How Biometric ID Verification Protect Hotels From Fraud?

During the CoronaVirus pandemic, health has become the top priority. The travel sector, specifically, the hotel industry has shifted its reservation process online. This was mandatory for its survival amid operative restrictions and social distancing rules. As a result of this, travel scams have become more pronounced. Companies are experiencing an increase in hotel reservation scams originating from identity fraud. Hence, the significance of online identity verification has become too important to overlook for this industry.

 

Change in Travelers Mindset

Cross-border travel has resumed in many countries since the pandemic. However, the Coronavirus pandemic has caused a change in travelers’ behaviors. They are now traveling not to visit major cities linked with tourism, instead, they are taking road trips and visiting rural areas. This implies more travel time and covering more ground in a foreign country. As one can guess, travelers are interacting with various kinds of travel businesses along their journey. As a result, many small travel companies have become susceptible to scams.

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online hotel reservations are becoming a common practice among travelers. Clients perceive that the convenience of booking through an online travel agency is worth more than paying their commission fees. Furthermore, some hotel chains provide in-house ride-hailing services to their clients. The social distancing guidelines mean that the car should be rented to the customer without a driver to keep minimum physical contact between people. It means that businesses are expected to become more exposed to fraud and hence identity verification of tenants is a must. 

 

How Fraudsters Defraud the Hotel Industry?

Canceling Reservations to Avail Perks

Fraudsters take advantage of the perks that are offered to users for their ease. After a hotel reservation has been made, several companies give the option of canceling the reservation. Criminals defraud the scheme by making reservations and then canceling them in order to receive the associated credit. These con artists use the hotel vouchers and coupons they’ve received to book legitimate appointments. This fraud is mostly carried out using stolen credit cards where the fraudster uses different identities. As a result, the company ends up offering scammers credits, refunds, and coupons, as well as chargebacks to the rightful credit cardholders.

 

Making Reservations Using Counterfeit Credit Cards

Information hacks, bot strikes, payment card skimming, and other methods are used by criminals to steal credit card details. Furthermore, using a method known as synthetic fraud, criminals may also create fraudulent credit cards. The criminals obtain a legitimate bit of information, like a card number, and use it to create a bogus credit card. These fake credit cards are then utilized to make hotel appointments. The affected business, on the other hand, must issue refunds to the legitimate customer.

 

How Biometric Verification Processes Safeguard Hotels?

 

Here, a hotel business employs a third-party service provider to conduct the ID authentication process. The biometric facial data of the customer is captured remotely by the ID verification provider. Besides that, the consumer presents the camera with a government-issued identification card while an AI-based document verification system verifies the ID file’s authenticity and originality. The facial biometric information is then compared to the user’s photo on the identification document. In this way, the customer’s identity is checked before they arrive at the hotel premises. On their arrival, only the document’s image and face are compared again. An efficient biometric verification service provider – Shufti Pro – can seamlessly take care of this.