Global travel should be an escape from the routine. But for payers and your staff, it should look like a routine transaction. An inefficient payment system is more than a minor inconvenience – it can cost global travel providers business.
How do you know if you have a problem? Here are some signs that your payments’ process is not working as well as it should be.
What are the signs you should switch your travel payment provider?
#1 - You do not receive your full payment upfront
A payment processor’s own processes can impact your cash flow and your company’s ability to effectively manage working capital if it:
- Hold funds in reserve. Some payment providers will place temporary holds on remitting funds based on tiered risk levels, to guard against chargebacks. This is especially prevalent in the travel industry.
- Can not show the cost in local currency. This either results in the payment being short, or the customer being surprised by additional FX fees and currency conversion charges appearing on their bank statements post-purchase.
Key Takeaway: Predictable cash flow requires immediate settlement and transparent local-currency presentation. If your provider hides behind processing holds and unexpected settlement deductions, you lose control over your working capital.
No. 2: You cannot accept all credit cards and preferred payment methods
Luxury travelers overwhelmingly prefer to pay by credit card – with a preference for American Express, Visa, Mastercard and Discover. But Flywire’s research has also shown a growing preference for using digital wallets like Venmo, Apply Pay and PayPal.
Customers want to book but can't—or they struggle through a friction-filled payment process. You're losing bookings at the final moment of commitment.
In practice, that may look like:
- "I'm trying to pay, but I can't" or "the system won't accept my card"
- Payment authentication failures for international cards without good reason
- High-value bookings ($15K+) are being abandoned at the payment page
Key Takeaway: Luxury travelers bestow their loyalty on the brands that make it easiest to pay. Payment should never be a roadblock to a sale. Customers should have multiple payment options, see transparent pricing upfront, and experience a seamless checkout—especially for high-value travel bookings.
#3 - International credit cards are frequently declined
Managing international card transactions demands global compliance expertise and a global payment infrastructure. For instance, Europe’s PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules mandate multi-factor verification. If your payment gateway does not support localized 3D Secure (3DS) protocols or smart routing, issuing banks automatically decline legitimate charges. A bad payment experience chips away at customer trust and costs you high-margin international business.
Key Takeaway: High decline rates on international cards are rarely a customer funds issue—they are a support issue. Modern providers leverage dynamic routing to ensure global authorization rates are both secure and strong.
#4 - Credit card fees are a mystery to you and your clients
Processing an international card triggers additional international acquirer charges and cross-border assessments on top of standard interchange fees.
What’s more, international cardholders are hit with a minimum 4% in hidden fees that rarely appear until their bank statement arrives post-purchase:
- Foreign Transaction Fees: Charged by 70% of issuing banks simply for processing cross-border charges (typically 2% or more).
- FX Markups: Unannounced spreads levied by card networks on top of standard mid-market exchange rates (adding another 1% to 3%). It can be hard for payers to determine exactly what the FX markup is before they make the purchase, because regulations differ around whether it must be disclosed.
Key Takeaway: Payment transparency builds consumer trust. When legacy acquirers pass unannounced cross-border markups down to your international clients, it triggers post-purchase friction, high dispute rates, and negative brand perception. Modern providers eliminate these surprises by offering transparent, bundled pricing and local currency settlement upfront.
#5 - Split billing and multi-step payments are not automated
High-value luxury trips and group travel require flexible ways to split payments by person, deposit, or final balance. If your staff still has to manually calculate these splits and email PDF invoices, your system isn't scaling.
Key Takeaway: Ensure that the provider can handle familiar travel payment flows, and is not a one-size-fits- all ecommerce gateway. Offering travel-specific workflows should not be a custom build.
#6 - Payments are not integrated with the booking system
With a standard payment gateway, reconciliation of payments across different types and currencies is not automated, and that information is not integrated with the system of record. Manual matching can lead to data entry errors, affording no visibility into transaction statuses or guest balances.
Key Takeaway: Payments should integrate with major property management systems (PMS), booking engines, and itinerary builders – Amadeus, Guesty, Tourplan, and SimpleBooking and more – to automate global payments and reconciliation.
No. 7: You feel unease over global compliance
The baseline of global money movement is making sure the transaction itself is secure – which requires compliance with things like PCI DSS, best-in-class application and vendor security, threat monitoring, incident response and more. But beyond transaction security, cross-border payments providers also have a responsibility to guard against the global financial system being exploited by criminals.
Takeaway: Ask about these acronyms - KYC (Know Your Customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and Suspicious Activity Reporting (SARs). Ask whether there is a dedicated compliance and risk management function with board-level oversight.
#8 - No one seems to care if you have an issue
Your payment provider treats you like any other e-commerce business. They don't understand travel-specific workflows: advance deposits, multi-payment structures, booking timing constraints, supplier dependencies, or travel industry cash flow.
Key Takeaway: Look for a provider backed by people you can actually call by name.
Payments aren't just a back-office utility—they are a core business driver that directly impacts conversion, margins, and guest satisfaction.
Why should travel companies use a specialized payment provider instead of a standard ecommerce gateway?
Standard payment gateways aren't built for travel-specific workflows like advance deposits, multi-guest split billing, or long booking windows. A specialized provider integrates directly with booking systems (PMS) to automate reconciliation, support local currencies, and reduce payment drops on high-value bookings.
How do localized payment options and currencies improve booking conversions?
Travelers—especially luxury and international clients—are far more likely to complete a purchase when they can pay in their preferred local currency using their payment method of choice (such as local credit cards, Apple Pay, or Venmo). Showing transparent pricing upfront prevents surprise foreign exchange fees and reduces cart abandonment at checkout.
Why are international credit card transactions frequently declined, and how can a new provider help?
International declines usually stem from strict bank security rules (like Europe’s PSD2/3DS requirements) rather than a lack of customer funds. Modern travel payment providers use dynamic routing and localized authentication protocols to ensure legitimate cross-border charges go through smoothly.
How does a specialized payment processor improve cash flow management?
Generic processors often hold funds in reserve to mitigate chargeback risks, which starves travel businesses of working capital. A modern travel payment provider offers predictable cash flow through faster settlement times, upfront currency conversion, and automated deposit management.
What compliance and security features should I look for in a payment provider?
Beyond standard PCI-DSS encryption for card security, cross-border travel processors must follow robust global compliance regulations. Look for providers with dedicated teams handling Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and localized regulatory authentication standards.