The travel industry is a tricky business. Aside from the fact that transactions are often a couple of thousand dollars on average, there’s the risk of having customers scrap their bookings due to any number of reasons. Canceled flights, inclement weather, changes in plans, and emergencies are just a few of the most common reasons why someone might decide to take their money back.
And when that happens, travel merchants run the risk of incurring chargebacks. Naturally, most acquirers will try to steer clear of businesses that pose a greater threat of chargebacks. But on the upside, there are a few upstanding merchant account providers out that will gladly take on the risk that a travel merchant might come with.
Not all merchant account providers will join hands with travel merchants, and that’s mostly because of risk. Compared to most other businesses, travel merchants pose a greater chance of chargebacks which can be equally damaging for acquirers. So to avoid incurring losses, most providers will avoid dealing with high risk merchants like travel businesses altogether.
But that doesn’t mean all is lost. The travel industry is an indispensable unit of present day society, so a handful of acquirers have set out to provide the financial tools necessary to proceed with business and collect payments in the most convenient ways possible.
Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, PayNet Secure is one of a few merchant account providers that would gladly accommodate the needs of travel ventures. They accommodate every business in various sectors of the travel industry, including airlines, charters, cruise lines, hospitality, reservations, resorts, tour operations, timeshares, vacation packages, and travel agencies to name a few.
While they cater to various high risk businesses, PayNet Secure’s facilities are impressively tailored to meet the needs of merchants in the travel industry. One such feature is the chargeback mitigation alert system that lets you know when a customer might have called their issuing bank to file for a chargeback. This gives vendors the chance to offer a refund instead.
Offering competitive rates, high volume card processing, eCheck payment processing, and excellent customer service, PayNet Secure has satisfied countless clients looking to enjoy hassle-free tools for their travel business. But much like any other provider, their rates remain undisclosed to the public, so you will have to reach out directly to know how much they charge.
Another well-established provider, CorePay caters to both low and high risk merchants by providing tailored solutions that meet each business where they stand. Albeit new to the industry, CorePay has effectively worked with countless merchants by providing polished merchant account services that put safety, security, and efficiency front and center.
So, why choose CorePay? Well, the provider offers a couple of reasons, their first being their high level of security. Their facility uses a PCI Level 1 security feature that’s monitored round the clock for suspicious activity. This means you can get updates on potential threats, and even enjoy protection against probable fraud.
Other than that, CorePay has perfected the art of accepting payments in various currencies. As a travel business, this can be an important feature that should allow you to cater to clients from various parts of the globe. This is also one of the reasons why larger travel ventures opt to partner up with CorePay.
As one of the more well-established merchant service providers in the industry, Host Merchant Services is a name you can trust. These guys are the common choice for high-volume merchants, so they might not be quite as practical for small travel agencies and travel services that operate within a very small sphere.
Nonetheless, Host Merchant Services does have some major upsides. For starters, they have a transparent and predictable interchange-plus pricing model. This means that you’ll be able to map out processing fees so you won’t get slapped with charges that you didn’t see coming.
Other benefits of working with Host Merchant Services include no early termination fees, no set up or application fees, no minimum monthly requirements, and expansive features that encourage customer loyalty. On top of all that, Host Merchant Services provides excellent customer support for their clients, delivering quick responses and resolve for most concerns.
Catering to both low and high risk merchants, WorldPay has earned quite the reputation among hard-to-place ventures looking for clean, professional, and polished service. WorldPay delivers competitive merchant account services for travel businesses in various subsectors of the industry.
One of the angles they take includes global reach. For travel businesses, expanding audiences to reach clients from outside of the locality is almost always part of the vision. And that’s why WorldPay empowers its merchants with tools that allow secure payment processing from customers from all around the globe.
And of course, the booking process itself can be pivotal to the customer experience. For travel businesses operating online, WorldPay offers tools and solutions that help to streamline booking payments and prevent hiccups that could disenchant customers and cause them to abandon their plans with your brand.
Another well-known merchant service provider for high risk merchants, Durango Merchant Services offers its solutions to various travel subsectors, but not all of them. Open to nine different travel-related business types, Durango doesn’t cater to things like charters and hospitality services, so you might want to check their list before you push through with your application.
Nonetheless, if you find your business type on their list, then you can enjoy their range of services that put security at the helm. Their solutions come with an industry-leading fraud detection and prevention tool that helps to minimize the risk and reduce the chances of chargebacks.
While they do impose set-up fees, their services definitely make up for the initial cost. They also guarantee competitive rates, integration assistance if you use one of many different kinds of shopping carts, and prompt, dedicated customer support to help you troubleshoot any issues you might encounter along the way.
Unlike other high risk merchant account providers that leave their merchants fending for themselves against chargebacks, eMerchant Broker provides their clients’ actionable solutions to help reduce the risk. They also implement a range of fraud detection and chargeback prevention tools that improve a merchant’s standing and protect both business and bank.
Their services for travel businesses — although limited to certain business types — offer a unique mitigation program that works to reduce a travel merchant’s chargeback rate to bring it down to a workable ratio for most financial service providers. EMB has partnered with Verifi to develop a program that empowers merchants to resolve credit card transaction disputes directly.
This gives their merchants the upper hand in dealing with chargebacks and provides the opportunity to offer less damaging ways to respond to disgruntled customers, like refunds, store credit, and more. With zero application fees, competitive rates, and excellent fraud prevention features, EMB aims to help merchants protect their business from all angles.
PayKings is slightly different from the average travel merchant service provider in that they also work with B2B travel vendors. This means you can get solutions for your business even if you don’t directly work with end-users. The PayKings provider is partnered with over 20 different acquiring banks, allowing them to serve up speedy approval for all of their applicants.
What’s particularly nice about PayKings is that they’ll also work with vendors that might have had their application rejected in the past or those who might have had a previous merchant account closed for whatever reason. This means that PayKings can work with notably high risk merchants that might struggle to get the same services elsewhere.
Other than that, PayKings works to make sure that your business has access to a wide range of payment and protection tools and features. Complete with chargeback prevention tools, mobile payment solutions, EMV readers, 3D secure checkout, eCheck payment processing, and more, PayKings guarantees hassle-free options for clients from around the globe.
Having been around for the best part of 25 years, Elavon is a name that’s synonymous with professionalism. These guys offer solutions for high risk travel merchants whether on or offline and deliver prompt customer support that’s available any time of the day, any day.
They cover a range of businesses in different sub-sectors of the travel industry, making them accessible to clients in various markets. Their end-to-end payment solutions prioritize security, convenience, and efficiency with user-friendly tools that easily integrate with the most popular shopping carts.
Allowing payment acceptance in any environment — whether on or offline — Elavon also makes sure that their merchants get to enjoy supreme control over their transactions by offering reporting and management tools that provide unrivaled transparency and real-time monitoring.
Being a travel merchant in today’s competitive industry can be tough, but with a merchant account, you should be able to expand your reach and provide customers with payment options and security that can encourage profitable consumer action. But don’t just sign up with any merchant account provider. These eight vetted choices are some of the best in the business and represent what it means to provide world-class service that’s worth every penny.
