Life in the hospitality sector can be hectic.

On any given night, you’re juggling stock orders, staffing, ticketing, and more. On top of all this, no one should have to spend hours figuring out if an invoice was processed or if a contractor got paid.

Yet, too many payment solutions just don’t meet the needs of this unique industry.

We sat down with David Mitchell, a 25-year industry veteran who’s run some of the largest award-winning nightclubs in the US like Output, Omnia, and The Brooklyn Mirage.

Over his career, David has seen firsthand how devastating the opportunity costs — and lost revenue — of a poor payment process can be. Below, he unpacks:

• 3 things every hospitality leader should look for in a payments partner

• 3 ways Archie has reinvented payments for David’s businesses

3 assets every hospitality team should look for in a payment platform

Hospitality companies usually work with countless vendors, contractors, and gig workers — all employed on a project/event basis. Yet, few payment solutions are built for this unique setup. 

This leads to choosing payment software that can’t meet your needs — like leveraging accounting, procurement or full-time payroll software that yield downstream inefficiencies and wasted time.

That’s why hospitality businesses need payment partners who actually understand their sector, pain points, and needs. 

Here are 3 attributes David looks for in any payment processing partner: 

1. Reliable platform service

For hospitality teams, the stakes are high for hardware and software failures. That’s a lesson David learned firsthand — the night before his wedding!

Today, David knows reliable service comes first and foremost when choosing payment software. 

2. Full visibility into payment status

Too many payment tools are a black box. They’ll show if an invoice was submitted and approved, but nothing else. As a result, when errors and delays inevitably pop up, staff have to jump in, investigate, and play phone tag with their finance team, software partners, and banks. If multiple contractors are waiting on payments, this could easily burn up several hours per week. 

To eliminate this issue entirely, businesses need a vendor that provides real-time visibility into the status of every payment. 

3. High-quality customer service 24/7

In hospitality, revenue-generating periods fall outside of regular business hours. As a result, most teams don’t have the luxury of waiting till Monday to resolve payment problems. When user support is needed, it’s right away — even if it’s 4 AM on a Friday night. Waiting for the next business day can mean a restaurant or nightclub losing a tremendous amount of revenue. 

Given that no hardware or software is 100% foolproof, David emphasizes just how crucial 24/7 user support is for hospitality companies. 

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3 ways Archie simplifies payments for the hospitality industry

If you’re a hospitality business owner on the hunt for a payments solution, David recommends Archie: the first platform that’s purpose-built for the hospitality industry to manage independent contractors, freelancers, and gig workers.

Here are 3 ways Archie has simplified payments for David’s businesses: 

1. The Archie platform is purpose-built to solve pain points in hospitality

At Archie, we developed our platform based on countless real conversations with hospitality leaders to solve their most common problems. 

One example? How Archie handles tax compliance and 1099s. 

1099s are an enormous pain point for any business handling many independent workers. Ahead of tax season, accountants can spend weeks following up again and again with contractors. Since we understood this challenge from top to bottom, we were able to address it with Archie’s built-in payment flow: 

• When you onboard a contractor with Archie, the individual must share all of their banking and tax information. 

• This process must be completed before any payments are issued. As a result, Archie eliminates that tax-season scramble for your business. 

2. Archie gives you complete visibility into your payment

Archie was designed to give hospitality teams easy, centralized visibility into their finances — no phone calls, emails, or digging through spreadsheets required. We show exactly what’s going on with every payment. 

• Vendors self-onboard with their banking and tax details. 

• Finance teams easily review, approve, and pay invoices within the same platform. 

3. Archie’s team delivers proactive, reliable user support

In David’s experience, the Archie team never takes the typical reactive approach to client support. Instead of simply logging on to resolve tickets, we strive to proactively address the root cause of any customer pain points.