High season without loss of profit

Flood of payments in high season - the silent margin killer

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The summer months bring full houses and a constant stream of card payments. What is an uncomplicated “tap” for your guests can significantly impact your profitability in the background. While hoteliers rightly focus on service and guest experience, payment fees often become a silent margin killer. A thorough look at your payment processes can literally pay off — especially now.

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Surcharging in the DACH region: What is allowed?

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More and more hotels are considering compensating for increased credit card fees with surcharges. But the legal situation is complex and differs significantly between Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

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• Germany: Since 2018, surcharges for common cards (e.g. Visa, Mastercard) have been prohibited for consumers (Section 270a BGB). Surcharging remains permitted for B2B payments - for example when making company bookings by business travelers.
  
  

• Austria: In line with EU Directive PSD2, surcharges for standard cards in the B2C sector are generally prohibited. However, there may be exceptions to special tourist services that require a case-by-case legal review.
  
  

• Switzerland: Surcharges are generally permitted here, but must be transparently communicated in advance and objectively limited to actual costs (source: Federal Department of Finance EFD).
  
  

Practical tip: Use a POS system that automatically differentiates between business and private customers and only charges charges for eligible transactions. Train your staff - transparency creates trust and prevents misunderstandings.

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Cash discount as a legal alternative to the surcharge

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If mark-ups are not allowed, another strategy is possible: They increase the list price moderately and grant cash payers a discount. This practice is legally harmless, but is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

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According to market studies, over 80% of hotel guests under 35 years of age now prefer to pay digitally (e.g. cards, wallets, mobile payments). In urban hotels or resorts, an overly obvious focus on cash payments can even be perceived as backward.

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Strategic classification: Cash discounts are more suitable for traditional inns or businesses with an older target group. Modern hotels rely better on fair, transparent fees and digital acceptance.

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Decipher payment statements and identify potential savings

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Payment statements often look like a jungle of interchange fees, scheme fees and acquirer margins. This lack of transparency is no coincidence and costs hotels money.

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To classify: A hotel with 200 rooms and an annual turnover of around €2 million via card payments pays an average of 15,000—25,000 € in payment fees (industry experience value). Targeted negotiations or changes of provider can often save 15-30% of these costs — equivalent to €2,250 to 7,500 per year.

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recommendation: Have your last 12 months of payment statements checked by a specialized payment advisor or analysis software. Pay particular attention to:

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• hidden monthly basic fees
  
  
• excessive Interchange Plus surcharges
  
  
• double-charged PCI compliance fees
  
  
• expensive terminal rental models with no purchase option
  
  

Card payments and cash flow: The underestimated effect

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In addition to direct fees, card payments also have an impact on your liquidity. Transactions are often paid out with a time delay - usually only after 1 to 3 banking days. In high season, this can lead to negative working capital, particularly when high upfront payments (e.g. for goods or personnel) are due immediately.

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Critical point: If the company is pushed into a liquidity bottleneck in the short term as a result of these delays, the current or working capital loan may have to be overdrawn. The bank charges interest for this — in some cases well above the market interest rate.

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Conclusion: Card payments can therefore indirectly increase your financing costs. Precise liquidity controlling and forecasting — for example with tools such as Profitize - helps to identify and mitigate such effects at an early stage.

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POS systems as an underrated adjustment screw

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Your cash register system directly influences your payment costs and often also your service experience. Many hotels use outdated systems with high fixed costs and lack of flexibility.

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Typical warning signs:

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• Binding to just one payment provider (no change possible)
  
  
• No support for mobile terminals (room service, events)
  
  
• No connection to digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)
  
  
• Unclear breakdown of fees in statements
  
  
• No automatic routing by card type or customer profile
  
  

Investment tip: Modern, cloud-based POS systems often pay for themselves in 12-18 months through lower fees and more efficient processes. At the same time, they improve guest flow through faster processes.

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Payment controlling as an integral part of your financial monitoring

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Successful hotels check their payment costs just as regularly as they do the use of goods or personnel costs. This requires structured payment controlling:

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Your checklist for the monthly payment audit:

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• Calculate effective cost ratio (total charges/card turnover)
  
  
• Comparison with industry benchmarks (Ø 1.2—1.8% in the DACH region)
  
  
• Check new fee items
  
  
• Analysis of the card mix (debit vs. credit, wallets)
  
  
• Controlling the chargeback rate (target value: < 0.5%)
  
  

Experience value: Hotels with active payment controlling discover an average of 3-4 optimization potential per year — from hidden fees to unused discounts in the contract.

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Data-based optimization with business intelligence tools such as profitize

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The modern hotel industry is based on real-time data — not on gut feeling. Platforms such as profitize combine payment information with booking, HR and financial data and create complete transparency.

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Your operational benefits:

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• Automatic detection of payment anomalies
  
  
• Visualization of true costs per booking channel
  
  
• Liquidity and cash flow forecasts
  
  
• AI-based recommendations to optimize your fee structure
  
  

This digital integration replaces error-prone Excel spreadsheets and gives you more time for what's important: your guests.

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The profit is in the details — trade now

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The high season is not only the highest turnover, but also the most margin-sensitive period of the hotel year. Take advantage of the moment to future-proof your payment process.

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Your next steps:

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1. Have your current payment costs analyzed
   
   
2. Check the Surcharge legislation for your location
   
   
3. Evaluate your cash register system for optimization potential
   
   
4. Establish monthly payment controlling
   
   
5. Integrate data-based tools such as Profitize for continuous improvement
   
   

Optimize your payment processing now so that every booking is also economically worthwhile. Because margins often contain untapped potential.

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