Payment System Failures Disrupt Over Half of Hospitality Businesses Weekly

Nearly half (45%) of hospitality managers believe they will achieve their revenue targets this year, with a further 30% on track to exceed expectations, according to new data from payments technology company, Dojo.

Over half (56%) of managers forecast up to or more than 10% revenue growth as the industry heads into the busy festive season. Many managers believe payments technology is key to continuing this growth trajectory. 21% of managers identify increasing operational efficiency through better technology integration as the top opportunity in the next 12 months. 

To continue driving growth, 38% of managers plan to invest in digital tools and new technology and over two-thirds (67%) are considering changing providers or upgrading systems altogether.  Looking at businesses’ overall priorities for 2025, over a third (34%) of managers identified improving the reliability of their technology as their top priority, and 29% cited improved tech capabilities.  

One in five (20%) cited payment failures or downtime as a particular concern, with payment system failures disrupting over half (58%) of businesses weekly.  In July, approximately 8.5 million systems crashed in one outage alone. This has been described as the largest outage in history, although Dojo was not affected and maintains its 99.99% uptime, this underscores the importance of innovating for reliability first. 

For 78% of hospitality businesses in the UK, downtime harms revenues and also negatively impacts the customer experience. Even 62% of hospitality worker insiders said issues such as booking errors or slow payment systems negatively impacted their dining experience when eating out on their own time.

According to hospitality workers, only 55% feel their technology is reliable enough going into the busy Christmas party period. The top three challenges they face when a card machine goes down include:

• Ensuring customer happiness while preventing negative experiences (28%)
• Maintaining service continuity and a smooth guest experience (24%)
• Managing customer complaints and dissatisfaction (22%)

Jon Knott, Head of Research & Market Insights at Dojo, said: “While there are positive signs from the hospitality industry, which is seeing some shoots of recovery, many have been impacted by economic and technological turbulence. This year has seen a 139% growth in reservation numbers, underlining the pressure on hospitality businesses to deliver for their customers and the opportunity that awaits them should their payment systems maintain their reliability and performance.  

“Bars and restaurants therefore need to ensure that every customer touch point via technology, from the booking system to paying the bill, is seamless, reliable and pain-free. Investment in reliable technology and digital tools will be critical to the hospitality industry’s growth in 2025.”