Integrated Payment Gateway Improves Security for Theme Park Lodging

5/5/2016
Darien Lake, located 30 miles outside Buffalo, New York, is a theme and water park that also offers a variety of lodging experiences, including campsites, hotel and cabin rentals, and even luxury camping, or “glamping.” Darien Lake’s lodging facilities can accommodate more than 7,000 guests daily, so they needed a reliable and secure payment gateway that could handle a large amount of transactions while maintaining a high level of transaction security.
 
When new management desired immediate changes to the payment processing system in the lodging areas of the park, there were several key factors that the Darien Lake management team was looking for when making their decision. First and most importantly, they wanted to add additional layers of payment security to their lodging facilities. The guest experience is Darien Lake’s top priority, and that includes the security of their guests’ credit and debit card transactions.   

When considering which direction to take, Shift4 was one of the first names that came to mind. Representatives from Darien Lake had met with members of the Shift4 team at previous Host Users Group (HUG) conferences, an annual conference organized by PAR Springer-Miller, who provides Darien Lake with their property management system (PMS). “Every time we’d go to HUG, there was always something new that Shift4 showed us,” says Marie Bell, IT Director, Darien Lake. “It seemed like it was always Shift4 who was introducing us to innovations in payments instead of trailing behind, promising to have it down the line.”
 
Shift4’s TrueTokenization® solution was an appealing feature because it reduced the risk of payment data theft. TrueTokenization takes a customer’s cardholder data (CHD) and replaces it with a random, alphanumeric value, or TrueToken®, so that CHD is never stored in the payment system. The data is instead stored at Shift4’s secure, offsite, PCI-compliant data centers.

The second factor was timeliness. They needed to integrate as quickly as possible. They reached out to Shift4 to see how soon they could install DOLLARS ON THE NET and begin using it to take payments at their lodging facilities. Shift4’s answer was simple: 
“How soon do you need it?” 
 
Swift integration
Shift4 immediately began the expedited installation at Darien Lake. The team at Darien Lake was pleased with how little they needed to be involved during the installation process. All of the coordination and preparation was handled by Shift4 to make sure that the new payment processing interface ran flawlessly with their processor, PMS, and reservation system, as well as with their various payment devices, such as Ingenico, Citrix, and ID TECH.
 
Within a week, all points of sale in Darien Lake’s lodging areas and their reservation system were equipped with DOLLARS ON THE NET and they began taking reservations and payments immediately. “We were even able to take additional payments at a location within the park that was lagging, and Shift4 was able to ‘Band-Aid’ it for us.” recalls Brian Cousins, Accommodations Sales Manager, Darien Lake. The installation and transition were smooth and seamless for their employees and, most importantly, for their guests. 
 
For those in the hospitality industry that typically keep CHD on file before, during, and after a guest’s stay, there is a need for enhanced payment security. In addition to TrueTokenization, Darien Lake also integrated i4Go®, Shift4’s payment security solution that applies tokenization to CHD in bookings from Cenetic, their third-party booking engine, before it goes through the PMS. i4Go ensures that their guests’ card data doesn't enter the hotel environment. 
 
Less than a month after integrating with Shift4, Darien Lake’s payment system was put to the test. They ran a Cyber Monday promotion in November 2014 that brought in more than 1,400 reservations in less than 48 hours, setting a two-day record for reservations taken at Darien Lake. Every reservation transaction was routed through DOLLARS ON THE NET, and despite having less than a month of experience with the gateway, there were no malfunctions or problems of any kind.
 
Darien Lake recently upgraded their PAR Springer-Miller system, and with that they were able to add yet another security feature: True P2PETM. Shift4’s point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution sets a new standard for payment security. True P2PE encrypts each transaction at the point of sale, ensuring that CHD never enters the payment device or PMS. This reduces PCI scope and their exposure to breaches while maintaining and even simplifying PCI compliance.

With all these features combined, Darien Lake is able to run their business with the peace of mind that their guests’ sensitive payment information is in good hands. DOLLARS ON THE NET is the industry’s most sophisticated and secure payment gateway that can help protect any merchant environment from the dangers of data theft and card fraud.
 
 
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