Case Study: Sertifi Enhances Efficiency & Customer Experience at Davidson Hospitality Group
Davidson Hospitality Group: A Legacy of Unique Experiences & Service
Since 1974, Davidson Hospitality Group has set a high bar for delivering “one-of-a-kind guest experiences and industry-leading service.” Its four specialized operating verticals — Davidson Hotels, Pivot, Davidson Resorts, and Davidson Restaurant Group — operate some of the most iconic properties in the U.S., including (to name just a few) The Higgins Hotel and Conference Center at the National WWII Museum, New Orleans; Eden Roc and Nobu Hotel, Miami Beach; Le Meridien, Houston Downtown; and Hilton Cape Rey, Carlsbad.
The Challenge: To Streamline E-Signature, Payment & Authorization Workflows
Given its storied legacy, when Davidson needed an e-signature, payment, and authorization solution, it sought a partner that reflected the hospitality company’s core values of unique experiences and exceptional service.
Tim Debruin, Corporate Director of Catering at Davidson Hospitality Group, responsible for the success of event sales and planning across a diverse range of hotel locations, notes that Davidson’s challenges included long sales agreement and signature request turnaround times and the desire of its clients for a more convenient method of signing documents to avoid printing, signing, scanning and e-mailing — a desire that aligned with Davidson’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
Davidson also sought to maximize PCI compliance when collecting credit card authorization forms, to maximize PCI compliance and convenience for client’s when collecting advance deposits, and to minimize the time needed by property teams to request, track and process advance deposits. In addition, reducing the number of communications necessary to fully execute a booking and reducing declined credit cards when performing advance deposit charges were essential to both operational efficiency and guest satisfaction.
Sertifi Delivers a Range of Efficiencies — and More
Debruin reports that implementing Sertifi solutions has brought a range of efficiencies that are aligned with Davidson’s core values, including its ESG initiatives:
Sertifi for Credit Card Authorizations. Creates a PCI-compliant method of collecting credit card authorization forms using an extremely friendly user interface for client and staff, typically deployed for front desk operations. The paperless solution eliminates the power needed to print and scan documents related to a credit card authorization request.
Sertifi for e-Signatures. Reduces time between signature request and receipt of signature on average by about 60 percent. Ease of obtaining countersignatures with auto routing feature that ultimately delivers a fully countersigned document to the client, all additional signers and anyone else that is designated to receive all fully executed agreements. Eliminates electricity needed to print and scan documents related to a signature request. Provides the convenient signature solution that clients are looking for.
Sertifi for Payments. Creates a PCI-compliant method of collecting advance deposits. Eliminates electricity needed to print and scan documents related to a deposit request. Virtually eliminates declined credit cards used for advance deposits, saving time and money. Creates a convenient place to track all deposit requests, deposits received and delinquent deposits. Provides the ability to set up an entire deposit schedule in a single user session and notify the client automatically of an upcoming deposit within predetermined time periods prior to due date. Automatically contacts the client with a reminder prior to the next deposit being due, which minimizes the time hotel/resort personnel need to spend on this task. Ability to auto copy designated persons on completed transactions (finance, sales manager, etc).
Debruin says, “The adoption of Sertifi's payment solution saves our teams more than half of the time that is traditionally spent requesting, following up, processing a card and providing a receipt for advanced deposit requests. The combined payment and e-signature capabilities allow us to send a client a single request with both a signature request that can be executed in minutes on client’s smartphone, tablet or Mac/PC.”
About Sertifi
More than 16,000 hospitality and travel companies, including Hilton, IHG, and Marriott properties, use Sertifi to bring their e-signature, payment, and authorization workflows into a single, secure solution. Sertifi’s easy-to-use platform helps tens of thousands of businesses in more than 135 countries, with more than $5 billion in payment requests being sent through the system annually. Sertifi safeguards sensitive data with enterprise-grade security, seamlessly integrates with other solutions, and provides expertise and support across the hospitality and travel network.
Learn more at https://corp.sertifi.com/