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These payment processors work well with businesses in the travel and tourism industries, often offering international processing, eCommerce payments, and options for high-risk businesses.
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Businesses operating in the travel industry — including travel booking agencies, travel insurance agencies, travel clubs, or even independent agents — need a way to accept payments, including credit and debit cards. This need has become even more acute as the entire travel industry has mostly moved online over the past few decades.
If you own and operate a travel or tourism agency, you’ll need a travel merchant account to accept credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of electronic payments. A travel merchant account is simply a merchant account that includes specialized features for merchants in the travel industry.
In this article, we’ll profile the best merchant account providers in the industry for travel businesses and detail how each of them can help your business. We’ll also explain why most travel-related businesses require a high-risk merchant account and provide some tips to help you choose the best provider for your travel business.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Best For | Next StepsBest For |
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PaymentCloud
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Corepay
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Durango Merchant Services
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Soar Payments
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National ACH
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SMB Global
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Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
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Table of Contents
| Account Setup Fees | Account Approval Time | Alternative Payment Methods Supported | Payment Gateway(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PaymentCloud | None | 48 hours + | ACH, eCheck, QR code/SMS | Authorize.Net, NMI, USAePay, etc. |
| Corepay | None | 24-72 hours | ACH | NetValve, Authorize.Net, etc. |
| Durango Merchant Services | Not disclosed | 24 hours to 4-6 business days | eCheck, Cryptocurrency | Durango Pay |
| Soar Payments | Not disclosed | 3-5 business days (for full approval) | ACH, eCheck | Authorize.Net, NMI, or USAePay |
| National ACH | Not disclosed | 3-5 business days (US accounts) | ACH, eCheck | National ACH Gateway |
| SMB Global | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | ACH | SMB Global Gateway |
Chosen for their reasonable rates, fair contracts, support for multiple payment methods, and top-notch customer support, these are the best merchant accounts for travel agencies, tour operators, and businesses operating across the travel and tourism industry:
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Pros
Cons
PaymentCloud is a merchant services provider specializing in serving a variety of high-risk industries. The company offers hands-on advocacy and guidance for merchants both during and after their travel merchant account onboarding process -- and doesn't charge an application or account setup fee.
PaymentCloud offers dependable service at a reasonable overall cost. It also receives high praise from its customers and strong recommendations from Dharma Merchant Services and Stripe, making it a great choice for any high-risk, travel-based business. Tour guides and booking agencies that find themselves in a high-risk classification for any reason can benefit from PaymentCloud’s expertise.
Because PaymentCloud works closely with many banks and back-end processors, merchants in the travel industry have a higher chance of account approval. Once approved, merchants can expect fair pricing and excellent customer support to keep their accounts running smoothly.
Pros
Cons
We chose Corepay as one of the relatively few high-risk specialists that not only accepts a full range of travel-related businesses, but also provides extensive information about the unique factors that go into getting this type of merchant account. Corepay can usually place merchants in most sectors of the travel industry, provided they only sell legal products and haven’t had a previous account terminated by another provider.
Corepay offers a full range of products and services, with a particular emphasis on online and mail order/telephone order (MOTO) sales. Credit card and ACH processing are available, with rates for credit card transactions starting at 2.95%. Note that Corepay fully discloses that most high-risk merchants will pay processing rates that are significantly higher than what a comparable low-risk business would pay. The company is also mum about its contracts, so you can expect to have a long-term contract with an early termination fee, as well as a rolling reserve when the account is first established.
Pros
Cons
Durango Merchant Services is a merchant account provider with a stellar reputation for serving high-risk merchants and international merchants. The most important things to know about Durango Merchant Services are:
For high-risk merchants, Durango makes it simple to accept payments via terminals, mobile card processing, payment gateways, ACH processing, and even cryptocurrency. Durango Merchant Services stands out from the competition with fair pricing in a segment of the market that’s notorious for charging inflated prices. Durango offers excellent solutions to such complex merchant situations, and if they can't work with a merchant for whatever reason, the company will be straightforward and honest about it.
Durango also provides customer service and support that far exceeds the industry standard, as well as a sales team that's comprised of honest, knowledgeable staff. Additionally, Durango sets up international merchant accounts from the multiple countries out of which it operates to proactively and effectively deal with fraud and chargebacks.
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Pros
Cons
Soar Payments is a merchant account provider that specializes in finding card processing homes for hard-to-place businesses that most merchant account providers won’t typically work with. The most important things to know about Soar Payments are:
If you need a feature-rich, high-risk merchant account provider for your travel business, Soar Payments may be just the right fit. If you’re a high-risk merchant, it may sometimes seem like there are few trustworthy options available to you. Many high-risk credit card processors know that merchants don’t have many options and prey on a sense of desperation. Soar Payments is different, however, offering reasonable rates, fees, and contract terms. The company also has a reputation for treating its merchants well.
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National ACH |
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Pros
Cons
National ACH specializes in ACH and check processing for business segments that have traditionally had trouble getting account approvals. Note that National ACH and PaynetSecure operate out of the same location, with both companies possibly being subsidiaries of Best Solutions Source.
While National ACH primarily offers ACH and echeck payment processing, it also supports credit and debit card processing through its high-risk merchant accounts. However, this support appears to be limited to online and keyed-in payments. The company does not appear to offer credit card terminals or other processing hardware for in-person payment acceptance.
National ACH offers robust eCommerce solutions such as virtual terminals with fast approvals, secure payment processing, and chargeback protection tools that are perfect for travel and tourism agencies that focus on eCommerce services. Merchants should consider National ACH if they're interested in accepting payments online with easy integration to their websites and stabilizing their cash flow with features such as automated recurring payments and same-day ACH credit processing.
Pros
Cons
SMB Global primarily serves eCommerce businesses that are considered high-risk. The company is set up to work exclusively with high-risk merchants and businesses that need an offshore merchant account.
Not even high-risk experts will deal with every possible kind of business, but SMB Global covers the majority of high-risk merchants, including most businesses in the travel industry. SMB Global is a reliable merchant service provider that has maintained a mostly immaculate customer complaint record in its relatively short time of existence, and it's one of the few providers willing to take on merchant types in nearly any high-risk business segment. SMB Global does a remarkable job of working with plenty of high-risk industries to get merchants matched up with a bank or processor that can handle their needs and will quickly approve them for an account.
While SMB Global doesn't offer any specific pricing details, it does feature a policy of not imposing a rolling reserve when your account is first established. This feature is quite uncommon in the high-risk processing world and can vastly improve your cash flow when you first start using your new merchant account.
Merchant Maverick has been researching the payment processing industry since 2009. Our writers have reviewed hundreds of credit card processors, merchant account services, and mobile payment apps, evaluating each provider carefully on several different metrics.
When comparing different payment processing companies and applications to one another, we consider numerous data points. Our experts start by comparing credit card processing rates, the presence of additional fees, contract length, sales practices, and the presence or absence of additional features and services, like point of sale software. Each provider is judged on its own merits and how well it stacks up to industry standards; then it is weighed against the other providers on the list.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure every company or application included meets our internal standards for quality and reputation. Any list of recommended payment processors on our site might contain a mix of standard merchant accounts, third-party payment processors, mobile payment devices, and high-risk payment processors, depending on what our expert feels is the best fit for certain scenarios or business types.
For additional details about Merchant Maverick’s review and rating processes, please refer to any or all of the following methodology pages:
15
Years reviewing payment processors
100+
Providers evaluated
25
Attributes and features assessed per vendor
40+
Years combined experience
A travel merchant account is a specialized high-risk account that lets businesses in the travel industry accept online card payments and electronic payments. Because merchant-acquiring banks view the travel sector as a high-risk industry, travel agencies and other travel-related businesses will need a full-service merchant account with a unique Merchant Identification Number (MID) that identifies their business to the various payment processing networks. Payment service providers (PSPs) like Square and PayPal generally do not accept any high-risk businesses, including those in the travel industry.
Business owners operating in the travel industry need to contend with the inherent risks that come with processing online sales transactions, such as travel merchant accounts’ susceptibility to fraud and chargebacks. The biggest factors that make the travel industry high-risk include:
Travel merchant accounts aren’t all that much different from those for other businesses. The best credit card processors for small businesses all stand out for offering flexible contract terms, fair pricing, and excellent customer support. However, you should also look for the following special features that are particularly important to businesses in the travel sector:
A travel merchant account can provide your business the flexibility and financial security it needs to let you stay focused on creating a simple and seamless buying experience for your travelers. Your goal when choosing a travel merchant account should be to keep costs low while providing innovative online payment processing solutions that meet your unique needs.
Do you need an extensive network of both US and international banks to provide domestic and global payments solutions? Need to tackle a high volume of sales with high-capacity processing? Perhaps you’re interested in alternative payment methods such as eChecks and ACH payments to bolster your sales numbers, or maybe you just want good, old-fashioned customer support that’s dedicated to your continued success. Whatever your needs, it’s important that you choose a travel merchant account that best aligns with your strategies for healthy and continued growth.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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