Revolut partners with Kiss the Hippo to pilot facial recognition payments

Revolut trialled a facial recognition checkout system at three Kiss the Hippo cafés in London from 24–26 September, allowing participating customers to pay without using a phone or wallet.

The system, Revolut Pay with Smile, was piloted at the coffee company’s Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho locations through Revolut Register, a new hospitality Point-of-Sale (POS) system. Revolut described the trial as the UK’s first in-store facial recognition checkout pilot and offered merchants 0% processing fees on transactions made using the technology.

Customers opted in through the Revolut app. At checkout, the system used facial recognition to authenticate payments against the selfie identity checks customers had completed when opening their Revolut accounts.

The pilot came as Revolut published research into the costs and operational challenges associated with hospitality payment systems. According to the company, independent venues spent an average of £875 per month on payment processing and hardware, rising to more than £950 for pubs and bars. Its research also put annual revenue lost through terminal outages at £2,495.

Revolut reported that two-thirds of independent venues experienced verbal outbursts from customers multiple times a week because of poor checkout experiences.

The company positioned Pay with Smile as a way to reduce transaction costs and simplify payments. It said the system used end-to-end encryption and that merchants did not store customers’ personal data. Revolut Register also included a built-in eSIM backup intended to maintain connectivity if a venue’s main internet connection failed.

Alex Codina, General Manager of Merchant Payments at Revolut Business, said: “With over half of Brits reporting delays or failures due to merchants dropping internet signals, checkout friction is driving customers out the door. To solve this, we're deploying Revolut’s full technological ecosystem to reinvent the mechanics of the hospitality industry and give consumers the payments experience they deserve. By combining high-performance processing with facial recognition technology, we’ll replace outdated, fragmented tills with a hyper-efficient checkout experience designed to solve consumer and merchant pain points.”

Alex Damgaci, Managing Director at Kiss the Hippo Coffee, said: “In hospitality, a seamless checkout is no longer a luxury, it's the bare minimum. Technology that takes the friction out of the payment process and offers payment flexibility gives operators the reliability they need to protect revenue and maintain guest satisfaction.

“To mark the pilot, we've put together a special menu for the three days, and we're looking forward to welcoming guests to pay with a smile at our Bloomsbury, Soho and Chelsea cafés.”

During the three-day trial, participating customers could order from a special Revolut menu, which included speciality coffees priced at £1. Payments using the system also earned triple RevPoints through Revolut’s loyalty programme.

Rams Bdesha, Event Manager of Hospitality Tech360, said: “What makes this interesting for hospitality is the combination of faster checkout, payment costs and reliability. A guest may notice that they can pay without reaching for a phone or wallet, but operators will be looking just as closely at whether the system works during a busy service and what each transaction costs.

“Facial recognition payments are still at the pilot stage. Their wider appeal will depend on guests feeling comfortable opting in and on operators seeing a clear benefit for their teams. It’s another example of payment technology becoming more closely connected to the overall guest experience.”

Further details of the trial were published in Revolut’s original announcement.