The Rock Hotel Gibraltar

Sneha Padavala

Introduction

Nestled in a prime location between the Upper Nature Reserve and the stunning Botanical Gardens, The Rock Hotel stands as Gibraltar’s most iconic and historic deluxe hotel since 1932. Renowned for its colonial heritage and art déco style, the hotel blends timeless elegance with modern amenities, creating a sophisticated atmosphere and offering exceptional service.

The Rock Hotel features 97 luxurious guest rooms and suites, each offering stunning views of Gibraltar’s harbour and the African coast. Its rich history is celebrated through the Wall of Fame, which highlights visits from royalty and notable personalities such as Winston Churchill, Errol Flynn, Alec Guinness, The Platters, two James Bonds, Sean Connery and Roger Moore.

The hotel boasts the largest outdoor swimming pool in Gibraltar, exclusive fine dining options – including the popular Sunday Lunch by Alfred Rodriguez and his team, and exceptional event facilities. It stands as a symbol of hospitality, where unforgettable memories are crafted with meticulous attention to detail.

The Challenge

In 2022, The Rock Hotel partnered with their payment service provider, PXP Financial, to tackle various issues related to card-not-present transactions.

PXP Financial provides a comprehensive end-to-end payment platform tailored for online, point-of-sale, and cross-border transactions. With in-house acquiring capabilities and support for over 120 alternative payment methods, they offer a robust suite of financial services. Their deep roots in the hospitality industry are complemented by numerous partner integrations, including a connection to Oracle. Processing over EUR 23 billion annually through their unified gateway and with an international presence across five offices, PXP Financial is a trusted leader in delivering seamless payment solutions.

Their objectives included:
  • Eliminating the need for taking payments over the phone (MOTO), which was prone to risks such as chargebacks, fraud, and a poor customer experience.
  • Reducing the complexities and overhead associated with data protection and PCI compliance.
  • Minimising the risk of data breaches and mishandling card data.
  • Streamlining the payment collection process, which had been a time-consuming and labor-intensive task.
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar

Trusted by industry-experts

“With Prommt, risky telephone and other remote transactions are now streamlined into a simple, secure online process – enabling faster payments, improving cash flow, and ensuring data compliance. We’ve significantly reduced chargebacks, fraud, and the time spent chasing payments.

Within six months, processing payments via OPERA Cloud have driven a significant increase – more than double – in the payment volumes being facilitated by Prommt at the hotel. We highly recommend Prommt to any hotel looking to save time, reduce costs, and optimise their payment processes while delivering a superior guest experience.”

Jane Swinbank-Smith

Head of Finance | The Rock Hotel Gibraltar

The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar

The Solution

Prommt, as PXP Financial’s partner, helps The Rock Hotel get paid faster, improve cash flow and automate manual tasks relating to payment collection across all areas of hospitality – reservations, meetings and events, food & beverage. Risky telephone and other remote payments are converted into a simple, online and secure payment process.

With Prommt, they have ensured compliance with all relevant data protection legislation while significantly reducing the risks of data breaches, fraud, and chargebacks. The potential for compromised customer information is minimised because sensitive personal data is not directly exchanged between guests and hotel staff. Instead, guests’ card details are tokenised and securely stored with the payment gateway, eliminating the need to view or store card data locally.

Prommt offers peace of mind with a platform built with security top of mind:
  • PSD2 & SCA Compliant
  • PCI DSS v4.0 Certified
  • Consent Token Management
  • Consumer Privacy Acts, TCPA, UK Data Protection Act 2018, EU GDPR Compliant and other local regulations

“We transformed The Rock Hotel’s payment process, making it seamless and secure. By eliminating the need for phone payments, we mitigated the risks of chargebacks and fraud, while also simplifying compliance requirements.

Through our partnership with Prommt, we ensured that every transaction is handled with the utmost security and efficiency, ensuring user friendly payment experience. This allowed our client to focus on their core business, confident that their payment process is both streamlined and protected.”

Christopher Gilderson

Head of Retail & Hospitality | PXP Financial

Payment Requests from OPERA. Made Easy.

Building on the success of Prommt as a standalone platform, The Rock Hotel leveraged its integration with Oracle OPERA Cloud, enabling staff to send payment requests for reservations, events, and group bookings directly from the Property Management System (PMS).

Payment requests can be sent through email, SMS, or a paylink within a chat app. Prommt automatically updates the payment status in OPERA and notifies staff via email as soon as the payment is processed. All while delivering a frictionless, elegant payment journey to the payer.

Prommt simplifies payment collection through Oracle OPERA (V5 and Cloud) by offering:
  • Elimination of manual copying and pasting of guest details
  • Automatic posting of payment status updates back to the PMS
  • Automatic email notifications to staff upon receipt of payment
  • An elegantly branded payment request, embedded within The Rock Hotel’s website to enhance guest confidence and trust
  • Access to features such as Group Send, Autocharge, Recurring Payments, Refunds, Reporting, and more through the Prommt web app
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar

Impact

  • Achieve average success rates over 93%.
  • Ensure compliance with PCI, GDPR, and other regulations to prevent mishandling of sensitive card data.
  • Minimise chargebacks, card fraud, payment operations, and time spent chasing payments.
  • Send payment requests directly from Oracle OPERA via SMS, email, or paylink, and monitor payment status within the PMS.
  • Maintain brand consistency throughout the payment journey to improve guest experience and build trust.
  • Effortlessly collect event deposits and milestone payments with Autocharge, and process refunds with a single click.
  • Facilitate simple, customer-friendly Recurring Payments for memberships.
  • Accept payments in multiple currencies and store cards for repeat transactions.
  • Reduce human error and manual intervention that occupy staff time. Key personnel are alerted immediately when a payment is made, and comprehensive reporting supports accurate reconciliation and reporting.

Key Features

Autocharge

Autocharge is a more secure and convenient solution for stored card payments. It provides greater certainty over event deposits and final balances.

Recurring Payments

Easily set up personalised payment plans and manage recurring payments for guest memberships.

Group Send

Perfect for credit control, minimising payment administration and removes the need to follow up outstanding payments on an individual basis.

Controlled Access

Manage and regulate user permissions and restrictions for authorised access, for example, restricting issuing of refunds to management and finance staff.

The Rock Hotel Gibraltar
The Rock Hotel Gibraltar

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