THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

PayPal teams with Centara for seamless hotel booking

PayPal teams with Centara for seamless hotel booking

PAYPAL, a global online payments company, is collaborating with Centara Hotels & Resorts. Travellers looking to make a booking on Centara Hotels & Resorts’ websites and mobile application are now able to do so more securely and more quickly by checking out with PayPal, according to the two companies.

Thailand is a major tourist attraction for travellers around the world, and the industry has continued to grow steadily, recording a 13-per-cent increase in occupancy and revenue per available room in 2015. This, coupled with the rise of connected travellers worldwide, presents a huge opportunity for hospitality merchants in Thailand whose online presence automatically opens doors to a global customer base.
“The travel industry is changing rapidly. More tourists are looking to make their travel arrangements online, either through their laptops or via their phones and tablets,” said Tom Thrussell, vice president for brand, marketing and digital at Centara Hotels & Resorts. 
“As a hospitality business, we want to be where our customers are, and provide them with the best online customer experience, even before they step into our properties. With PayPal’s trusted presence in more than 200 markets, it is the obvious payment solution for our online platform.” 
PayPal said its collaboration with Centara Hotels & Resorts was part of its commitment to helping merchants participate in the global digital economy. For Thailand’s travel industry, it said, the opportunity lies in better serving the needs of the growing group connected travellers, who expect fast access to information and a smooth online journey from the planning to the final booking of the trip. 
The need for Thai travel merchants to go online is now greater than ever, it said, adding that with this new collaboration, PayPal is now helping more than 3,000 travel merchants in Thailand reach out to travellers from all over the world.
 Rahul Shinghal, general manager for PayPal Southeast Asia, said: “At PayPal, we seek to connect consumers and merchants around the world with a seamless and more secure way to pay across devices, platforms and channels. 
“This collaboration with Centara Hotels & Resorts will allow us to continue to strengthen our online and mobile app offering to the growing travel sector in Thailand, from large hotel conglomerates to smaller boutique hotels looking to grow their presence in the market.”
PayPal said that on top of its industry-leading risk models and technology, it offered seller protection to businesses in Southeast Asia. It provided seller protection on eligible transactions in the event a customer files an unauthorised charge-back, or an unauthorised claim against a seller for services or eligible intangible goods including e-booking of travel tickets. 
Sellers will have an opportunity to respond to the claim within a reasonable period through proof of fulfilling the order, the company said, adding that this will provide Thailand merchants with greater confidence when they sell their services overseas. 

nationthailand