EasyTip and Visa collaborate to accelerate digital tipping

Tipping becomes faster, fairer and easier for waiters, hairdressers and other staff

London, 19 June 2023: EasyTip, the UK’s leading fintech platform for collecting tips in the hospitality, restaurant, and personal services industries, today announced a collaboration with Visa Direct which enables real-time¹ tip payouts to tip eligible employees.

Fewer and fewer tips are paid in cash, but many staff are reliant on them for a large part of their income, so digital tipping is a major benefit, as it will give employees more financial flexibility and control over their finances. With real-time tip payouts available to eligible debit cards, Visa Direct’s technology lends itself to EasyTip’s goal of fast and fair tips, so that staff in the hospitality and other personal services industries can receive payment into their bank accounts in minutes.

Visa Direct enables users to send money quickly, around the world and at a fraction of the cost of wire transfers. EasyTip also intends to utilise the Visa Direct technology to allow tip recipients to send funds internationally, facilitating faster and more efficient remittances.

EasyTip’s partnership with Visa Direct follows a period of piloting Visa Direct payments, which saw a fivefold increase in transfer speeds. These faster transfer times have already led to an increase in the number of tips paid through EasyTip’s platform, as users have become more confident in the technology. At some outlets, tips increased by more than 200% in the last 12 months, and there are now over 13,000 tip collection accounts using EasyTip’s technology. All of them will now be able to enjoy the additional benefits of Visa Direct, as it is rolled out across EasyTip’s entire user base.

The increased speed and ease with which tips can go directly to recipients is highly attractive and cost effective for owners and managers of establishments whose staff are accustomed to receiving such payments. The global tipping market is worth more than US$100 billion, but the administration and payment of tips is typically carried out by employers, and, with different regulatory and fiscal practices in place in different countries, this can be very time-consuming and expensive. In fact, EasyTip estimates that inefficiencies related to the traditional way of tipping costs as much as US$5 billion each year, and that number is growing.

EasyTip’s solution is especially timely in the UK, with the recent passing of the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023. In accordance with the new legislation, employers will be required to ensure that all tips, gratuities, and service charges they receive or exercise control over must be paid to workers in full and by the end of the following month.

“Partnerships play a vital role in driving innovations that reshape how we pay and get paid. Through our partnership with EasyTip, Visa Direct helps provide employees with faster access to their earnings.”

- Simon Gilson-Fox, Head of Product and Solutions, Visa UK&I, commented:

¹Actual fund availability depends on receiving financial institution and region.

Contact Information:
Archie Berens
PR Director, EasyTip
+44 (0)7956 061758
abernes@easytip.net 

About EasyTip:

Launched in 2021 in the United Kingdom, EasyTip is a leading online platform for collecting tips and ratings in the hospitality industry. The mission of the company is to transform old tipping habits and make tipping faster and fairer for the recipients. The platform services 1,500 businesses in the UK, EU and the UAE including brands such as Dodo Pubs Co, Sassoon, Bangerz & Burgerz, Urban Retreat, The Grooming Company and many others.

EasyTip's contactless tipping technology helps business owners and staff in the hospitality industry to earn more. Customers can tip employees directly from their mobile phones in just seconds by simply scanning a QR code without needing any App.

EasyTip is the perfect solution for business owners, as it reduces administrative costs, provides instant customer feedback, and improves employee performance and retention. Moreover, with the rise of cashless tipping, EasyTip is an excellent way for staff to control and increase their earnings in a fairer, personalised and transparent way.

For more information about EasyTip and Visa's collaboration please visit here or sign up to our platform here.