Minnesota Hospitality Associations Sign Enhanced Agreement With Heartland Payment Systems To Include Special Pricing Program And Expanded Cooperative Sales Efforts
The Minnesota Restaurant Association, the Minnesota Hotel & Lodging Association and the Minnesota Resort & Campground Association, managed by Hospitality Minnesota, have selected Heartland Payment Systems Inc. (HPS) (NYSE: HPY), the seventh-largest card processor in the United States, to offer a complete suite of payment solutions as their newest member benefit. As the three associations' preferred payment processor for the last three years, Heartland provides credit/debit card and payroll processing services to association members, including Visa and MasterCard cards. Additionally, Heartland offers gift and loyalty card programs to help merchants increase sales and generate repeat traffic.
The Minnesota Restaurant, Hotel & Lodging and Resort/Campground associations and Heartland have also recently agreed that local Heartland relationship managers in Minnesota will become an extension of the associations by offering association memberships, member benefits, and consultation on behalf of the associations to restaurant, lodging, resort and campground businesses across the state.
"Heartland provides excellent customer service to our members and has a strong track record of success with hospitality associations across the country," said Dave Siegel, executive vice president of the Restaurant, Hotel & Lodging and Resort/Campground associations. "We appreciate Heartland's dedicated sales force and look to them to supplement our association's sales team under our innovative agreement."
Tony Ventre, director of association relationships, HPS, added, "Helping our customers become more successful is one of the primary goals of both Heartland and the three associations."
Heartland Offers a Simple Pricing Plan to Association Members
Heartland's expanded relationship with the Restaurant, Hotel & Lodging and Resort/Campground associations also includes a member benefit called Association Simplified Pricing (ASP). The ASP program is designed to provide most independent merchants with a credit card processing price structure that is simple to understand. Available only to association members, the ASP program eliminates or reduces most traditional processor fees, passes MasterCard and Visa interchange rates directly through to the merchant without adding extra costs, and includes only a single monthly fee for processing based on processing volume. This program also makes it easier for merchants to read and understand their processing statements.
"Members of the Minnesota Restaurant, Hotel & Lodging and Resort/Campground associations will benefit even more from this relationship by taking advantage of Heartland's special pricing program," Siegel continued. "The simplified pricing offered to our members under our new agreement with Heartland will save our members both time and money and make the complicated world of credit card processing transparent."
Merchants who elect to participate in the ASP program will be able to see exactly where their processing dollars are going. The ASP program also offers most merchants exceptional value and savings over traditional pricing methods for card processing services and has been advantageous to other associations that have endorsed it.
"Processing fees have always been somewhat mysterious to most merchants, and more often than not, are unnecessarily complex and contain hidden costs," concluded Ventre. "With our ASP program, merchants don't need to be mathematicians to figure out what they're paying in processing fees anymore. And, there are no hidden costs added in."
About the Minnesota Restaurant, Hotel & Lodging and Resort & Campground Associations
The Minnesota Restaurant, Hotel & Lodging, and Resort & Campground associations represent 2,000 hospitality businesses across Minnesota and are managed collectively by Hospitality Minnesota, based in St. Paul, Minn. Each association has its own board of directors, mission and vision statement, budget and programs to meet member needs. Based on a recent strategic planning initiative, all three associations have identified government affairs advocacy, education and marketing as central to their purpose. The associations are sponsors of the annual Upper Midwest Hospitality, Restaurant & Lodging show slated for Feb. 19-21, 2006 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. www.hospitalitymn.com.
About HPS
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. (HPS), a NYSE company trading under the symbol HPY, delivers credit/debit card processing and payroll solutions to more than 106,500 small to medium-sized merchants throughout the United States. HPS also provides additional services to its merchants such as gift and loyalty card programs, paper check authorization, and sells and rents point-of-sale devices and supplies. With more than 970 national sales professionals, HPS builds long-term business relationships in local sales territories, providing merchants with enhanced technology tools that assist them in more effectively operating their businesses.
Heartland is also endorsed by more than 50 state restaurant and hospitality associations nationwide. For the nine-month period ending Sept. 30, 2005, Heartland's processing volume is at $24.7 billion, an increase of 36% over the same period in 2004. www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com.