Tips for choosing a payment gateway for your tourism business 

Deciding on your booking platform is one of the most important parts of running your tourism business. There are lots of things to consider, one of which is the payment gateway. Before you decide, here are three of the most important questions to ask about payment gateways so you can make the right choice.  

Which payment gateway will I be able to use with your platform?

Payment gateways are an important part of your online booking system as they dictate how you will get paid. You may already be using common gateways like SecurePay or Stripe, or perhaps you’re still looking around to find which one suits your business. Nevertheless, you need to ensure that your payment gateway can be used with your preferred booking platform.  

Trekksoft and Fareharbor are good third party payment processors, but they’re quite limited. Some offer a wider range of payment gateways, like Checkfront. Others, however, don’t make information for payment gateways readily available at all.  

Can I take foreign currency bookings?

Flexibility is the name of the game. If you don’t want to miss out on prospective international sales, then you need a flexible gateway that lets you take bookings in different currencies. This will take your operation global and can definitely open up more opportunities for overseas tourist. 

You can do this by offering two (or more) currencies for your customers through your resellers. You can also invoice your resellers and ask your booking platform provider to provide all the tracking and data for you to make payments with any currency possible.  

Am I locked into using a certain payment gateway?

Many booking platforms out there offer their own tourism operator payment gateways. Often you can get reduced rates and discounts for this type of bundled service. However, should you wish to use other gateways for some reason then make sure you can connect with third party payment gateways easily. Some platforms make it really hard to find information on third party options. So it pays to look for a solution that lets you use the main players like PayPal or Stripe.  

Basically, look for a booking platform that allows simple integration with your preferred payment gateways. Ask this question upfront.  

With these questions in mind, you will be better equipped to choose your new booking platform.