Is the Property Management Software that you are about to purchase for your Hotel, Resort or Inn, PCI DSS compliant and what does that mean?
During the Property Management Software Evaluation for your Hotel, Resort or Inn, you
should be asking the Property Management System Vendor if the system you are
considering to purchase is Payment Card Industry, Data Security Standard
compliant.
It is the Hotelier's responsibility to protect their customer’s
personal information including credit card numbers. Since Hotels accept
payments from guests and deposits for reservations, and process and store this
information in their Property Management System and On-line Booking Engine, it
is necessary that the Hotel management understands the importance of payment
card industry compliance or "PCI" compliance and what it means.
Your Hotel does not want to be in the position of having a
system breach where your customers have their personal information exposed.
This sort of situation has the potential to lead to a public relations nightmare
for your business. Making sure that your Property Management System Vendor is
in compliance with the Payment Card Industry standards helps reduce risk to
your customers and your business.
However, just because your Property Management System Vendor is in compliance
does not mean a system breach is not possible, it means that the Vendor has
taken steps to lower the risk to clients that use their systems and this is
just one of the steps you need to take to reduce risk to your customers and
your business.
Good luck with the Property Management Software evaluation for your Hotel, Resort or Inn!
Jeff Sefton
PCI DSS = Payment Card Industry, Data Security Standards
"The PCI DSS, a set of comprehensive requirements for
enhancing payment account data security, was developed by the founding payment
brands of the PCI Security Standards Council, including American Express,
Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa
Inc. Inc. International, to help facilitate the broad adoption of consistent
data security measures on a global basis." Source: PCI Security Standards Council
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