It might be a hassle at times, but entering an One Time Passwords - or OTPs when buying a product or paying for a service online with our card helps protect us; it makes us feel secure and means we can spend with confidence.

But if you’re not prepared, it can be a pain. Let me tell you about my recent experience.

Booking a special treat

It’s been a long time since I last enjoyed a long weekend away at a hotel.

Even with lockdown restrictions easing in the UK, for some people it can take time to build the confidence needed to feel safe enough to travel and visit other parts of the country. This has been the case for me. But I’ve finally done it. I’ve managed to book two nights at a hotel to enjoy some much needed time away this autumn. Sheer bliss and I can’t wait!

The whole search and booking process was relatively easy. With the UK gradually opening back-up, hotels rooms are a bit harder to find as demand is currently very high, so that took slightly longer than I’d expected.

That aside, the booking was quick and effortless.

Making the payment

Until I got to the payment – or to put it more accurately, my lack of preparation for that payment moment!

That’s because this particular hotel booking site required me to go through a two-factor authentication process. It’s a ‘big ticket’ purchase and many sites do this – not just hotels. It’s needed to prove that I am who I say I am, and to validate my card details. It’s safety in numbers and it works. I’ve done this online loads of times before so it’s nothing new to me.

But in my haste, I’d forgotten that I’d probably need my mobile as it’s registered against my card for two factor authentication.

And that was my pain point. It was a wet Sunday afternoon and I was outside in our log cabin making the booking and payment. But my mobile phone was not! I’d left it upstairs in my bedroom recharging after a very busy morning spent mostly on YouTube catching-up on GCN clips (a cycling thing – I won’t bore you!), F1 highlights (Max vs. Lewis anyone?) and lots of music videos, as well dipping in and out of playing online Chess matches.  

And it was raining – a lot! Heavy British summertime downpours. I really didn’t want to go back inside to get my phone. But I had to, to complete the booking process.

So, having entered my card details, the site wanted to send me an OTP to my mobile for me to enter to verify the transaction.

I should have known. So, very annoyed at my short-sightedness, I huffed and puffed across the garden in the pouring rain, back into the house and upstairs to retrieve my phone. Then rushed back to the cabin again getting very wet to complete the transaction.

OTP entered, identity validated, hotel booked and paid for. Happy but sodden! A positive payment experience.

Looking for a top tip?

Personally, with an estimated 1.7 million cybercrime offences committed each year in the UK¹, I’m glad I need to go through extra layers of security to help protect my identity and card details. It’s reassuring to know the payments industry wants to keep us all secure.  

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) provides us with two-factor authentication to make sure we’re safe when making payments online; it’s the industry’s way of ensuring safety by numbers.

Only, unlike the sardines, we can’t see our predators as they’re hiding away in cyber-space.

As the Hospitality sector emerges from the pandemic and we start to book accommodation, remember my top tip: keep your mobile phone with you at all times when making a payment.

You never know when you’ll need it for SCA.