New Jersey based start-up KeyToss has launched a mobile hotel booking service which it claims is the ‘optimal solution’ to payment security concerns. Chief executive Samuel Kim told Travolution: We went to great expense to create an extremely secure system We spent a lot of time figuring out and developing what we think is the…
KeyToss creates security-driven mobile booking system
New Jersey based start-up KeyToss has launched a mobile hotel booking service which it claims is the ‘optimal solution’ to payment security concerns.
Chief executive Samuel Kim told Travolution: We went to great expense to create an extremely secure system We spent a lot of time figuring out and developing what we think is the optimal solution and went to great expense to create an extremely secure system”.
Customers have to set up a KeyToss account in advance online, which stores their credit card number and billing address. At the point of booking on the mobile, they need to key in the card’s expiration date and card security value, as well as their Keytoss account password.
Kim explained: “It’s not much of a burden for the customer to enter these details on the phone, and it’s a huge gain in security.”
It has also addressed hardware security issues.
“We use multiple layers of encryption and we split data across servers in different physical locations,” Kim said. “If we were to physically hand you any one of our servers, you would still not be able to extract a card number.”
The business has an affiliate relationship with Hotels.com, which provides the API into their hotel reservation system. “We built the mobile reservation service, which interacts with their servers to retrieve live room availability data and make reservation requests,” he added.
KeyToss earns a commission on hotel rooms booked, while also paying a commission to its own affiliates. It has plans to advertise online, but it ‘expect to rely on partnerships with other mobile websites to drive transaction volume.
It is also working on a a private-label mobile reservation service for high traffic mobile sites.
