Here at Avvio, we understand that data security is of paramount importance to our partners, especially when we hear of data breaches and security threats today. Hoteliers and other accommodation providers handle so much data every day that it could make them a tempting target for cyber criminals. Personal information is required from a guest to effectively book and check into their room, cater to their needs in the lead up to their stay, during their visit and after they check-out. Businesses must ensure that the payments between guests and property are successful, whether they’re made online, over the phone or desk or even through an app or messaging service. Avvio puts data security first – always and with no exceptions.
Here are a few ways in which we keep you safe:
1. We constantly monitor all our servers
Convert, Avvio’s booking platform is well known for its ability to convert website visitors into direct bookings. But did you know that it’s also top of the class for reliability and performance? Our software and support teams monitor our servers continuously for uptime and availability, with multiple notification and alerting systems in place, minimising any chance of security breaches. So, by partnering with Avvio you can always be sure of a secure, reliable and high performing booking engine.
2. All of Avvio’s booking engine traffic is HTTPS encrypted
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The ‘Secure’ part means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted.
To ensure security and boost Google rankings, and unlike other booking engine providers, all traffic within the Avvio booking engine is through HTTPS as standard at no extra cost to you. A HTTPS certificate shows a padlock icon in the address bar, to make it clear you’re on a secure page, which assures both you and your website visitors that they are safe to book with you.
3. State-of-the-art payment protection
Credit card details provided on the Avvio payment page are protected by TLS encryption technology. TLS encrypts all details entered, including the purchaser’s name, credit card number and expiry date and makes them impossible to read before they’re communicated via the internet. This ensures all details are kept confidential while in transit and prevents a cyber criminal touching the details.
Avvio uses 4096bit GPG Asymmetric encryption to store credit card numbers (and never the CVV value). This level of encryption is state-of-the-art and ensures maximum protection of cardholder data. Card details are never retained for longer than is necessary for the hotel to carry out its business function, and not longer than 14 days after guest departure.
4. Full protection against credit card fraud
Avvio takes credit card fraud protection very seriously. Card details are only stored on our secure server for a limited time and we never store the CV2 number (the three digits on the back of the card), in accordance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance rules. Credit card details are further protected by two-factor authentication and are only accessible via a unique PCI code card tied to a specific user, with full logs of all card decryptions. To enhance security further, user access can be tied down to specific IP addresses.
5. Domain masking
For extra customer assurance that they are booking on a secure site rather than through a third party, Avvio strongly suggests that you mask your domain. This just means that you’re hiding the original source or host of your website. For example, your URL would look like https://secure.yourhotel.com rather than https:/hostname.avvio.com. Whether or not you’re using an Avvio designed website, we make domain masking easily available and you can securely host the booking engine on your own domain.
Learn More about Avvio
Avvio protects all information passed through the Avvio booking engine, website and services and secures your organisation and your guests from any cyber crime related to your website and direct bookings. On top of preventing any hackers from accessing your information while in transit, the green HTTPS symbol reassures website visitors that you’re secure and trustworthy and is thus another drive for them to book direct.
To learn more about Avvio’s software and services and how we can help you grow your direct booking revenue securely, get in touch.
