New AI-powered hotel booking and secure payment capability has been successfully implemented at The Empress Building boutique hotel in Mexborough, helping hotels answer more calls, reduce OTA dependency and improve the guest payment journey.
Gala Technology, the UK fintech company behind the award-winning SOTpay secure payment platform, has launched Chloe by SOTpay, the new Securafone AI Booking Concierge designed to help hotels answer booking calls, support guests through the reservation journey and securely collect payment.
Built into SOTpay’s Securafone app, Chloe has been developed to help hotels convert more direct bookings, reduce missed telephone enquiries and improve the guest payment experience at a time when hospitality businesses are under increasing margin pressure from rising costs, staff shortages and online travel agency commission.
The capability has already been successfully implemented at The Empress Building, a boutique hotel and event historic venue in Mexborough, where SOTpay has tracked, tested and validated guest journey behaviour from online travel agency discovery through to direct hotel website engagement.
SOTpay’s testing identified a clear commercial opportunity for hotels. Many guests first discover a property through online travel agencies such as Booking.com, Expedia or Airbnb, before visiting the hotel’s own website to check location, reviews, rooms and facilities. However, without a compelling direct-booking route, many guests then return to the online travel agency, commonly referred to as an OTA, to complete the booking, leaving the hotel to pay significant commission on a guest who had already shown direct interest.
Through its work with The Empress Building, SOTpay identified conversion potential of up to 40% from OTA-influenced website visitors into direct booking opportunities when the right direct-booking prompt and secure booking journey were introduced. This figure is based on SOTpay’s tracked and tested guest journey behaviour at the Mexborough boutique hotel and is not presented as a general industry-wide benchmark.
Chloe by SOTpay has been created to support that opportunity.
The AI booking concierge can answer booking calls, understand guest intent, support the reservation process, help confirm booking details and guide guests into a secure payment journey through Securafone. Hotels can use Chloe to support deposits, balances, full payments, pre-authorisation and card-on-file workflows, with payment options including card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Pay by Bank. Payments can also be verified using 3D Secure where applicable.
The wider guest journey can include email and SMS booking confirmations, digital room key delivery and calendar or PMS workflow updates, helping hotels create a more automated booking and arrival experience.
Jason Mace, CEO of Gala Technology, said:
“Hotels do not always need more occupancy. In many cases, they need better systems that help them keep more of the revenue from the bookings they already generate. Online travel agencies are powerful discovery platforms, but if a guest finds a hotel through an OTA and then visits the hotel website before booking, that is a moment of opportunity. Chloe by SOTpay has been built to help hotels capture that moment, support the guest and convert more direct bookings with secure payment built in.”
He added:
“This is not simply about AI answering the phone. It is about creating a complete commercial journey, from booking call to secure payment, confirmation, pre-authorisation, card-on-file and guest access. For hotels under pressure from rising costs and OTA commissions, that can make a meaningful difference to margin.”
David Pyper, Business Development Manager at Gala Technology, who is leading the company’s enterprise hotel onboarding strategy, said:
“Large hotel groups need technology that is scalable, secure and operationally practical across multiple properties. Chloe by SOTpay gives enterprise hotels a way to extend booking-call coverage, standardise secure payment journeys and improve direct booking conversion without adding unnecessary complexity for front-desk teams. The opportunity is not just automation, it is controlled, secure and measurable revenue recovery across the hotel estate.”
Kris Ball, Business Development Manager at Gala Technology, who is advising boutique hotels on upgrading their customer payment journey, said:
“Boutique hotels often do not have the same resources as large groups, but they still face the same guest expectations. Guests want fast answers, simple booking options, secure payments and instant confirmation. Chloe helps smaller hotels deliver a more professional and automated experience while keeping the personal service that makes boutique hospitality special. It gives them the tools to compete for direct bookings without needing a 24/7 reception team.”
SOTpay believes the biggest opportunity sits in what it describes as the “direct booking recovery moment”, the point at which an OTA-influenced visitor lands on the hotel’s own website before deciding where to complete the reservation.
By introducing simple direct-booking prompts such as “Book direct now for priority room allocation”, “Call now for secure instant confirmation” or “Book direct and enjoy complimentary drinks on arrival”, hotels can give guests a reason to engage directly before returning to the OTA.
Once the guest calls, Chloe can support the journey through Securafone, helping the hotel move from enquiry to confirmed, secure booking.
For hotels, the benefits can include more booking calls answered, fewer missed direct booking opportunities, improved payment security, reduced manual administration, stronger guest communication, automated confirmations and increased opportunity to reduce OTA dependency.
Mace continued:
“For a hotel paying a large percentage of its booking value to an OTA, it can feel like handing an entire floor of the property to the booking agent before the guest has even arrived. Chloe gives hotels a practical way to recover more of that margin by converting more of the demand they already have.”
The launch of Chloe forms part of Gala Technology’s wider hospitality strategy, supporting hotels with secure telephone payments, digital payment journeys, direct booking recovery, PMS-connected workflows and enterprise-ready payment innovation.
The Securafone AI Booking Concierge is now available for hotels looking to improve direct booking conversion, reduce missed calls and modernise the guest payment journey.
To book a demo, visit: www.sotpay.co.uk
About Gala Technology
Gala Technology is the UK fintech company behind SOTpay, the award-winning secure payment platform helping businesses take payments safely across multiple channels.
SOTpay supports secure payment links, telephone payments, digital payment journeys, Pay by Bank, card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, pre-authorisation, card-on-file workflows and integrations across leading business systems.
Through SOTpay and Securafone, Gala Technology helps organisations reduce payment risk, remove sensitive card data from the working environment, improve customer payment journeys and support more secure, efficient revenue collection.