Whether it’s ease of use, a sense of security, or the attraction of points and other incentives, travelers think “card is king” when it comes to booking their accommodations online.

A recent survey by PhoCusWright found that among lodging suppliers – a group that includes vacation rentals – 68 percent of website bookings are made and pre-paid by credit card. With a predicted 98.3 million people in the U.S. booking travel plans online this year, that preference for plastic isn’t anything to sniff at.

And yet, a lot of vacation rental owners do – although not without reason. The same PhoCusWright survey found that vacation rental owners aren’t alone in their concerns about

• Credit card fraud (accounted for 1.1 percent of bookings via company websites),
• High processing fees (averaging 2.5 percent for credit card transactions), and
• The actual process involved.

Image by PhoCusWright. Used with permission.

As a result, a lot of owners turn away credit cards in favor of checks or money orders – neither method less likely to expose them to fraud, but perhaps easier to manage with low or non-existent fees.

But what does that choice cost their business? Continue Reading…