Tapping Into Tech: How the Ascot Vale Hotel Has Raised the Bar on Payments

The game-changing way to pay that breaks down bills, not friendships. We've all been there. Smartphone in one hand, bill in the other... frantically trying to calculate who owes what, while attempting to diplomatically account for non-drinkers, vegetarians, and that friend with a penchant for expensive cocktails. Let's face it, splitting the bill is fraught with problems. Not to mention the fact that many venues still don't support it, leaving someone to foot the total sum and chase up afterwards. It's awkward, it's inconvenient, and it's time something changed. Introducing: Split Payments. A highly-anticipated feature that is taking the guesswork out of group purchases. Businesses using Zeller Terminal can now enable the feature with a single click, and start splitting payments between friends and family today, either by number of people or by a custom value. Read on to discover how to get started. More flexibility for your customers, more security for you. While splitting the cost of a group meal or round of drinks is the most common use case, being able to divide payments also offers advantages for non-hospitality businesses. Over and above improving customer satisfaction, being able to divide payments is an important lever for your business to reduce risk and increase sales. In the instance where a customer doesn’t have sufficient funds on one single payment method, dividing the purchase allows them to use a combination of credit cards or digital wallets to pay the total. If your business sells high-priced items, this is especially useful, as it gives your customers a flexible option that makes it easier for them to complete purchases, which can in turn increase sales and reduce the risk of declined transactions. How splitting payments can increase your tips. In the service industry, dividing payments is a sure fire way to increase your tips. Rather than leaving the tipping decision to one customer, each individual will be given the option of leaving a tip as they pay their share. Everyone tips differently, so by giving more power to each customer, it is not only a more democratic process, it's likely to result in cumulatively greater tips for your business. How to use Split Payments Enabling Split Payments on Zeller Terminal The Split Payments feature is configured at the Site level, this means that if you have multiple Sites (eg. different venues) setup within your Zeller Account, you will need to enable Split Payments for each site. Enabling Split Payments within a site will apply it to all Zeller Terminals being used at that site. By default, Split Payments will be turned off. Turning Split Payments on can be done via Site Settings either directly on your Zeller Terminal or remotely via the Dashboard. From Zeller Dashboard From the Zeller Dashboard, select Sites Locate the Site you want to turn Split Payments for Select the Payments tab Enable Split Payments and Save Split Payments will now be enabled on Zeller Terminals within the Site. From Zeller Terminal Ensure you are logged in as an Admin or Manager on the Zeller Terminal From the Navigation Menu, tap Settings Tap Site Settings Tap Split Payments in the list Enable Split Payments and Save Split Payments will now be enabled on Zeller Terminals within the Site. Using Split Payments If Split Payments has been enabled, when you go to take a payment on Zeller Terminal, the screen will now display two buttons: Split and Charge. While Charge will take you through the regular payments flow, if you select Split, then your customer will be presented with a choice of how they would like to split, by people or by amount. Split by People Zeller Terminal supports the ability to split an amount equally by a set number of people (up to 20). With this option, each person is invited to pay their share (or multiple portions) after which the remaining balance will be shown on the screen, as well as how many portions have been paid for. Customers repeat the payment process until the total amount has been completely settled. Split by Custom Amount If this option is chosen, customers are invited to enter a value to initiate the payment. Once approved, the next payment can be started. On the payment summary screen, customers will now see the new remaining balance, and can repeat this process until the total amount has been settled. Transaction record Each split payment is treated as an individual transaction and will be shown in your transaction history list. To keep track of payments that have been split, a new Split Payment Details section has been added to the Transaction Details screen. To see related payments, you simply need to select the transaction and tap Split Payment Details. Here, details of the split payment that the transaction relates to will be displayed, including split type, the initial keyed amount, the remaining balance (in case the split payment was cancelled mid way through), and date and time of the first payment within the split. For easy reconciliation, transactions will include the reference number of payments also completed within the split payment. To receive all our new feature releases and small business news straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here .

Our latest payments feature is here and it’s revolutionising the hospitality experience. The payment process is often the Achilles’ heel of many restaurant experiences. How many times have you received the bill, placed your credit card down, and then had to wait another fifteen minutes before being able to finally pay for your meal? Countless. This is because, until now, many restaurants have been hamstrung by a disconnection between their point-of-sale machine and their EFTPOS terminal. The time it takes for a waiter to deliver the bill to the diners, retrieve the payment terminal, return to the table, then round off the table in the POS system , is considerable. Multiply this by the number of tables in the venue and you can easily understand the aforementioned delay. Pay at Table technology is changing that. By centralising the POS and payment process into one device, Pay at Table bridges the gap between tapping or swiping a card, and settling the bill in the system. Read on to understand how this technology works and how it can help turn over tables faster, and ultimately drive revenue for your restaurant. If your restaurant is currently not using a POS system and you value efficiency and improving customer experience, consider exploring the best POS systems for restaurants in Australia . These systems can further streamline your payment process, helping you turn over tables faster and ultimately drive revenue. How does Pay at Table work? Pay at Table is effectively an extension of your POS machine, on your EFTPOS terminal. Waiters pick up Zeller Terminal , view open tables, see total outstanding bills, take payments and close tables — all on one device. Rather than the customer paying at the counter or finalising the bill in the traditional, time-consuming manner, waitstaff can deliver the bill and the mobile payment device, all at the same time. The status of a table is updated in real time and synced across all machines, reducing human error and optimising the whole operation. Benefits of Pay at Table technology 1. Increased efficiency Being able to close a table independently of the POS machine means that the latter isn’t blocked by taking payments, it can instead be used to open and manage tables. Naturally, this reduces foot traffic throughout the venue, eliminates queues, and turns tables over more quickly. Staff are freed up to process orders faster, leading to improved service and ultimately, higher sales. 2. Improved customer satisfaction Leaving customers waiting to pay for their bill can leave a bad taste in the mouth — pun not intended. Zeller Terminal’s Pay at Table functionality makes for a smoother process and offers the added benefit of allowing customers to split the cost by the number of people or by a custom amount . 3. Encourages generous tipping Zeller Terminal comes with a built-in tool which can easily calculate the fair amount for a gratuity and will provide the customer with various tipping options to choose from. Displayed clearly for your customers to review, this feature can increase your server’s tip earnings and erase confusion surrounding tipping protocol. Zeller Terminal makes it as easy as possible to prompt your customers to leave a tip, either as a percentage of the purchase amount or a custom amount. Or, you can switch the functionality off altogether. 4. Helps build a customer relationship When wait staff use Pay at Table, an opportunity is provided to spend more time interacting with the customers, ensuring they’ve had a great dining experience in your establishment. The technology also means you can email digital receipts on the spot. Not only is this handy for your customer’s record-keeping and to reduce costs and waste associated with paper receipts, but it’s a great way to expand your customer database by capturing email addresses. You may be able to use these details to keep in touch with your diners, providing them with up-to-date news and special offers that will keep them coming back to your restaurant. 5. Safer transactions Payment security is front of mind for most consumers these days. By having a mobile payment device available, your customer’s card remains in their possession at all times. This offers them security knowing that no one else has had access to their card details or identity. It can also mean fewer chargebacks for your business to handle. The next generation of payment processing Pay at Table is just one example of the many ways that traditional payments are evolving to keep up with the times. New technology is affording us more flexibility to create industry-specific solutions while emerging trends are changing the way we pay. Get started with Pay at Table today Pay at Table is currently available to use with selected POS systems. Contact our Sales Team to learn more about installing Pay at Table on your Zeller Terminals today.