Economy Lodging Upgrades Its Payments Tech

G6 Hospitality, which is the parent company of the lodging brands Motel 6 and Studio 6 and their 1,200 locations, is upgrading its Ingenico terminals in order to prepare its U.S. and Canada-based properties for the EMV liability shift slated for later this year.

Ingenico said in a statement on Monday (June 15) that G6 has chosen its customer-facing touchscreen readers dubbed the iSC Touch 480. The readers, Ingenico said in its statement, are designed to handle high-traffic/high-volume demand in lodging and retail settings. The devices themselves accept all forms of electronic payments, including EMV chip cards, signature capture, and NFC/contactless options, and also support mobile wallets. Ingenico has said the 480 was the first POS device globally that was configured to meet the PCI PTS V4 hardware and software security requirements.

The rollout will be a multifaceted one, according to the release. The first phase will encompass new terminal installation, with that hardware supporting the ongoing payment strategy push. The terminals will first allow the lodging locations to accept EMV and NFC payments, with the eventual debut of check-in via kiosks.

“We are very pleased with our partnership with Ingenico Group as they have consistently pushed the envelope on innovation by providing cutting-edge technology,” said Jeffrey Winslow, who serves as executive vice president and chief information officer at G6 Hospitality, according to the release.

“We trust Ingenico Group to guide us through the U.S. transition to EMV, to ensure a seamless payment experience for our guests and to provide us with best-in-class payment terminals that support the technologies that keep data secure.”

The upgrade of the Ingenico hardware comes as several industry observers have reported over the past several months that the majority of U.S. merchants are unlikely to be in compliance with the liability shift come the October deadline.