You’ve just landed at London Heathrow and can’t wait to get to your hotel and collapse on the bed. It’s been a long day, and it feels like your vacation is finally starting as your cab pulls up to the curb of your hotel. Then you walk into the lobby.
There's a line out the door. Everyone is upset. Two employees are doing their best, but circumstances are grim. One briefly looks up to tell you it’ll be another 20 minutes. You lean against the wall and vow to never stay at the hotel chain again.
Now imagine a different experience. You get off your plane at Heathrow and hop into a cab. From the backseat, you pull up your reservation on your phone, snap a picture of your passport and a selfie, and — voila! — you’re checked in. Three minutes, tops. When you arrive at your hotel, you skip the desk and go straight to your room.
Bad experiences can kill your brand’s reputation. But we’re working with leading travel and hospitality companies like Sonder and WeTravel to automate bookings, streamline check-ins, and catch bad actors. It’s possible — and it may be easier than you think.
How can a check-in happen so quickly?
You can combine government ID and selfie verifications to securely verify someone’s identity online. Once you’re confident that the person is who they say they are, you can send a digital key or unlock code for their stay.
- A government ID verification requires the individual to submit a picture of their government-issued ID, like a driver’s license or passport. The verification tool extracts key information, such as the name, date of birth, country of issue, and identification number. You can compare the extracted information to what’s on the reservation to verify the correct person is checking in and/or compare it to info from authoritative or issuing databases for increased assurance.
- A selfie verification asks the individual to take a picture, series of pictures, or short video of their face. The images are analyzed and compared to the portrait on the ID.
- Liveness detection can help verify that the person is taking a photo of themself rather than taking a picture of a picture or uploading a picture or prerecorded video. Additional checks can help confirm the selfie’s authenticity and spot AI-generated selfies.
Persona offers these checks (and more!) as part of our modular approach to identity verification and fraud detection. We offer a variety of building blocks, and you can choose which to implement based on your capabilities, budget, and local requirements. These self-serve, no-code solutions were built to help you automate processes, save time, and offer your guests a better experience.
5 reasons companies resist going digital
If digitizing check-ins offers so many benefits, why aren’t more companies doing it? Some might assume it’s going to be too large of a lift. And to be fair, some objections are grounded in legitimate concerns (like privacy).
However, the right partner can help you overcome many common challenges, including the following:
1. They worry guests will find it difficult or impersonal
Asking guests to check in online and take a selfie can seem cumbersome. It may even come across as invasive and impersonal compared to welcoming guests with a smile.
However, you can always offer online check-in as an option rather than a requirement. Guests can check-in online if they prefer, or head to the counter for a more traditional experience. This way, those who go to the counter could still benefit from shorter lines.
2. They think it will be too costly or difficult to set up
Tech initiatives often require big budgets. And not just in terms of cash — it can also take time to migrate to the new system and learn how to use it.
But this isn’t always the case.
When evaluating vendors, try to find an option that plays nice with your current tech stack and offers no-code tools. These can help you quickly get started and allow your teams to create, test and, iterate on user flows without requesting assistance from engineers.
Additionally, look for vendors that have flexible arrangements and allow you to only pay for what you need.
3. They think it could lead to more fraud
There’s something comforting about being able to look a guest in the eyes. Take that away, and you might worry that the person booking on your website or checking in is a bad actor. The truth, however, is that online identity verification (IDV) can actually be better at detecting fake IDs than the human eye.
Online verification lets you automatically perform a series of checks to identify photo tampering, barcode inconsistencies, or other signs of fraud. You can also verify the data you extract from an ID against information from issuing databases. And when something seems fishy, you can ask for additional verifications.
For example, you might ask someone who tries to check in from a mobile phone in a different country for a picture of their government ID and a selfie. If they don’t pass, they can’t check in online. But (local regulation allowing), if there’s a repeat guest who is signed into their loyalty account on a known device, and is nearby, you can let them check in without uploading any additional material.
4. They think the tools won’t work globally
Hospitality companies host guests from around the world and often operate in many countries and regions. But getting global IDV right can feel daunting because regions may have different identity verification requirements and data residency laws.
Fortunately, automating global IDV can be more efficient than asking your front desk to verify physical documents from around the world, and some solutions can even translate the requests to your guest’s primary language.
When looking for a partner, you’ll likely need the vendor to comply with regional data-related regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). You’ll also want them to stay compliant with changing regulations and help you adapt your processes as you expand.
Additionally, look into the types of identification they support, what information they can extract, and how they customize their solution for different customers.
5. They’re worried about protecting guests’ data
Keeping your guests’ information safe is an important part of maintaining trust. Fortunately, this isn’t something you necessarily need to handle yourself.
For example, you can work with Persona to securely collect and store your guests’ personal information. You’ll still have access to guests’ information and you can let guests manage or delete their information as needed. But you don’t take on the risk of storing or transferring their personal data.
What will you build with Persona?
Persona offers building blocks — including no-code options — that you can customize and combine to create your ideal onboarding program:
- Verifications: Choose from a suite of automated international verification tools, including government ID, selfie, document, mobile driver's license, e-passport, and phone and email verifications.
- Workflows: Use pre-built modules and templates as a starting point as you build customer flows with a drag-and-drop editor. You can also customize the theme of your verification flows to align with your brand and ensure users feel comfortable during the check-in process.
- Dynamic Flow: Adjust flows in real time based on risk signals to ensure less risky users only have to input the minimum amount of information you need to confirm their identity while riskier users encounter more friction. These signals can include behavioral and passive signals, such as how someone interacts with your website or their device fingerprint.
- Marketplace: Integrate with other identity data providers and business productivity applications to improve automation and internal processes.
- Cases: Consolidate information from Persona and third parties to put everything your investigators need on one screen.
- Graph: Proactively spot — and ban — bad actors and fraud rings.
We find that companies often start with one block, and then partner with us to build something even better.
For example, Sonder first started working with Persona to verify its guests during check-in. But as its booking volume grew by 45% it faced a new problem — guests had to wait while the team manually reviewed bookings to stop bad actors.
Persona helped Sonder build a custom machine learning-powered monitoring system that incorporates internal data and signals from Persona to automate bookings. Now, Sonder automatically approves 85% of bookings, freeing up its trust and safety team to focus on more strategic projects.
We’ve also helped companies like Brex, Coursera, and Lime manage identity and fraud during global expansions. And we’re trusted by companies in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and financial services.
Want to make your travel season a little better? Contact us to learn more or get started for free.
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