Running a travel business means accepting payments from people in different time zones who use different currencies and devices—all while you manage deposits, chargebacks, and high-ticket bookings that might not be fulfilled for months. You need to be able to handle risk, enable growth, and make the payment experience as organized as the trips you’re selling.

With the global market for online travel agencies worth an estimated $612.95 billion in 2024 and expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.6% from 2025 to 2030, payment processing is more important than ever. Below is a practical guide to travel agency payment processing, including how it works and what to look for in a payment provider.

What’s in this article?

• How is travel agency payment processing unique?
  
• What are the best payment methods for travel agencies?
  
• How do travel businesses accept international and mobile payments?
  
• How can travel agencies reduce chargebacks and fraud?
  
• How should you manage deposits, partial payments, and refunds?
  
• What should travel agencies look for in a payment provider?
  

How is travel agency payment processing unique?

Processing payments in travel is different from doing so for a typical online store. You’re selling future experiences to people from all over the world, and that brings a specific set of challenges.

Here’s what makes travel payments distinct:

• Large payments for future services: Customers often pay hundreds or thousands of dollars up front for a trip that won’t happen for weeks or months. That long gap between purchase and fulfillment adds risk: plans change, flights get canceled, and refunds can accumulate. That’s why many payment processors categorize travel as a higher-risk industry.

• High chargeback rates: Travel businesses tend to see high dispute rates. Some disputes are legitimate: they’re the result of canceled trips, delays, or bad experiences. Others fall under “friendly fraud,” in which a customer disputes a charge they actually made. Either way, a high chargeback rate can diminish your margins and even your ability to keep a business account open.

• Cross-border, multicurrency complexity: Travel is inherently international. You’re handling different currencies, conversion rates, and payment methods—sometimes all in the same booking. For example, a customer in Canada might book a tour in Thailand through a US-based agency.

• Flexible payment structures: Often, travel agencies don’t get paid all at once. You might take a deposit now, charge the balance later, or split payments across multiple dates. That flexibility is important to the business model, but not every payment system handles it well.

• Increased fraud risk: High-ticket, fast-moving inventory (e.g., flights, hotels) makes travel a target for fraud. Stolen cards are often tested on small bookings or used to grab high-value trips that can be resold. International bookings also make it harder to verify transactions, which means you need smart software to flag suspicious activity before it becomes a loss.

What are the best payment methods for travel agencies?

Travelers don’t all pay the same way. The more global your customer base is, the more variation you’ll see. A US tourist might want to use their American Express points. A German traveler might expect a direct bank transfer. A Brazilian customer might want to use only Pix.

The payment methods that work best for travel businesses are the ones that combine reach, confidence, and flexibility.

Credit and debit cards

Many travelers expect to pay with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or another major card network—especially for high-value bookings. Credit and debit cards are convenient and familiar, and they provide travelers with protections they can rely on. But cards come with trade-offs for an agency: high processing fees, chargeback exposure, and the need for a business account that can handle high transaction volume without disruption.

Your provider needs to be able to accept all the major global card brands safely and at scale.

Digital wallets

Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay have become necessities, particularly on mobile. They let customers check out quickly, without entering card details, and often using a face scan or fingerprint. Behind the scenes, digital wallets tokenize card data, which reduces fraud risk.

If mobile is a main channel for your business, you can increase conversion by supporting wallets.

Bank transfers

In the US, Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers are commonly used for larger bookings, group travel, and corporate clients. In Europe, Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) transfers are standard. These direct bank transfers are often slower than card payments but can come with lower fees, especially for high-value purchases. They also appeal to customers who are wary of putting big charges on a card.

Bank transfer methods are particularly relevant for custom itineraries, tour groups, or cases in which the booking process is handled over email or invoicing rather than through an instant checkout flow.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) and installments

BNPL is gaining traction in travel because it can solve the issue of affordability. A customer can now split the cost of a trip into manageable chunks without going through a formal credit process up front. That can make the difference between them abandoning their cart and booking a trip.

With Stripe, you can integrate a range of BNPL providers across different markets. This flexibility is especially valuable if you’re targeting a younger customer base or selling expensive packages.

Local payment methods

Travelers encounter fewer barriers to completing a booking if they see a payment method they recognize and use regularly. Here are some examples:

• Europe: iDEAL, Bancontact, and Sofort

• Asia: Alipay, WeChat Pay, and Konbini

• Latin America: Pix and OXXO

You don’t need to support everything, but understanding which markets you serve most and customizing your payment options to match can improve conversion. Stripe helps by making many of these region-specific methods easier to enable and manage from a single dashboard.

How do travel businesses accept international and mobile payments?

In travel, your customers are everywhere. You’ll be accepting payments from different countries, in different currencies, and often on mobile devices.

Here’s how to make international and mobile payments easier for you and your customers.

International payments

Accept multiple currencies

Offer pricing in local currencies wherever possible so the customer doesn’t have to convert it themselves and take on the currency risk. For instance, a UK customer who books a US tour should pay the cost in British pounds without any surprise conversion charges. Stripe lets you charge in more than 135 currencies and settle in your currency of choice (or hold balances in foreign currencies, if that’s more efficient).

Support regional payment methods

In many countries, local payment methods dominate. Customers will expect them to be supported. Stripe allows you to enable many regional payment methods with minimal setup.

Plan for regulation and risk

Cross-border payments involve extra checks. For example, European cardholders often need to complete 3D Secure (3DS) authentication. That extra step can minimize fraud and help you meet regulatory requirements, but only if it’s implemented well. A smart payment provider will trigger 3DS only when it’s required, without making every customer complete unnecessary steps.

Mobile payments

Design a mobile-first checkout

Many travel bookings now happen on mobile, and even a small obstacle (e.g., slow loading, poor formatting, extra typing) can cause user drop-off. Your checkout flow needs to feel native to mobile: fast, responsive, and easy to complete with one hand. It should include autofill, large tap targets, and minimal required fields.

Use digital wallets

Typing in card details takes time. Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other digital wallets make checkout faster and safer, especially for travelers who book on the go. Stripe supports these wallets natively and doesn’t charge extra to accept wallets for cards issued domestically.

Support in-app and on-the-go payments

If you have an app, integrate payments directly within it using mobile software development kits (SDKs). Customers need to be able to book and pay without being redirected to a browser. And for agencies that sell in person—think tour operators or guides—tools such as Tap to Pay on iPhone make it possible to accept card payments from phones with no extra hardware.

How can travel agencies reduce chargebacks and fraud?

Chargebacks and fraud are constant concerns in the travel industry. You’re working with high-ticket transactions, bookings made months in advance, and customers spread across time zones—all of which create openings for card disputes and friendly fraud. But with the right systems and practices in place, you can minimize both. Here’s how.

Use intelligent fraud programs

Fraud attempts in travel are often sophisticated, and you need more than basic filters. Stripe Radar, for example, uses AI trained on hundreds of billions of data points to spot high-risk behavior in real time: mismatched billing details, unusual internet protocol (IP) locations, suspicious booking patterns, and more.

What matters is balance. You want to block fraudulent actors without turning away real customers.

Add 3DS selectively

3DS adds another verification step—typically a code from the cardholder’s bank. It’s a valuable layer for high-risk scenarios, such as expensive bookings, new customers, and certain regions. A good payment provider will let you configure when to trigger it.

Require card verification values (CVVs) and use address verification service (AVS)

Always ask for the CVV code for a card and, where possible, verify the billing address with AVS. These steps help confirm that the buyer actually has the card in hand, and they filter out common forms of low-effort fraud.

They’re not foolproof, but they’re important as the first line of defense, especially for card-not-present (CNP) bookings.

Stay ahead of fraud trends

Fraudulent actors change their tactics. If you start seeing a pattern (e.g., multiple disputes from a particular region or a sudden increase in chargebacks after a certain promotion), adjust your settings. That might mean tightening rules, requiring 3DS more often, or temporarily limiting purchases from risky geographies.

Make your policies transparent and follow through

Many chargebacks stem from confusion, not crime. A customer might not recognize a charge, they might misunderstand your cancellation window, or they might feel like they weren’t refunded fast enough.

Here’s how to avoid confusion:

• Set up-front refund and cancellation policies that can be understood easily.

• Confirm these policies during booking—with checkboxes, if needed.

• Process refunds promptly when they are owed.

• Communicate well and quickly when things go wrong.

Keep thorough records

When chargebacks do happen, you’ll need to respond quickly and with evidence. That includes confirmation emails, booking details, refund receipts, and proof that the service was delivered.

The stronger your documentation is, the better your chances of winning disputes become.

How should you manage deposits, partial payments, and refunds?

Deposits, installment plans, and partial refunds are common and expected in travel-related payments. But you need a flexible payment setup and policies that manage expectations from the start.

Here’s how to handle these options.

Deposits and partial payments

Taking a deposit up front is standard practice in travel. It locks in the booking, filters out no-shows, and improves cash flow. But how you structure this process matters:

• Be specific about timing and amounts: Let customers know what’s due now, what’s due later, and when. For example, you could say, “$200 deposit today, $800 balance charged automatically on July 1.”

• Clarify terms at checkout: Note early on, ideally with a checkbox confirmation, whether the deposit is refundable—and if so, under which conditions.

• Automate the follow-up: Use a system that supports scheduled or installment payments. Stripe, for instance, allows you to store a card securely and charge it on a future date, or issue a second invoice when the balance is due. You can also set up recurring payments with set end dates.

Offer payment plans when they make sense: Installments can make the cost more accessible for high-ticket items such as multiweek tours. Just ensure your system can handle multiple charges tied to a single booking, and send reminders so customers aren’t surprised.

Refunds (full and partial)

Even with good planning, cancellations happen. Handling refunds well can protect your reputation and minimize chargebacks. Here’s what you need to do:

• Publish a visible refund policy: Don’t bury it in the fine print. If you provide a full refund up to 14 days before the trip, say so plainly. If you withhold a portion as a cancellation fee, explain how much and why.

• Process refunds quickly: If a refund is due, act fast. Even if the bank takes a few days to post the funds, the gesture of speed goes a long way. Stripe lets you issue full or partial refunds directly from the Stripe Dashboard or application programming interface (API).

• Use partial refunds when appropriate: Sometimes a customer cancels one leg of a trip or downgrades a package. Don’t process these manually; use a system that lets you return exactly what’s owed, tied to the original charge. That avoids accounting confusion and human error.

• Prepare for edge cases: If you give credits instead of cash, ensure they’re easy to apply to future bookings. If the original payment used multiple methods (e.g., gift card and credit card), be ready to split the refund accordingly. Transparency and documentation matter here.

Flexible payment handling builds confidence and makes revenue flow smoother. Customers tend to feel safer booking when they know how and when they’ll pay, and what will happen if plans change. You also get to focus less on chasing balances or managing disputes, and more on delivering unforgettable experiences.

What should travel agencies look for in a payment provider?

The payment provider you choose shapes how you sell, where you can expand, and how well you manage risk.

Here’s what to prioritize when you evaluate providers:

• Built-in fraud prevention and security

• Global capabilities

• Flexibility for complicated payments

• Transparent pricing that can scale

• Developer-friendly software

• Reliable uptime and support

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can simplify your checkout and payment process across markets.