotel Case Study

The Challenge

The Ampersand relied on a traditional card-not-present (CNP) process for deposits and prepayments.

This created operational pressure across several areas:

• Expanded PCI scope
  Handling card data increased compliance requirements and exposure to risk
• Manual reconciliation
  Payments had to be entered and matched to guest folios within OPERA
• Time spent on administration
  Reservations and front desk teams were tied up with payment processing tasks
• Chargeback exposure
  Unauthorised transactions created ongoing financial risk
• Higher transaction costs
  Manual CNP payments carried higher acquiring fees

These issues affected both internal efficiency and the consistency of the guest experience.

The Solution

The Ampersand implemented SOTpay with full integration into Oracle OPERA PMS and Worldpay acquiring.

This introduced a secure, automated payment process aligned with the hotel's operational workflow.

Key elements of the solution:

• Secure Pay-by-Link payments
  Guests receive branded payment requests via email or SMS and complete transactions on their own device
• Automated OPERA posting
  Payments are assigned to the correct folio in real time, removing manual reconciliation
• Reduced PCI exposure
  Card data is not handled by staff, lowering compliance scope
• Structured payment process
  Payments follow a consistent, trackable workflow across all channels

The Results

Following implementation, The Ampersand saw clear improvements across security, efficiency and financial performance:

• Reduced fraud-related chargebacks
  Authenticated payment flows lowered exposure to unauthorised transactions
• Lower transaction costs
  Payments processed through secure channels reduced acquiring fees
• Time savings for staff
  Automation removed repetitive administrative tasks
• Improved accuracy
  Automatic posting eliminated reconciliation errors
• Better guest experience
  Guests completed payments quickly without phone calls or delays