Vacation Rental Payments: a 360 Degree View from YapStone

Online transactions are a cornerstone of the vacation rental industry. Avoiding common pitfalls and understanding the evolving climate of vacation rental payments can create a seamless experience for both guests and property management companies.

At the latest KigoWorld event, David Weiss, President of Kigo partner YapStone – an end-to-end provider of payments solutions – discussed vacation rental payments challenges and trends.

Safeguarding data

A secure transaction is the only good transaction, but cyber threats to data are growing, and all industries – including vacation rentals – are vulnerable. In the Digital Age, protecting guests’ information is more important than ever. A recent KPMG study found that roughly 20 percent of consumers would immediately end a relationship with a company affected by a cybersecurity hack, regardless of the company’s response.

Detailing YapStone’s commitment to alleviating such risks, Weiss noted YapStone processed nearly $20 billion in transactions last year.

“So it would come as no surprise that we’ve spent tens of millions of dollars over the past several years in the areas of cybersecurity, data protection, data privacy, fraud mitigation and business continuity/disaster recovery,” he said. “It’s absolutely critical we protect our partners and our customers from these ever-increasing threats.”

Stepping into the future

While security and data protection are the direst of concerns, the industry faces other day-to-day challenges. Weiss pointed to competition, channel strategy, revenue optimization and globalization.

A Statista report found that global vacation rental revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 8 percent through 2022.  Intuitive solutions can help counter challenges related to that level of promising growth. KigoPay, for example, allows vacation rental managers to accept multiple currencies, as well as all major debit and credit cards from most countries.

Many of the other noted challenges – namely, competition and channel strategy – play into emerging trends.

“We believe there will be more crossover between short-term rentals (vacation) and long-term rentals (residence),” Weiss said.

Simplifying the experience

For payment processing for today and tomorrow, Kigo’s partnership with YapStone provides an integrated marketplace solution.

“Our aim is to reduce friction and make it easier for property management companies to onboard, facilitate payments and get paid,” Weiss said. “We’re partnering with Kigo to provide a better experience for both property managers and travelers in the vacation rental industry.”

To learn more about KigoPay, schedule a free demo today!